Infantreflux.org | Question about zantac

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April 5, 2006 at 10:44 pm #5464

Anonymous
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I had a question about when to give zantac. My doctor said to give it to my daughter (4 1/2 months old) before feeds (right before feeds). She gets 0.6 ml three times a day. (I’m pretty sure from reading info provided in the forum that she is not getting near the maximum dosage. She weights approximately 14 pounds.) I’ve read some different things in the forum. Does anyone know when I’m exactly suppose to give it to her?

Also, how far apart do the doses have to be? Ideally, I know that every 8 hours would be appropriate. However, she usually sleeps pretty well during the night (not a lot of reflux episodes), so I don’t often give it to her before 7-8 am. Then I spread the doses out as evenly as I can until bedtime, usually between 8-9 pm. If anyone has any advice, I would appreciate it.

Thanks in advance,

Susan

April 6, 2006 at 11:17 am #5500

Anonymous
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Hi – I wish I could be more help but I am doing the same thing for my son Matt (0.6 ml 3x a day – trying to space it 8 hours apart but sometimes it works out to be a little more or less). My ped didn’t specify when to give it to him so I am trying to spread it out as evenly as I can. Can I ask how long your daughter has been on Zantac? Matt has been on it 3 weeks. It worked great the first week, so so the second week and it has been touch and go this week (on Monday we upped the dose from 2x to 3x a day and still not great). I also just switched him to the Ailimentum formula (sp?) which there was alot of good feedback about on this website. does your daughter BF or is she on formula? Good to talk to you.

April 6, 2006 at 1:30 pm #5517

Anonymous
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I try to make sure that I space it out at least 5 hours apart. There have been times that I’ve done it closer to 4. (I thought that I was suppose to give it to her right BEFORE feeds.) Ellie has been on Zantac for about 2 1/2 months. She started when she was 2 months old.

She started at 0.6 twice a day, then over to 3 times a day. She is having a bad week this week. She was on Prosobee. Right now I’m trying Isomil. I figured that its not going to hurt her, and sometimes I read where someone tries a different formula in the same family and for some unknown reason it seems to help. I’ve tried almost everything that I can think of, so one more thing really isn’t a big deal to me. If have any suggestions please pass them on to me.

About how much does your son weigh?

Susan

April 6, 2006 at 4:51 pm #5541

hellbennt
Keymaster

we did zantac like you’re describing- aiming for 8hrs & then just doing what worked…there’s zantac dosing from my welcome/ intro…off the top of my head it’s 5-10mgs per kilo- don’t quote me- check my facts!

so 14lbs/2.2= 6.4 kilos

6.4 x 5 =32 mgs per day total for the day on hte ‘low side’ &

6.4 x 10 = 64mgs per day total for the day on the ‘high side’

zantac liquid is 15mgs/ml, so you divide the mgs by 15:

32/15 = 2.1mls a day total of zantac for the day on the ‘low side (you would divide this up into 3 doses of .7mls) &

64/15= 4.3mls a day total of zantac for the day on the ‘high side (you would divide this up into 3 doses of 1.4mls)

So, your .6mls (3x a day) can go up to .7mls (3x a day), or even as high as 1.4mls (3 times a day)…zantac is extremely weight sensitive & needs to be adjusted w/ every weight gain…

April 6, 2006 at 5:40 pm #5553

Anonymous
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Susan – Matt is 11 1/2 lbs now. I will let you know if we have some success with the Ailimentum (sp?) formula. Matt’s med is oral zantac in suspension (or whatever it is called), and it smells minty. I’ve been giving it to him in his formula b/c it is the only way I can get it in him. How are you giving it to Ellie? I tried it by itself once and he tongued it out making this horrible face. I tried giving it to him in an ounce of water and that just made him cry. I’ve seen some feedback in these forums that Zantac works great for a short period of time, and then stops working and you have to switch to a PPI. I have a bad feeling that the Zantac isn’t truly working for Matt and that he is on the verge of being back to square one again but I will use Laura’s post to check his dosage. My ped said if things didn’t improve on the Zantac – she’d refer me to a GI specialist. As Ellie been to a GI person yet? If yes, how did that go?

Laura – thanks for your post – I’m trying to print all of your welcome/intro out so I have it as reference going forward!!!

April 6, 2006 at 9:54 pm #5579

Anonymous
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Tyler is 18 lbs and was just moved to 1.2 ml 4 times a day. This is on the high end of his weight dosage as lower amount were not working anymore and we have an appt with a GI next week so we just wanted to make as comfortable as possible until we see what the next step is.

I requested to dose 4 times a day as opposed to 3 because it was working better for us. Pediatrician and GlaxoSmithKline said that it was fine as long as the dosing was at least 3 hours apart. Zantac takes 3 hours to begin to decrease in effectiveness in the body and 12 hours to leave completely according to GSK. We beleive it works best when given at least 30 minutes prior to feeding.

