Zantac for Acid Refulx?

Hi my baby is 6 weeks old and has acid reflux. It has gotten worse over the last week(to the point where he spit up after two ounces, screams in pain,coughs then gags, and won't continue to eat)
His pediatrician, put him on Zantac. He has been on it for a two days and it doesn't seem to be helping at all yet( it even seems a little worse)  My question is have any of you moms had any luck putting there baby on Zantac? How long does it usuaully take to start working? Do you have any advice for dealing with a baby with acid reflux? Does it get better with time? Any advice is helpful. Thanks!

[tomel]

My baby has been on it for 6 days it seems to be working...give it some time..another thing I did was eliminated dairy from my diet (thats if your nursing)

[Crritter]

It does take a little time.  My little one has it really bad, he was put on Prevacid though.  The screaming was so bad he was losing his voice, they switched formulas first and had us wait 2 weeks, by the time Cam was 4 weeks old it was so out of control.  He will be 6 months old next week and is on Prevacid twice daily and Reglan twice daily.  Even on the meds I have to keep him elevated at night when he sleeps, and they have to watch him and change the dosing on the Reglan often.  I have heard that Zantac is one where they outgrow the dosing sooner, and sometimes isn't as effective.  At least that's what our pediatrician told me and gave us the Prevacid.  Each kiddo is different though and some have had great luck with it.  It can take a good week to see improvement, if it's not helping the Dr. may switch the med or re-evaluate to see what's going on.  Good luck, I hope he feels better soon.

[maddysmommy]

Hi, both my children had (have) terrible refulx..my dd now 3.5 was put on Prevacid for about 9 months..it worked well bc before she would cry and scream for hours..now my son was on zantac for about 5 weeks and it was not working...he has other medical issues..trach and gtube..so we choose to get a nissan..which is a surgical procedure..that you dont have to worry about..: ) but its suppose to be a permanent way to stop reflux..and..long behold three weeks later he's refluxing again..so at this point..ive come to the conclusion its all based on the child..meds do work..so hopefully your child will respond to them..o..and with my daughter it took about two weeks to finally kick in for good..and the meds wont stop the reflux or spitting up..it will just control the pain and discomfort..and i agree with critter give it some time then discuss it with your doc if you arent see results in his comfort level and behavior..if he's still spitting up..but calm and not uncomfortable then you know its working..best of luck : )

[Crritter]

Wow, I cannot imagine going through that much with acid reflux (maddysmom).  I know that we were even seeing asthma symptoms and it is partly from the acid reflux.  Keep an eye on all symtoms (symptoms) ans report them to your Dr., anything out of the norm.  Hope it gets better.  BTW, Cam still spits up, but I know he's fine since he's not screaming.  When he begins to wake up crying and screaming from a deep sleep, and when the spit up is projectile again, that's when we know he's having problems.  Good luck.

[kris123]

Prevacid worked better for my son zantac sucked and my son would cry all day he is a different baby due to prevacid it took a week to work

[maddysmommy]

my son goes back to the ped surgeon who did the nissan on oct 23..i cant wait he's freaking out all day again..and spitting up thru his nose..i so worry about asperating (sp?) thru his trach..if its not one thing its another..i cant even hold him he spends most of his day in his bouncy seat..i feel so bad

[kris123]

BTW my son was gaging a lot but it did not come up - he would sallow it before it came out.  Poor thing - he sleeps with me because of this he also spends most of his bay in the bouncy seat

[Me2mommy2b]

Zantac did nothing for us whereas Prevacid worked wonders.  I would strongly suggest (like I do to any mommy who has a child with a reflux) checking out infantreflux.org.  There is a ton of info on different medications and options of treating reflux.  Good luck and let us know if we can be of any further help.  Hope your little one gets better soon.  I know it's not easy (DD is one and is still on Prevacid) but it does get easier once they're put on the right medication with the right dose.  

[hopefulmommie]

Thanks for the responses ladies... I think I'm going to take him back to his doctor and talk to her about putting him on  Prevacid. It seems to be better than the Zantac . I plan on giving it another week though to see what happens. Its so sad to see my son in pain... Once again thanks so much for your input, it's nice to know I'm not alone.

[gwen122]

I have a 3 month old son with acid reflux. He also had alot of conjestion problems. The doctor perscibed Zantac. I used it on him for a little over a week and it just made the problem worse. I looked up about it online and found a natual remedy called colic calm. I works very good. When he gets fussey because of the reflux I give it to him and in 15 minutes he is a calm happy baby.ditch the posion persciption.

[LosingMyMindInGA]

I had 3 kids on zantac.  Really it's just for keeping the acidity down ...it doesn't really prevent the spit up.  There are other things you can do.  Do you bottle feed? If so they have a new formula out now that has added Rice Starch in it...It's Enfamil AR w/lipil.  Its thicker so it helps keep it down.  Also keeping baby upright, well more of an inclined position for 1/2 hr to hour after feedings, making sure the diaper and any waist bands aren't too tight and pushing on tummy...No jostling baby around too much after eating.  It does get better.  Most babies outgrow it before a year and once they start to sit up on their own it gets better pretty quickly.