How long does it generally take for the Losec to start taking effect? The GP said 3 - 5 days. It has been 5 days now, and he seems worse, not better! Has anyone else had this happen? Does Losec work for most babies?
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How long does it generally take for the Losec to start taking effect? The GP said 3 - 5 days. It has been 5 days now, and he seems worse, not better! Has anyone else had this happen? Does Losec work for most babies?
Personally I think it took around 7 - 10 days for it to work for us... The doctor said about 5 days though. We LOVE Losec, it's amazing stuff if/when it works!!!! We give Riley half a tablet per day (5 mg I think) and it still works well (after 5 or so months). :)
I guess keep trying a little longer then if it doesn't work, go back to the doctor...
Oh, and just make sure bub doesn't spew it back up...ours did for a while which seemed to cause problems...
Good luck!
Hey there, it was about 10 days for us, I generally advise mums that give it two weeks. It should start working in a couple of days in theory, but you just don't notice a lot of changes in their behaviour until the 2 weeks.
Losec, has been our lifesaver. It works well, thought the administering can be a pain. If you have the compound, get it made up every 2 weeks for maximum effect.
What dose are you on?
I just noticed you are in Perth, me too!
We use Losec. At first i was using a tablet then someone put me on to a chemist that makes it in to a liquid. At first mine worked well and only took a short time to start working. I've stopped mine at the moment to see if things have improved.
It took about 4-5 days for it to work on Alexzander, but we did see effects almost immediately. I think it akes them a few days to realise that when they feed it's not going to hurt & that's what takes the time IYKWIM. I could clearly see that Zander wasn't in pain but he still reacted badly to feeds because of the anticipation. It works within half an hour & wears off within around 12 hours, so there's no cumulative effect either.
The thing you need to remember though is that it will not stop the vomiting, it's just designed to stop acid forming in their stomach so it doesn't hurt when they do vomit.
Thanks everyone. The Losec must have kicked in on Friday as Nic has been a different baby! He is happy and smiling, no more screaming. His vomiting has also decreased, but that might be the chiro treatment. He is 1mg once a day, and I got it from the chemist at the hospital in a liquid form.
Scarlet121 - where in Perth are you? I am in Karrinyup.
I am in the Kalamunda Kills Area, a little way away, but not that far. That is great the med has kicked in so soon, so good to see. We just put Parker back on losec after 4 months off :cry: but hopefully it is just over winter.
If you have any questions please ask, I visit a site infantrefluxdisease there is a lot of advice there on how to position and reduce reflux, what foods to avoid, especially if you are breastfeeding.
One last thing I will mention, with the liquid, you may find that symptoms return after about 2 weeks, instead of 4, if this happens get it made up twice a month, I have found with Parker that the med tends to lose some stability and there have been tests on this and found that it is generally the addition of too much flavour or not enough bicarb so just get it made up earlier.
Hi Caro, I am in Maida Vale, pretty close!
I edited the post, am I allowed to leave it as it is?
I started Eleanor back on hers last night as she was starting to scream when trying to get her to sleep she just didn't want to settle.
Jo your not to far from me i am at Pearsall.
My 4 month old was suffering reflux - waking every 1-2 hours at night in pain. He was prescribed losec but after 3 weeks i realised it was keeping him awake.. he would wake frequently, sometimes sty awake after a feed or have wakeful periods in the early hours of the morning chatting in his bed. i knew it wasn't reflux because he was happy but awake. when i tried giving it to him on the morning instead it kept him from having his midday and arvo nap. I thought i'd better post this so mums were aware it is a symptom. it is listed as one on some websites.
Mia starts Losec tomorrow morning.... anything u girls think i should know??
Hi,
Our 4wk old DD has just been diagnosed with Silent Reflux :( BF'ing has been hard too and it must also be because of the reflux.... DD was put on Losec 4 days ago and so far so good but we've also been treating her at the same time with a homeopathic liquid called "Mariners Infant Mixture" and we think that is helping also. it treats wind,colic AND relux. We were told Losec could take few days to work so we didnt want to waste time so we put her on the homeopathic liquid also. It's safe. (got at chemist)
Just wondering I am about to start my daughter on liquid losec. I am getting it made up in 100mls (2.5mg per ml) which apparently lasts for 25 days. Just wondering how I would go about getting them to make it up twice a month for maximum affect as suggested on thsi thread?
Would it just be a matter of getting 50mls and then going back 2 weeks later and getting another 50mls. I apologise if this is a very obvious question, but I am new to losec and new to the forum.
