We have been worried for a couple of weeks that S has silent reflux. He has all the symptoms (arching of back and going stiff, pulling off the bottle and screaming, not wanting to be laid flat in his cradle after his bottle, lots of hiccups etc). His symptoms are also very similar to my niece who had silent reflux when she was a bubs.

We started him on the Karicare thickener (in the NAN HA Gold) about a week ago and had a chat to our community nurse but after a very unsettled day yesterday where he refused to sleep, cried everytime we put him down and was extremely fussy on his bottles we decided to take him to our GP today who prescribed Zantac (2.5 mls twice a day).

I gave him his first dose tonight just before his bottle (gave to him in a syringe but he spit probably 60-70% out).

I'm just looking for any advice / experiences for those with bubba's on Zantac. Did it work? How did you give it to them so they would keep it down? How long did they stay on Zantac for?

It worked for Will. Was less effecgive for ANgus and we moved to Losec.

We used a syringe and squirted it into the side of their mouth and then stuck a dummy in straight away!

You can break the does up into 2 smaller parts - less might get spat out then.

I thinkt hey say give it a week or so to work. Depends if their is damage already done to the oesophagus which will need time to heal once the zantac decrease the acid.

Zantac and losec will not decrease the amount of physical refluxing - they just reduce the acid so it doesn't cause pain and damage.

Will stayed on it till maybe 8 months then we missed a few doses and he managed ok.

ANgus had a big flare up between 6 and 8 months so he stayed on losec till 10 months I tihnk and then we weaned him down. He still refluxes and it is worse when he is sick (croup caused the big flare up he had) but generally I just notice a grimace, a swallow and the smell on his breath. He is otherwise happy so we don't medicate.

Cait was on Zantac from 4 weeks until about 9-ish months, whenever she started pulling herself up and cruising on furniture.

We had to start with a low dose, consult the paed again and then go with a higher dose. Remember that it needs to be adjusted as they grow, the dose is based on mass. It took nearly a full 2 weeks to work for us, although we did notice it kick in within a couple of days. As Melissa said, it doesn't stop the amount of spewing but stops it burning when they do. Cait had mainly silent reflux but still managed to posset a hell of a lot.

As for getting it in, we went for a syringe with the zantac and a bit of milk mixed in, aimed fir the inside of the cheek.

We started on Zantac with Riley, but it never really worked very well even with adjusting the doses. When he was about 2months we moved to Zoton (similar to Losec) and it worked better, in hind sight still not well enough. Riley was on zoton till over 1yo even though he started walking at 7months. We weaned Ri off it because honestly it was no longer helping (we were using mylanta alot as a backup), so I didn't see the need for him to be taking something that wasn't working. Our situation is probably a little different in the fact that we think we were also dealing with intolerances the whole time. Riley's reflux didn't go away until after he was on a gluten free diet for a couple of months, which we didn't start till he was 20ish months old.
Now days he still gets a little reflux every now and again, its usually when we are testing a food or has something very strong in flavour. If it doesn't pass easily like Melissa said then we will give him a couple of mls of mylanta and that settles him.

I'm so sorry to hear your little one might have reflux, reflux is so awful...yes many babies have 'reflux' but not so many have the Gastro Oesophagael Reflux Disease (GORD) which is what causes the extreme pain.
There is a lot of conflicting information and diagnosis about reflux, all I know is that mothers intuition goes a long way. There are a lot in the health profession that think it is overdiagnosed, then some that think it is underdiagnosed. Makes it tricky eh! I am assuming from your post that your GP takes it seriosuly as that is quite a decent dose of Zantac there, I think Angus was on 2 ml a day to begin with and we raised it from there. I don't think there is much risk associated with Zantac for memory so that might be why he has just gone for a good effective dose to begin with. Whilst Zantac does not STOP the reflux action (as mentioned above) it does reduce the amount of acid produced and therefore improves pain levels. However I have experienced reflux that made me nauseas so I do wonder if Zantac does stop nausea related to reflux and as such might reduce the amount they vomit (but this might not be an indicator for your bub anyway given you say that they are a silent refluxer).

Anyway, we have had a few experiences with Zantac. For my nephew it was a simple process, he went on it at a few weeks old - then he went up a dose and then weaned off it at a few months old. All was fine.
My DS1 went on it at about 4.5 weeks old after we trialled both gaviscon and mylanta from when he was 10 days until the paed appt at 1 month. that stuff is potent! I am vague on my memories from this time, I believe he was on it for a month and then moved to losec (stronger). Then when that didn't work we went to losec and zantac 1 week of each month. Apparently that cummulative effect is what they were trying to achieve. It was difficult to get it in at first but it didn't take too long before DS1 got used to the taste. at 4.5 months we took DS1 off his losec dose and zantac dose and managed him by diet. I had an intuition that the medication was just disguising the real issue so we went dairy free, and tehn gluten and soy free. He was off those until about 1 when he went back on dairy, then gluten then soy.
DS2 has been more complicated. He went on mylanta at maybe 3 weeks old, then went to zantac at some point, maybe around 10 weeks. That was impossible to get it down but we then moved to losec and then to Zoton which is a proton pump inhibitor so works much differently to the previously mentioned medications. At 14 months DS2 is still on zoton and we are awaiting gastroenterologist appt to investigate further.

