Losec and constipation?

My DS is 8 weeks today. He was diagnosed with reflux at 3 weeks and is on 10mg of Losec per day (5mg AM, 5mg PM). He has always been an infrequent poo'er...one every 5 days on average. But when he did poo they were normal looking so I never worried. We'd have a few unsettled days leading up to a poo and a few good days after.

However a few weeks ago he started poo'ing pellet-like poos and was in obvious distress passing. He was also very unsettled in the lead-up to the poo. I thought it was impossible for an exclusively BF baby to be constipated!

Anyway, we then stopped the Gaviscon (x3/ day) as this was the only 'new' thing we had introduced coinciding with the constipation. But that didn't provide immediate results. We gave him Coloxyl. That helped but he seemed to be in pain after we gave it. We've recently stopped the Coloxyl and started prune juice. That also seems to be helping.

We saw an Osteo last week who said his stomach was very tight...I guess part of the whole reflux/ constipation thing. After the session he did a normal poo and slept like a log. But his normal, distressed behaviour started up again the next day.

So my long-winded explanation is really to ask...has anyone experienced constipation whilst on Losec???

I should also mention that I'm off dairy, caffeine and any typical 'wind' culprits. I'm considering seeing a Naturopath or Dietician to look into an Elimination Diet in case it's an allergy thing and not a medication side effect.

Does anyone have any advice or has had a similar experience? It's so sad seeing my LO in distress and not knowing what exactly is the root of the problem :(

No, we had no constipation here while DD was on Losec (from about 2-6 months old). Infants friend is good for constipation and my understanding is its all natural.

It seems he has had a bit of a run around with the different constipation methods and with the gaviscon, coloxyl, prune juice and the losec, its alot for a little babies tummy to handle. IYKWIM.

Could it be something your eating thats upsetting his tummy?

Hi, not sure if this is a bit late, but yes, our DS wouldn't poop at all on Losec, DD also had reflux as a baby and she was fine on Losec and all other meds she ended up on, hers was really really bad, silent reflux. DS has projectile type reflux and started on Zantac which wasn't doing enough, so was changed to Losec. We ended up having to use supositries on the Paed's advice to get him to move and he had to come off the Losec.
So yes it can cause constipation. and in hind sight, with DD, she always had very firm stools which I blamed on the AR formula because she was formula fed, whereas DS is breast fed, but i am now thinking it too may have been the Losec.
Hope this helps. We are now back on Zantac which doesn't work as well on the reflux but does not upset his bowels.

Thanks for your comments guys. It's good to hear that it is possible to be constipated on Losec. Dr said last week that he hadn't heard much of that but then one of the listed side effects is constipation. I'm scared to take him off the Losec cause it seems to be helping. But then I don't know what's worse...constipation or reflux! Anyway, will keep trying things. I'm booked into a Naturopath in a few weeks to see if it could be anything diet related :)

I hope you figure out what's up and it goes away soon, constipation is not nice for bubs is it? I'd be trying to remedy the constipation without taking him off losec, because you'd be fixing one problem but bringing back the other one, ITMS?

FWIW our DS is on 5mg losec a day, and he's slowed down to 1 or 2 poos a week & seems a little uncomfortable on the day he's going to poo but that's about it, maybe that's just normal for his age though I'm not really sure. We do use a LOT of gripe water with him as it seems to settle his tummy. Anyway I hope you figure out what the cause is!

Well good luck with whatever you decide, we battled with what was causing it for weeks, I actually had another post on here asking for constipation remedies, our DS ended up on about 250ml of nearly straight pear juice a day as the paed said it works better than prunes, he was also eating pears, and drinking water and still having heaps of breast feeds. In the end for us, although his reflux is still really bad, the constipation was just cruel. He was in so much pain, a lot of wind pain as well, so we decided, or rather were instructed by the paed to stop the Losec. After several doses of suppositries over a period of a week, his bowels started to normalize again, but took about 2 weeks to be normal. Our only option was to go back onto to Zantac, which is not as good, but is far better than him not being able to poop. The paed said it was not a common reaction and he hadn't had any other babies react that way, but that we had eliminated everything else so it had to be the losec.
Apparently Losec can significantly slow the digestive system down and that's what causes the constipation.
Best of luck though cause I know it was a difficult time and you'll know what's best for your bub.

Thanks for the help :) Might try pear juice. Prunes didn't do anything. Coloxyl seems to work but would prefer a natural solution. I'm seeing a Paed soon to review his meds. Might see if we can go to Zantac without too much drama :) Thanks again