Thanks for all your help :)
btw my email address is mboursinos@yahoo.com.au if you would like to reply to that :)
Thanks again
hi i'm just wanting to know if anz of your bubs have went from silent reflux to presenting / vomitty reflux? We are currently in hospital my daughter is now being tube fed because she started vomitting with her feeds but she is still vomitting her feeds of course. Also is anyone seeing a gastro. Doctor? DD is on losec but has only been on it for 1 full day
My 11 week old daughter has silent reflux and is on 400mg of Losec per day. She has been on Losec since 2 weeks old. It has definitely helped, but I still find she struggles to be on her back happily. And also after some feeds (probably half of them) she still suffers from reflux (by regurgitating and swallowing a lot and not settling unless completely upright). So I have been giving her Infant Gaviscon also (which is difficult in itself because it's 15mls after a feed!). It helps, but surely I shouldn't have to do this if she's on losec?????
I'm breastfeeding, and am currently lactose free to see if that helps.
Does anyone else have this problem? Should she still be suffering if she's on losec every day. I'm considering formula now. I'm at a loss.
I'd go back and see your paediatrician, he told us that if the losec wasn't working then there would be other medications that would help to strengthen the eosophagus. Certainly find out all of the options before you consider going to formula - it would be a real shame to give up breastfeeding if there was something else that could be done. Our GP also gave us infant gaviscon but our paed told us basically what you were saying - you shouldn't need the gaviscon if baby is taking losec. I give her gaviscon now and again if she is having a bad attack of heartburn.
I found this on the infant reflux disease site:
"Food
Breastfeeding is definitely best for a baby with reflux because it is more hypoallergenic than formula and is digested twice as fast as formula. If breastfeeding is not chosen or not possible by the mother, formula changes can help some babies. If the baby has a milk or lactose allergy or intolerance giving the baby formula that is milk based can make reflux worse. Read about the different types of formula available and discuss this possibility with your pediatrician
Breastfeeding
If you are breastfeeding, try eliminating the foods that can make reflux worse. Dairy products are a big offender, as is caffeine, fatty foods, spicy foods, citrus fruits. If eliminating these things seems to help, you can slowly (about one thing a week) start to introduce one thing at a time back into your diet and watch baby's reactions. This will help give you an idea of exactly what was making the reflux worse, so that you (hopefully) don't need to give up everything you love, just one or two things."
Our little one has been on losec for a couple of weeks now after seeing a paed and although there are some improvements, she is still struggling. Some days are better than others and our paed said that with or without medication, they will have their good days and bad days. Since I gave up my cups of tea and hot chocolate, and dairy, I have seen a huge difference.
Poor wee darlings, I hope that your little one gets some relief soon.
Sue x
hi one thing to remember losec helps reduce the acid production in the stomach it does not stop baby from throwing up gaviscon helps the baby from throwing up but doesnt reduce the acid production which is what causes the burning pain for the baby. So in theory yes using both losec and gaviscon helps with both syptoms of reflux. My baby has just started on losec we give it to him on a spoon diluted in water the liquid form he threw up because of the stuff they use to mix it with. Its alot harder to get it all into him as it doesnt disolve completely but at least he keeps it down. I also try and give it to him 30 mins before a feed so he keeps it down. We have just started him on gaviscon now as to help reduce the amount he throws up so far so good. We had tried formula with a thickener in it which we were told helps keep feed down but he got constipated on them ( karicare AR) we add the gaviscon into the formula feed one satchet per 150ml formula but as stated on pack i can only give it to him 6 times a day and he has been feeding anywhere between 2-3hourly (another sign of reflux frequent feeding).He has been on losec now for 4 days and i havent really seen a improvement im hoping now he is on the gaviscon too it helps him soon, he screams every minute he is awake. oh the joys.:
You say the dose is 400mg? I think this isn't correct, as it would be 20 times an adult dose, can you recheck what dose is she on? A lot of the time if the losec is working but just not all the time, it is the dose of medicine and it may be time for an increase.:
Otherwise how do you give it to her? Is it a tablet dissolved or a liquid?
The losec also isn't actually meant to dissolve completely, it is the tiny little beads that need to be in tact for it to work correctly which is why it should NOT be crushed and should be left to dissolve in water for a few minutes before giving it to bubby.
S X
Hello all - Jack is another baby on losec (and I am another mum crying & pulling her hair out at his pain). I just wanted to thank everyone for posting the time it took for their losec to kick in. Jack has been on it since Monday. Monday night he had an epic 8 hour sleep, followed by a 5 hour, followed by a 4 hour. I think the little guy was just so tired from reflux interrupting his sleep. But sadly, he's yet to repeat the effort. Today, he refused to be put down to sleep, so I spent much of the day cuddling him on the couch. It's not doing much for my housework, or size of my butt.
