When and How to stop Losec?

[mrscricket]

Hi Adi -my DS is on Losec (tablet form, originally 10ml then reduced down to 5ml). We stopped it by starting to give it every second day, then stopping completely. He went really well for 2 months, then the symptoms returned and we had to put him back on it. It was the second time we had tried stopping it - the first time was more of a instant thing were we knew he needed to be back on it, whereas the 2nd time it was more gradual. The thing is we know he is on it for a reason at least!

The advice we recieved was to go off it at a stage when there is nothing new happening - no teething, change in routine, illness, or starting to walk etc, although at this age it seems very hard as they are doing new stuff every day! Apparently a lot of doctors have different opinions on how to stop it - some suggest cold turkey, others gradual. Ours was happy for us to try either. I just felt a little better at doing it gradually.

As I said, DS did super well coming off it, but slowly the symptoms returned - irritable, sleep issues, refusing to eat which I put down to teething - then he started doing very small vomits again (better than the 20 times a day it used to be!) and thats when I realised it was reflux again. Once back on the Losec, we had to give him a higher dose (10ml) for a few weeks and then cut it back to 5ml. At the moment he is doing really well, and we occasionally miss a day (not on purpose, just mummy brain ) and it doesn't bother him. We will look at trying him off it again soon, but at the moment he is getting a molar and it is a nightmare, so don't want to do anything to add to his distress. Taking them off the Losec is a real trial and error thing. Just keep an eye out for those signs that signal it might be not be working.

Good luck with it all!