With both of the boys it worked diffferently to get the zantac in. DS1 needed it squirted in quickly and efficiently and he would just swallow it down and would then have a feed straight away. DS2 would choke and get most upset when it was squirted in so it was actually better to just squirt a little bit at a time.

There is a lot of documention since I had DS1 into using mylanta over a prolonged period of time, which is why I no longer have it in the house. It has aluminum in it which is attributed to alzeimers. I use a little bit of gaviscon either infant gaviscon in his drink (which is a thickener so cannot be used with the karicare thickener) or a small amount of adult liquid gaviscon which doesn't have the aluminium in it.

I'm sorry to hear you're facing this problem, but it sounds like you're getting great help. Hang in there - it will improve. And if the Z is not the solution within a week or so, then go back and try something else, and keep asking questions :-)

We started our daughter on reflex meds around 6 weeks (I think it was Zantac to start). It worked within a few days to settle her, but we kept up with the other recommendations (I reduced then removed dairy from my diet as she was exclusively BF). It worked GENERALLY, but you need to keep an eye on the dose. Being based on weight, they can outgrow it quickly.

At around 6 mths (I think - hazy pregnancy brain) we noticed she was really disinterested in food and still averse to taking the Z. I realised how strong it tastes, and it was around that time that we started other medications. The one that worked best for us from then was Nexium. First the granules, and then a half tablet. Oddly, we found from around 12mths, that slipping a half tablet in with her first mouthful of porridge or dinner was easier than trying to disolve the granules and get that into her within the finite period.

Our journey was longer than many, I'm sad to say! People kept saying "it'll settle by 12 weeks", then it was 6 mths, then 12, then "when she walks". But for us, she was over 2 before we took her off Nex. And that was after a diagnosis from my "sunshinesfromheramazingpaedGP". We were referred about a suspected heart murmur, and I mentioned the OTHER issues like reflux, and interimittent nightscreaming, recurring ear infections (even after grommets) and she diagnosed sluggish digestion: in that FIRST appt. Anyway - a choir of angels sang at that moment and we've never looked back.

My advice: keep asking questions, keep on top of it, and prepare that it MIGHT NOT settle as quickly for you as it does for others. I dont' mean that to be negative and defeatist, just that with several of the issues we had Drs (paed gastro, paed ENT, LC, GPs) saying "it'll end soon, don't worry". And with us, it went on for much longer than we'd anticipated. That didn't mean they were wrong, or the diagnosis was wrong, or even that now (at 3.5Y) that the outcomes for us are worse: just that it was a much longer journey to medication free than anyone had led us to beleive!

Ben was on Zantac as a little boy.

We first started with an anti-reflux formula but it didn't do the trick so my GP prescribed Zantac.

We mixed it into his bottle rather than giving it to him separately and he didn't seem to notice at all - i.e. it didn't turn him off his bottle. He had 1 dosage increase a few weeks into use from memory.

We stopped at about 6 months. My GP thought he would be on it until about 9 months bit it just wasn't necessary which was good.

Ours is a simple story though, I know it doesn't work so well for all reflux babies unfortunately. I hope it does for you though

Imogen was on Zantac at first and then was hospitalised and prescribed a really potent dose of Losec before she started getting better.

I don't think I've got anything more to say as everyone's already said it, but just make sure that if you don't think it's working after a week or so, make sure you let someone know. if it works, that's so fantastic, but it's not the only avenue if it doesn't.
My paeds told me that Zantac is quite unstable for babies and hence why it doesn't work on some, however Losec needs to be prescribed by a paed whereas Zantac doesn't, which is why most doctors will start them on Zantac.

Our GPs told us that if it became too hellish, to present at the ER department of the Children's Hosptial as they have paeds that can see your child straight away and give another strategy to follow. Likewise, if it all gets too much, you can ask your GP to send you to a mother / baby unit for help.

Hugs. I wouldn't wish reflux on anyone.

Anyway, we have had a few experiences with Zantac. For my nephew it was a simple process, he went on it at a few weeks old - then he went up a dose and then weaned off it at a few months old. All was fine.

With both of the boys it worked diffferently to get the zantac in. DS1 needed it squirted in quickly and efficiently and he would just swallow it down and would then have a feed straight away. DS2 would choke and get most upset when it was squirted in so it was actually better to just squirt a little bit at a time.