In a bid to improve him taking the stuff, I'm going to use EBM instead of water. Hopefully he won't scream so much.
What time of day do you guys give yours? Does it make a difference to either night sleeping, or day feeding/sleeping?
Thanks. It's good to know I'm not alone.
Hey babe,
Sorry to hear that your little man has reflux, it's nasty hey?
I have seen a massive difference in little miss since taking the losec in tablet form. We were given the awful suspension stuff first which was a nightmare as she just wouldn't swallow it and I don't blame her - it was nasty!
Anyway our prescription is 3/4 of a tablet twice a day so I do it when we get up before a feed and then give her the second dose a couple of hours before bed - so usually around 5pm. What I do when she takes it is mix it with a tiny bit of water on a soup spoon and then transfer that onto a teaspoon and she takes it really well. Usually only adds up to a couple of teaspoons and then I give her half a teaspoon of water to wash the beads down.
She wasn't bothered so much at night for some reason, so slept well anyway but I have noticed a HUGE difference to her naps in the day time, being that she now naps really well.
You're definitely not alone.
I've actually started chiro for the reflux with missy moo and it's hard to say if that is also helping but she is certainly sleeping better again in the day time. If you have a chiro who specialises in babies in your area, I'd totally recommend going.
Hugs and all the best
Sue x
interesting, Jack usually sleeps well at night too. 4-5 hour blocks. i'll change his tablet time to the mornings & see how his days go. for the moment, i'm using my HAB so we can actually do things during the day.
we saw the chiro twice, but i need to book more appointments. fingers crossed!
Let us know how you go!!
We've got a couple more sessions at the chiro left. But as the days go on, she is just so much more settled than ever. It's really lovely to see my baby so happy..... she was so sad for a long time :(
Sue xxx
It took Jack 11 days for the Losec to fully work. Of course there were subtle changes immediately, but now, he's having his first mid day sleep since he was 2 weeks old. The amount of smiles we've had in the last 3 days have been amazing. And instead of having to have a wicked tantrum before every sleep (day & night), he goes much more peacefully. Unless his farts are bothering him.
He's just shy of his 2 month birthday, and I feel like I have my baby back. I didn't know babies could be like this. I honestly thought he was 'normal', but now I know there's a better normal. :)
As for dissolving the tablets, I use expressed milk, and warm it up (put syringe in mug of warm water), and shake it lots. He still HATES the taste, but I find it goes down easier than water. And to give him mylanta, we measure the dose with the syringe, then squirt it into a teat (no bottle attached) & give it to him. It takes the flavour past his tongue & he sucks it all down before he know's what's hit him. Just be careful to take it out of baby's mouth before they suck too much air.
For anyone wondering when it will kick in - just hang in there. Until it does, treat the episodes with mylanta or gaviscon.
Aww, that is great that little Jack is doing better. It's amazing hey?
Sue xx
beyond words.
I was beginning to think all babies cried like he did & that I was just a bad mum for not handling it all that well (crying & trying to palm him off to mum & DH to settle because they coped better with it). Now I know we were (I was) doing a really good job. I'm so glad I never listened to anyone that told me to let him cry it out. :( I knew in my heart it's always the right thing to pick him up.
Yup, I feel exactly the same way. My parents visited at the peak of her symptoms before we got her diagnosed and my mum told my I was "spoiling " her and that she needed to just cry and not be picked up all the time. It saddens me.
Also, my parents smoke like chimneys (I made them go outside though) but I truly believe that their second hand smoke made her symptoms worse and that just makes me mad!
Anyway, Missy and little Jack are all good. And their mummies are fabulous too :)
S X
I have to admit I really dont think Losec is working for my 19 month old. The night before last we had to give him another 10mg at about midnight when we tried everything else.
Last night I had to give him 20mg before bed and after hours of crying and Panadol not working I gave him another 10mg at about 1am, then he finally went to sleep till 5.37am, I was able to re-settle him and he then slept till 7am.
The hospital gave us a script for 20mg tablets a day, we did that for about 2 weeks, but he kept spitting it out. I dissolved in water and even mixed with some honey, but I was not sure he was getting it all in.
Then 2 weeks later at the peadi he said to get a suspension made and reduced the dose to 10mg. Since then he has gotten worse, its only the last 2 nights that we have just been giving him more (without medical advice) I just can't stand seeing his suffer like this anymore. I am thinking I will have to go back to the peadi and tell them that he is getting worse.