Good Luck

April 6, 2006 at 11:31 pm #5585

Anonymous
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Christa-

I give Ellie the Zantac in a regular nipple. I just squirt it in there and she sucks it right down. I think that she’d drink down just about anything as long as it was from a “bottle”. She acts like she doesn’t even notice the taste. I also tried straight in the mouth, and she hated it.

She has not been to a GI specialist. Again, my husband is in the military, so she’d probably have to be having a lot more severe problems (no weight gain, breathing problems, etc….) Its bad enough for us, but not them.

THANKS to everyone else for your replies! I appreciate the info.

Susan

April 8, 2006 at 8:56 am #5702

Anonymous
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Shelly – thanks for that info – at least 3 hours but no more than 12. You give it to Tyler 30 min in advance? do you give it to him straight up? Based on the dosing formula that Laura provided, I know now that Matt is on the LOW end of his dose. How often did you find you were adjusting Tyler’s dosage? I will really have to watch Matt’s weight gain to keep on top of his dosage.

I have learned more in this site in the last few days than I did from talking to my ped. Thanks to everyone!

April 8, 2006 at 10:36 am #5709

Anonymous
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Yes give it at least 30 minutes in advance. We have started to have problems at night as well which we never did before. So we have started to spread the 4 doses out a bit more to try to give last dose a little later. So for some feedings he gets it an hour in advance and he still seems to do fine with that. I think the trick is to give it on an empty stomach to prevent. If you give it after a feeding it may releive but it will not prevent.

You have to adjust their dosage often. We were doing it at his monthly appointments but recently we had problems because he had outgrown the dosage earlier and the build up of not enough in his system caused him to relapse quite a bit.

For a younger baby I would recommend getting weighed every two weeks to be sure you have the right dosage since they typically gain weight so quickly. Especially if you are on the low end of the dosing for weight. If you are on the higher end each month might be OK. As they get older and more active most babies tend to not gain weight as quickly so monthly would probably be OK.

I will say that the Zantac alone is not enough. Positioning for feeding and after feeding, limiting to 5 oz and burping alot is really key for Tyler as well. If I did not do that and just did the Zantac – it would not work.

Good Luck

April 10, 2006 at 12:46 pm #5792

Anonymous
Inactive

Thanks for all the advice.

Susan

April 10, 2006 at 3:24 pm #5810

Anonymous
Inactive

Shelly – thanks for sharing that info on Tyler – we do keep Matt upright during and after feeding for an hour but I will definately take your suggestion on limiting him to 5 oz. at each feed. He is at about 4 1/2 now. Matt is extremely hard to burp. Also, for about the last week and a half, he has become very gassy & grunts and sometimes cries while passing gas – any suggestions on that? Gas relief drops seem to offer him no relief. His stools are starting to look a little watery as well which is probably from the increase in the Zantac – we upped him to 3x a day last week & also switched him to Alimentum last Thursday. I wonder if it is time to start adding a little cereal to his bottles and see if that helps???

April 10, 2006 at 3:48 pm #5813

hellbennt
Keymaster

cereal might add to the gassiness/discomfort-

it won’t help with pain

it is good for babies who need to gain weight bcse they’re vomiting so much & it’s good for babies who are aspirating and need a thicker liquid

I’d give the alimentum 2 weeks (actually, it seems all changes should be given 2 weeks) and see how the stools are then…

April 10, 2006 at 3:58 pm #5816

Anonymous
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I agree if he already has a gas problem cereal is likely to make it much worse. If you do decide to do cereal avoid oatmeal. It is terrible for gas. I tried 2 times with Tyler and it never works. No cereal has worked for him. We moved on to veggies but now even those are making him miserable with gas.

I wish that I could help with the gas remedy suggestions but I am trying to figure that out now myself. Mylicon does nothing for Tyler. We have the reflux reasonalby under control but now the gas is worse. He is waking up constanly in the night farting and burping grunting and crying.

I did not give him any solids today just so I can have a day of peace. I have to feed him every 2 hours though to keep his hunger satisfied without the solids. UGH

April 13, 2006 at 11:19 pm #6121

Anonymous
Inactive

I talked to my ped today about the gassiness, loose bowel movements, etc. She definately said no cereal. She thinks the Alimentum formula with the Zantac is not a good combination for Matt – they can both result in diarhhea (sp?) and Matt seemed to be heading down that road. I know of 2-3 babies on the same combination with no problems, but I guess it just doesn’t work for Matt. SO, we switched formula again – this time trying Lactose Free. Per the ped, she seems to think this might be better for Matt to help alleviate gas, etc. AND, as of tmrw, Matt will be on Prevacid vs. Zantac. Here we go again – I hope this combination works!

Is Nutramigen the Enfamil version of Alimentum? Of course I’m definately not an expert but I wonder if the combination of Nutramgen and Zantac is causing trouble for Tyler?

Anyway, as always, thanks and good to talk to you!
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