Seeking Mom's Who Have Infants with GERD

Hi C.,

When my daughter was 2 weeks old she was diagnosed with GERD and put on Zantac. We kept upping and upping the dosage but really saw very little releif. My dr. said if you don't see relief within 3-5 days, then that is not the correct medicine. She then had an upper GI performed to confirm the GERD and went and saw a Pediatric GI. We decided to put her on Prevacid (compound form) and it was a miracle drug! We also had to put 1 tsp. of oatmeal cereal per 2 oz of formula in her bottles (works like gravity to keep it down) - both of those did wonderful. Finally at 6 months she grew out of it and is now off everything.

Believe me, her GERD was insane and nearly drove me insane. Zantac is the most commonly used drug for GERD because it was most studied...but if it doesn't work, please go see a specialist.

One website that I found extremely helful was www.infantreflux.org - they have great forums and I learned so much!

My Pediatric GI has a website: www.tummydocs.com I saw Dr. Guna Yes, he's all the way at Lutheran General but it was well worth the trip! The nurses there are also wonderful! Please feel free to email me with any other GERD questions - I consider myself a pro! LOL! :)

1 mom found this helpful

My daughter was diagnosed with GERD at 5 months old. She also was on Zantac. It worked for a while and we took her off of it at 12 months thinking maybe she outgrew the condition. She is now 18 months and taking Prevacid. MOST children outgrow this by 12 months.

Hi C.,

My daughter was diagnosed with GERD at birth and was put on Zantac. We used Zantac for a week and saw no improvement. She was changed to Prevacid and we saw improvement in her symptoms within 24 hours. I don't know if you are breastfeeding, but if you are... I had to cut out all dairy products, citrus foods, spicy foods, acidic foods (even pizza), caffeine and chocolate. My daughter did great with the changes. We keep her on the meds until 9 months and she has been fine every since. She is now 16 months old. Good luck. It does get better!

Jen

For my daughter zantac didn't work but then the doctor put her on peviacid ad it did wonders.

Hi C., my son was diagnosed with GERD at 5 weeks and put on Zantac. HE got much better within a day or two if i remember correctly, so I would say what the other mom said makes sense, if it's been a week or somethign and no change, it's probably not goign to help? Zantac doesnt' stop them from spitting up, it jsut makes it less acidic so that when they DO throw up, it doens't bother them as much. My son took .7ml of Zantac til he was about 5 and a half months old (18 pounds--he's really long) so at that point since we hadn't upped the dosage (he started at .7) he was getting very little per pound of body weight so the dcotr said to try weaning him of fit. He's completely off now and does fine. Still spits up occasionally but doesn;t bother him. good luck!

I am a mom of a now 6 mo old and a 2 1/2 yo. My 6 mo old has GERD. He was SOOOO miserable before we started him on medication. He was started on Zantac at about 4 weeks old. He had some relief of symptoms, but we ended up going to 3 times per day, maximum doses and still couldn't help his arching/crying/misery. The small improvement we had on zantac was edivent in about 3-4 days. By 11 weeks all of us were miserable as the baby cried nonstop for hours after each feeding, but all he ever wanted to do was eat. He was changed to Prevacid at 11 weeks and 3 days later we had a new son. He still spits up about half of every feeding, but there is no pain as the acid is controlled, so there is no crying.
Good luck. I never really understood how bad reflux could be until my son experienced it.
The good news is that almost all infants outgrow reflux by 12 mo of age.
The treatment of reflux/gerd depends on the physician, but also on your son's symptoms. If he is not gaining weight, then he may need more than just an acid suppressant. He may need a promotility agent as well (reglan). A minority of infants need more than that, and if that is your son, he should see a pediatric gastroenterologist.

I'll be quick because the others also seem very helpful. My son was about 8 weeks when we were told he had GERD, our doctor put him on Previcid and worked really great. I also only feed him (now) 4 oz. at a time and feed him more frequently, the spit up is less and he is full all the time so he doesn't "suck down" the feedings by being so hungry.
Good luck
Z.

Hi C.. My daughter who was 3 months premature came home from the hospital on two meds for reflux - reglan (motility drug) and prevacid. They also had her on Enfamil AR which is a thicker formula to keep her from spitting up. Add to that she was on iron so on top of the reflux, she was very constipated. You may want to check in with the AR formula if you are not breastfeeding. We mix it 50/50 with a regular formula because on its own it is too thick.

When we brought her home from the hospital, she was inconsolable. I had a feeling that her medications were not really helping her and went to the doctor to see what we could do. They upped her reglan and that helped a little. What really helped is when I got the doctor to try and change her from prevacid to Zantac in the correct dosage. The relief she saw when on the right dose was almost immediate.

What I would suggest is go with your gut and let your doctor know you don't think this is helping your baby and you need another med or to change the dosage. In my brief parenting so far of a baby with GERD, I've found that parental intuition is usually right on the money.

My daugther also has GERD and takes Zantac. She was diagnosed when she was two months old. Does your son pull away in pain when eating? She threw up in pain at first but the Zantac helped the pain. Now she has pain when eating. She pulls away and screams. It did take awhile for the Zantac to help and it still doesn't take away all the pain but it helps a lot.I am sorry but I can't remember what awhile is- she is 6 1/2 months old now. She is still on the Zantac and we have had to increase the amount has she has grown. We hope to one day have her off of it but for now she really needs it.

Hello. Our daughter was also on Zantac. They realized that she needed it before we even took her home from the hospital. She is now 2 years old and hasn't been on it since she was 9 months. It worked WONDERFULLY for her and we never had any problems. They also switched her formula to soy. I don't know if that is something that you can do, but that helped as well.

Good luck!

Hi C.,
My son was about 2-4 weeks old when he was diagnosed and we tried the Zantac also...that did not help him at all and then we were switched to Prevacid and it worked much better. If I remember correctly it was a little more expensive, but worth it. We were able to stop his meds at about 6 months-he's almost 9 months now. He still spits up more than the average baby, but it has improved as he has gotten older. We still feed him smaller amounts more frequently to help with the reflux.
Good Luck!
N.