What other medications do they offer?:wall:
Hey puppies,
It sounds like your little man hasn't been getting a consistent enough dose for it to work. And I found that the suspension just didn't work at all. We tried that first and then our paed said just to take the tablets and dissolve them in water. He doesn't rate the suspensions at all as they are mixed with things that sometimes take the effectiveness away from the losec.
Also, losec is an accumulative medication, not really for symptomatic relief - so giving it to help before bed won't do any good as it takes a few days (took a couple of weeks for us) to work. What you might want to try for on the spot symptomatic relief is infant gaviscon. That does help somewhat.
What I do is mix the tablet on a soup spoon in a teaspoons worth of water, give it a few minutes to properly dissolve and then just transfer it back onto the teaspoon and give it to missy that way. I put the spoon to the back of her tongue and she swallows it that way. It's important NOT to crush the tablet as when it dissolves there are tiny little beads that are what helps to neutralise the stomach acid.
How long has he been on it so far? Does he take medications ok? Losec is ok to mix with a little orange juice or milk too so maybe try it in a small amount of that if he doesn't take it in the water?
Huge hugs, it isn't nice to see our little people in pain.
Sue xxx
The suspensions need to crush the tiny beads that make up the tablets, but those beads need to make it do the stomach intact to be effective. Our Paed said the suspensions are no where near as effective.
And I agree 100% with Sue, Losec is accumulative & effects the acidity of the stomach over time. giving him extra will not help in the short term. I wouldn't ever mess with presciption meds doses. For acute relief, we use mylanta. But for what you describe (long & persistent crying), would a warm bath be helpful to relax him?
Call your Paed about it not working - they may be able to offer some advice, or different medication. Or additional meds to stop the vomitting.
Hi there, so sorry to hear your little one isn't doing so well. I have a few things to offer. First is like other posters have said, losec is cumulative that is it needs to be in their system a good 2 weeks before seeing an effect. Giving a high dose one night and none the next day doesn't work like say panadol, it has to be consistent.
At his age, 10mg is a very low dose, you would be looking at the 20mg, definately.
Losec is a really good med, but it can be finicky. I find that buying the generic probitor, which is the same medicine but comes in a capsule of beads, we halve it and put it on food and always get it in.
Compounds are great and are generally better for reflux because they are suspended in a neutralising agent so it gives double the benefit, but these go bad after about 2 weeks, most pharmacies say it lasts 4 weeks, it doesn't. So if you do go and get it new every 10 days you will see good difference otherwise it is a waste of time.
My son who is now 6 was on compound till 6 months ago, just because of how good it worked, we swapped to tablets cause now he can swallow them. My 10 month old is on the probitor.
With other medicines there are more of the same kind, that is they do the same thing and that is stop the acid pumps, you can also get things like zantac or mylanta which do help but make sure to space with the losec.
I would be suggesting that if your little one is 19 months old, to get him to a propper pediatrician who specialises in reflux or a paed Gastro dr, as there are tests that can be done to determine how bad it is, or if indeed it is reflux, some kids have other things going on that look like reflux and are often undiagnosed because of it.
Also if he has only just started treatment, you may find it can take up to 2 weeks to see an improvement, but if he is 19months and never been on treatment, it can take 3 months for any damage to heal, so it may be quite a while till you see full relief.
Right now, keep the dose at 20mg (see if you can get the probitor, you can get it with a losec script, honestly after 6 years of this, I wish I knew about it earlier), split it morning and night and get in to see someone who specialises in reflux. good luck :hug:
Scarlet121,
This is very appreciated advice. Just to confirm. He was diagnosed at 8 weeks old. We thought he had grown out of it until the ENT suggested an endoscopy and found severe swelling and burns with blisters all the way up to his vocal cords and throat. Reflux is a certaintly.
We called the Peadi yesterday telling him he is getting worse instead of better. He said to stop the Losec and see him again on Thursday morning first thing. We have an appointment with a Peadi Gastro Specialist but the earliest we can get in is December.
I am going to take your advice and give JD his tablet tonight dissolved in milk. I usually disolve in water and honey. All up he was on tablets 20mg a day for 2 weeks and then went to suspension for another 2 weeks. So all up he has been medicated on Losec for 4 weeks.
He was given Zantec and Mylanta since he was 8 weeks old. I will give him his tablet now and then Mylanta before he goes to bed and see what happens.
This is breaking my heart, he wheezes because his airways are swollen with the swelling. The damage they discovered in the endoscopy was very confronting and upsetting. No wonder I am always emotional. I am like a lioness and he is my cub and he is hurting and its breaking my heart. I just want to help him so he can be a happy, healthy little cub.
