Tricks for giving Zantac syrup to baby?

[a_spark]

I apologize if there is already a thread on this, but I can't find one..

My 6 week old DD has reflux and just started on Zantac syrup. She HATES it. I try to shoot it into her cheek but she just holds her throat closed and spits it all out. I've also tried blowing in her face to get her to swallow. This worked once but today it seems she's wise to my trick. Does anyone have any other tricks?

TIA! :)

[ShannonGH]

I put Noa's Zantac in with her bottle of formula and she'll suck it on down.
Good luck!

[nybride2003]

My baby had reflux from week 1. These are a couple of things that helped but zantac is just a horrible tasting medicine. People kept telling me that babies can't taste but I swear he knew when he was getting gross stuff...so I don't know why people thought that. Get it flavored at the pharmacy. They can add grape flavor to try to mask the taste...still somewhat awful though. Give it to the baby cold...this is supposed to help the taste. Give it to the baby mixed with formula/breastmilk. I know givng medicine at this age just stinks. Good luck.

[Sevilla]

Are you nursing? You can stick the syringe next to your bb while she's sucking and slowly squirt it in and she'll swallow it right down :).

[ihearttx]

Honestly, I just kept giving it to my DD until she eventually got used to the taste. At first she would spit a lot of it out so I would just fill the syringe a little more than the "dose". After two or so weeks, she just sucked it right down. The good news is, your baby will be really good/easy to give other medicine too. When my DD sees any kind of syringe, she just opens her mouth now!

[ajb524]

Thankfully he's not on it anymore, but I always just mixed it with his bottle, but only about an ounce of milk so that I made sure he got the full dose in case he didn't finish his bottle.

[Sal03]

My DD is now on Prevacid but the Zantac was miserable stuff. It took forever to get it in her. I used to have to squirt a tiny bit at a time into the back of her cheek and I eventually got her to swallow it all down. If I gave her too much at a time she gagged and spit it out

[MrsTazlvr]

Honestly, I just kept giving it to my DD until she eventually got used to the taste. At first she would spit a lot of it out so I would just fill the syringe a little more than the "dose". After two or so weeks, she just sucked it right down. The good news is, your baby will be really good/easy to give other medicine too. When my DD sees any kind of syringe, she just opens her mouth now!

Ditto on this for both of my girls. They hated it in the beginning but eventually learned to love it and open their mouthes to suck it out of the syringe. One thing that worked with DD#2 when she was very young, but was kinda mean but I would wait until she was crying for one reason or another and I would shoot it in her mouth. Her reaction was always to swallow. I hated having to do this to her but it worked. Now she loves her Zantac. I agree about other meds being easier with a Zantac baby, too. DD#1 LOVES to take any medicine. Of course this almost makes me nervous that she is TOO excited to take meds so I am very careful that she doesn't have access to any. Good luck. :)

[kat]

They hated it in the beginning but eventually learned to love it and open their mouthes to suck it out of the syringe.

Yep, mine too. DS is no longer on Zantac, but he liked it so much in the end (I *think* because it signaled that food was coming) that now he cries when he sees me giving zantac to DD!!

I never had much luck putting the zantac in their inner cheek -- that seemed to make it easier for them to spit out. Instead I put them on their backs and squirted it toward the back of their mouths. Granted, they were older (4 months) when they started zantac, so it didn't make them choke to do it that way (I wouldn't try that with a newborn). But if your DD is still on zantac when she's older, that method might help.

[cynder]

I think it gets better over time generally but we also paid extra at CVS to infuse a flavor shot of grape. Some pharmacies offered so try asking. That might work. Now whenever we give Tyenol or Ibuprofen, he likes it for the most part.

[Soulmate]

We gave DS Zantac both straight and grape flavored. The flavoring helped but it was not perfect. The only tip I have is to give it to him before a feeding so you can chase it with the milk/formula. Also I just shot it all at once into the back of his throat. That way he didn't have time to spit it out. Just be careful giving it to him after a feeding. DS gagged so hard he spit up almost his entire bottle. I have heard from others to put the medicine in a nipple and let them suck it from that. DS is on Pepcid now which is sooooo much easier to give to him!

[QPDoll]

The only way I was able to give Zantac to my DS was to give it to him while he was sleeping. He swallowed it with no problems then. :) We still give him his meds this way. Zantac wasn't a lot of help with his reflux, so we moved on to Prevacid...and thanks to Prevacid, he wont take any medicine now - its nasty, horrible stuff to give because of the granuals.

[amychris03]

Yep- Walgreens does the grape flavoring and it was a miracle for us. Sam screamed bloody murder before and now he looks forward to it!

[Pink_Converse]

I wish I would have seen this thread when Hayden was going thru this, the Zantac would make him puke. These are really good ideas, especially the one about giving it in the baby's sleep!

Makes me mad tho! I asked Walgreens if it came in different flavors and they said no, you think they would have suggested FLAVORING it!

[a_spark]

Thanks, everyone! I am nursing, and DH gives her a bottle of EMB every evening and we've started squirting the Zantac in her mouth mid-way through the bottle and that seems to work. I think we'll give her a little "snack" bottle of EBM in the morning as well and use the same method. The last two times we've given it to her she didn't even make a face, so things are looking up!

[Lizard]

I don't understand Zantac syrup... Has anyone tasted it? DD screamed her head off every time I gave it to her, so I tasted it... the mint flavor is horrendously strong and terrible. You'd think that something that's being used for Acid Reflux of all things, would be able to be manufactured with a milder flavor. :(

And yeah, we just shot it in her mouth and chased it with the boob. That way the screaming only lasted a short time.