Zantac for babies?

[shishka]

My son is 3,5 month old and has been spitting up a lot. More like vomiting. Last knight he was very fussy and was crying. Nurse suggested to take him to ER. They diagnosed him with Acid Reflux and prescribed Zantac. I gave it to him this morning and I think it made him very sleepy. He has not been spitting as much today. I just want to hear other peoples experiences with Zantac. Has anyone used Zantac? Is it safe?

Doctor said it is safe, but I want to make sure.

[Heathermommytobe]

My sis in law knows a lot about this you should her a message her name on here is Linzola 1 cause my nephew has had this same problem I think she could really help you out.

[energy_train]

Both of my kids had acid reflux.  Both were on Zantac.  No side effects at all and both were on for long periods of time (over a year).  My daughter finally outgrew it at 13 months- she was in the hospital for a week at 2 weeks old when they diagnosed her as they wanted to do a PH study. My little guy had severe acid reflux and was on Zantac for about 4 months- it wasn't working so they started him on Prilosec. That didn't work so we went to Prevacid,  We were also seeing a GI doctor at this point and they did a scope and even on the prevacid he had severe esophagitis, an ulcer, etc. all of which we had pictures of.  It was horrible.  So, at 18 months, they put him on adult strength Nexium and he was on that for about 15 months. I just weanted him off it in March and so far so good. I think he FINALLY outgrew it.  Zantac is the mildest form of the acid reflux meds.  Like I said, it goes Zantac, Prilosec, Prevacid and then Nexium.  I never had a problem with Zantac other than it tastes REALLY bad so if you can, go to Osco and get it flavored grape- we tried several flavors and the grape covered the aweful mint taste the best.  My niece is also on Zantac right now with no problems. It is very safe and compared to the alternative (esophagitis, ulcers, the screaming because of the pain, and also, if untreated down the road, it can cause esophageal cancer)  Believe me, I researched and researched because my litle guy's was so bad and meds are definately better than no meds.  More than likely, he will outgrow it around 1 year- most kids do!  Usually once they start eating solids it helps.  Let me know fi you need any more information!  There is also a pediatric GERD forum on here and if you are interested, I'll give you the link.  Good luck!

[pinkbelle]

my daughter is on Zantac and she does well on it!

[pinkbelle]

there is also a formula for acid reflux it is called enfamil a.r.

[spade22]

Jazmine takes Zantac for reflux and it has helped her out.

[kjbutcher]

I was told to use the rice cereal first to try to thicken things up to keep it down.  if it didnt work AJ was being put on zantac.  The cereal worked.  If you are concerned about the meds, try the cereal if your pedi says its ok.

[AndiJ78]

Did the doctor do a scope in the ER? Many of these meds are not designed for long term usage. I would get a referral to a pedi GI and have this further evaluated.

[Linzola1]

My son was on Zantac for about 2 weeks.... When he was about 2 weeks I was told he had colic! The ped that I had at the time switched him to a soy formula Enfamil Prosobee... That seemed to work for a while but he would still scream at feedings! About a month later he was switched ti Enfamil Gentlease. Needless to say it didnt work....

I ended up getting a new ped and she immeditally diagnosed him with a milk soy protien allergy and GERD. She put him on Zantac 1ml 3x a day. The damage to his esophagus was so bad that they put him on a medicine called Carafate to "coat"his esophagus! (The damage was so bad because the old ped misdiagnosed hisGERD with Colic because he never ran tests!) Well the symptoms remained and he got switched from Zantac to prevacid which is working wonders!

If you dont like your son on the Zantac then I would talk to the doctor! BTW my son never had any sleepyness on the Zantac but he has on the prevacid because he feels a ton better(thats what the doc said!) So its probably not a reaction to the meds themselvs butthat the baby feels better!

[Brown Eyed Gurl]

my 2 1/2 month old twins were just put on this Tuesday b/c they have severe acid reflux but I think my babies are throwing up more....I'm gonna give it a week and see how it goes

[luv_babies]

DS was on Zantac already at 3 weeks for a few months. He didn't have any side effects that I noticed and he outgrew it pretty fast.

[shishka]

Thank you very much ladies. I am going to try small but more frequent feedings for the next couple of days. If that does not help I will give Zantac a try. He has been doing much better since yesterday. I am not sure if it is Zantac that helped him already (I gave him Zantac only 2 times yesterday) or Smaller amount of feedings.

Thank you again