Aww - Puppies... we know how you feel. :( I was crying every day - I don't know how many times a day. And now that we have a diagnosis & treatment that's working, I want to kick my GP even more for saying, "you're a first time mother, aren't you?" - as though Jack's pain was in my head. man... it makes me feel sick to run those words through my head again.
You are doing the right thing by seeing the right doctors. Keep hugging JD... but save some hugs for yourself too - you are doing a great job. Xx
entreat,
thank you for your very kind words, they give me so much comfort, it actually felt like I was getting a hug from someone who knows exactly what I have been going through. So many people have said, 'babies cry, you did not prepare yourself for this'. I am so mad each time I think about this. MY INSTINCTS, although only new, were telling me something was wrong. I can not believe I even ended up on anti-depresents and diagnosed with PND before someone said, 'hey, there is something wrong with you baby, its not just you, your not depressed, your just upset to see your little bub suffer'.
Anyway, I just put him down and although I said I was going to give him his tablet, I decided not too (since the Peadi said to stop giving it to him). I just gave him some Mylanta and pray that we both get a full nights sleep.
I will let you all know what Dr Freelander says on Thursday...
You have certainly been through a rough time, I too know what it is like to hear from a dr that babies cry and that my child was highly strung.
I do say though, please don't stop the losec, you have confirmation that it is reflux, PLEASE don't stop it, the doctor in my opinion is not very good if they ever say (especially to a child who has reflux diagnosed through testing) to stop medication. For one, stopping a PPI like losec cold turkey will actually make acid procudtion increase and you get what is called a rebound effect. The reason your bub got better on 20mg even slightly and then so much worse on 10mg is that first off, you switched from tablet to suspension, a switch will still take a week or so to see a difference even if it is the same med.
The other is you switched to half the dose, this is when you actually get the rebound acid and thus, more pain.
I can understand a dr wondering why it is hurting more and why they thought it was the suspension or the losec not working, but in children it does take a couple of weeks at least.
In your case if there are ulcers, it will take 3 months to heal using a PPI.
And all of us have been told that they outgrow it at one and that it is unheard of to have longer than that, but in some kids it is there longer, some never outgrow it, so don't feel bad for not knowing, as they get older the reflux symptoms change and it is harder to tell than when they were babies.
Puppies, I too have been told "babies cry you know". Not helpful in the slightest.
You have good support here and I second what Entreat and Scarlet both said.......
Huge hugs coming your way xxxxx
Well I went to the Dr yesterday morning armed with what you ladies have told me. He agreed that JD probably got worse because he not only lowered his dose but changed it to a suspension. So we are back on 20mg losec tablets a day PLUS 2ml Zantac 3 times a day. He said he was meeting the gastro specialist last night and was going to request an urgent time slot instead of December as we have now. He ordered blood tests which we did this morning. That was horrible. JD was so brave! He is checking everything, particularly something to do with the immune system. He should have the results on Monday. He said that it is very rare that a sever case of reflux that JD has is so persistent and has classified his case as aggressive, requiring immediate medical attention. That scared me, but he also said we can fix this. I wonder if it was me crying begging him to help my little boy, since he has suffered so much for so long I told him I just want someone to do the right thing and help him instead of making him suffer more.
Can you believe that JD's right grommet (that was only inserted a month ago) is now infected. He said his body could be trying to reject it as it sees it as a foreign object. I am now concerned again, about his hearing in that ear!
We will call Dr on Monday and see if anything interesting came from the results. I will keep you all posted. Please Keep my baby bear in your prayers.
Aww, the wee man. At least your Dr is doing something now though, at least that is something.
Will be thinking of you. Let us know how you go.
Sue xxxx
Sound like you have a good Dr who is willing to listen to you. Xx Fingers crossed for better times ahead.
Jack seems to have gone in reverse this week. Yesterday was as though he'd never had losec in his life. :( He was really squirmy to feed & the crying was just like before. He's been coughing & sneezing more this week, and gradually building up to this. Poor kid. We think it could have something to do with his vaccinations. Maybe one or all of them have his tummy all out of sorts. His poo has been burning his bum again, too. It's really acidic. But weirdly, he slept for 9hours last night!?! Both DH & I thought the other one had gotten up to feed him at 2am... but no, he had slept until 5am.
I'll wait until monday, but then I'll call out Paed (who is in Perth - 6hours from us!) & tell him what's been happening. I'm down in Perth at the end of the week, so I can see him then if I need.