Just been diagnosed with reflux

My poor little Maggie was diagnosed with reflux today. We took her to a paed, he seemed quite nice and really seemed to listen. My own doctor was too quick to label her with colic. She seems to be a happy chucker during the day, but becomes quite distressed at night, when the chucking seems to be associated with pain. She would also scream in her sleep 20 minutes after being put down at night and would only settle if I held her upright for awhile. This happens between 1 - 5 times a night. It is very odd, she does not seem to fully wake up, it is like she is having a bad dream. I find it really distressing.

The paed has prescribed Zantac for her, so now we just have to wait and see if it works for her. Bit annoyed with the Zantac measuring device, it only has 2.5ml and 5ml. Maggie's dose is 1ml. We got the bottle home and realised the problem. I had to take the dropper from the Infacol bottle so we could give her a dose.

Any suggestions on the best way to administer the Zantac? Would a syringe be easier? The dropper is a real pain to get the right dose.

I need to go bib shopping, I keep on running out and I want a couple of nice looking ones for when we go out. I was a bit disappointed with the baby expo, as I only scored 1 bib, I was hoping to get more.


Astrid

Astrid I used syringes for the Zantac...or droppers... whatever I could get that worked. After a while they do get used to taking it. I used to give it to Matilda during a feed, so when I was bf I would slip it in the side of her mouth during a feed, and when we went to bottle I would do a quick exchange.

I hope it helps!!

Hi AStrid. My little girl has just been diagnosed with reflux too. At the moment we are just giving her Mylanta - 1 to 2 ml before each feed. We have a script for losec if this doesn't work.
The Mylenta doesn't taste too bad I don't think - minty, but she doesn't like it much anyway. I use a syringe to give it to her before a feed. She sucks my finger and I slip the syringe in by the side and slowly put it in with the sucks. It's the only way she'll take it but I feel very sneeky! Maybe give it a go?

I found the syringes the best for giving meds. For me i made a big deal out of giving Elle her Reflux meds like it was a special treat, everytime she would have a little bit i would give her sooooo much praise after 3-4 days she actually was looking foward to it and now she won't go down for her afternoon sleep until i have given it to her.
Good luck - hope this helps.

We used a syringe as well, always to the side of Zander's mouth cos he seemed to keep more in that way.

Got told this great tip to get babies to swallow meds, thought i would share it with you. haven't tried it myself but thought you might like to try it.

Place your baby on your lap facing you. Gently tilt him or her back, supporting his or her back until his or her head is lower than his or her body. Once your baby is comfortable lying in this position, quickly place the dropper inside his or her cheek. As you squeeze the medication into his or her mouth, blow gently into his or her face. This will cause him or her to reflexively swallow. Continue to blow gently until all the medication has been swallowed.

Update

Just had to stop the Zantac as we have had 3 days from hell! The Zantac was helping with the chucking, but was making other things worse. It was giving Maggie diarrhoea, which was giving her such tummy pain. She was refusing to sleep and feed properly. I spoke to the paed on the phone and all he could suggest was talking to a laction consultant again or starting solids, but she is a bit young for that. Anyway tpday she was getting worse and refused to take a bottle of EBM so we decided to take her to the Childrens Hospital. She fell asleep on the way there so we decided to drive around a bit and when she woke up she finally took a small feed. So finally tonight she seems much better, I just hope she continues to improve. She has her 4 month immunisations next week, so I want her well for that.

Thanks for the advice on how to give her Zantac, I will keep it all in mind if I have to give her medicine again.