soooo confused re silent reflux

[stqueeng]

i guess i need to hear from others who have been through the same thing and maybe get some reassurance. amelia is 7 weeks now. at about 1 week (or before) she started screaming what seemed like all the time. she arched her back and lifted her chin right back while she screamed. we started to notice that this happened after breast-feeds for up to 11/2 hours. i looked up her behaviour on the net and wondered if it was silent reflux, took her to the dr and after 3 weeks was put on 10mg of losec. after 3 weeks we still we're sure if it was making much difference so we took her off the meds in case we were dealing with colic. crying and arching after feeds after a week off meds seemed to be getting worse so are now trying 20mg of losec.
here's the thing. i feel in a damned if you do and damned if you situation. i HATE giving her losec because it has not been properly tested on infants and i don't want to find out in 5 years that it's dangerous or has a long term impact. on the other hand, if it IS reflux and i don't medicate her the thought of her being in pain makes me sick. i hope to god when i get to the end of this week there will be a discernable difference one way or the other- ie, if the crying after feeds stops i'll know it's reflux. if it doesn't, i know from the dr she is otherwise healthy and deal with it as though its colic.
i know the official tests for reflux are quite full on. is this why we are doing the losec dose trials? i seem to be feeling a feeling almost like guilt.
anyone else felt like this?
appreciate your replies, g

[Mikenzees mum]

hey
Im sorry your bub has reflux its a horrible nasty disease (i hate reflux ), i dont know if anyone told you but it can take up to 2 weeks for it to start working and if there is already iratation to the oesophagus it may take longer as that has to also heal it took about a month with my DD,

How are you giving her the losec are you splitting the doses, or giving it in one go, alot of people find spliting to 2 doeses helps however with my DD we spilit to three equal doses, that way i know that we are always covered like mikis pead says 2 doses is good and can be afective that 3rd dose is insurance LOL, are you sueing tablets or the suspension i find the suspension far easier, aslong as you gert a new mix every 14 days as it looses its afect

Also with losec be aware it shouldnot be given an hour either side of any other reflux meds as then can reduce the afect of the losec

I know its hard to get you head around giving you child medication, but please know losec has and is being used in peadiatric hospitals world wide and has been for many years, and has helped alot of babies and children, i do know its hard but

Also with the dosage i noticed previuos poster said 20mg a day sounds like a lot, but losec is used in high doses in some patients and is not weight determind its worked out on the severity of the reflux and if a smaller dose does not cut it then often a higher dose is tried, so even though your bubs dose is higher then some it is still with in the limits KWIM,

Good luck

[stqueeng]

i'm giving her 10mg twice daily as cap disolved in water administered with a teaspoon, not crushed. i guess i'm just freaked that i'm medicating her for something that i'm not entirely sure she has. i do know that her crying doesn't follow classic colic symptoms though, like crying at the same time each day. she also hates her capsule. someone told me this is a sign of reflux as it squashes thier stomach. babies with colic on the other hand tend to like their legs pushed up....thanks for the reply. even though it feels like forever, going on what you say about the lining needing to heal, we really need to give the meds a good couple of weeks before we decide if it is reflux or not. thanks again. g

[scarlet121]

I agree totally with Mikenzees mum about everything she has said, the only thing I don't understand is why you took her off the 10mg to see if it was working, she got worse but put her on 20mg? Maybe you could have seen if the 10 mg would work with time? I also agree that if she has to be on 20mg then that is fine, but also the lowest possible dose to get the job done just to be safe. You could also keep her on the 20mg till it kicks in and then lessen the dose if you need.

But time is the key give it a good couple of weeks, and at her age, the compound is a really good and most effective way to give it. Splitting the dose is also a good idea.

[stqueeng]

the main reason i took her off the 10mg after three weeks was that my dr said i would definitely see a difference by 5 days! what i'm hearing from you guys is that it can take a lot longer than that to show results. in hind sight i might have left her on it longer!

[scarlet121]

Unfortunatly in practice you should notice a difference in a couple of days, in adults you do, I have been on losec before and it does only take a coupleof days to work. But in the babies we find that it is about the 2 week mark, maybe because it is more behavioural or because they can't tell you oh that feels OK now, it also depends on how long and how severe it is. If she is on the 20mg now, I would keep her on it, it won't do her any harm. Wait until you see an improvement and then you can always lower it.

[pana]

All righty, I have read way too much information about reflux meds .

Here goes...

Infants break down losec 3-4 times faster than adults, so need a comparatively larger dose weight for weight. This means that the dose can sound quite high, but may actually appropriate. A lot of people break the dose down into 2-3 times a day for this reason, to get a more sustained effect.

I give DS dissolved tablets too. You need to give them on an empty stomach 30-60 minutes before a decent sized feed for them to be effective. Pretty tall order! DS gets his the second the clock hits the thirty minute mark. The idea is that the little beads need to make it to the intestine unscathed by the stomach acid, then be absorbed into the blood stream ready to attach to the acid pumps while they are working. The bigger the feed, the more acid pumps activated. Each bead is actually drug in a protective coating. Crushing it destroys the coating, thus using it dissolved. I think (?) the suspension isn't as finicky but then you have cost and stability issues.

If you use the dissolved tablets, taking either mylanta or zantac within 4 hours will diminish the effect. For the suspension I think you only need one hour.

Medications like losec do tend to take 2 weeks (in an effective dose) to be effective in babies, though I don't know why. If things with your bub are still suspicious for silent reflux then a trial of a higher dose is probably worthwhile to make sure that the dose being too low isn't why you aren't seeing an improvement.

Good luck, and I hope I haven't baffled you too much! Like I said, I've found way too much info on losec...

And while I'm at it (I hope nobody minds!) zantac is a very weight sensitive medication, so bubs do tend to outgrow their dose. Worth bearing in mind if it seems to lose its effect.