Liquid Zantac - Alcohol Content?

[bjshad]

See message below - I accidentally sent it twice - didn't realize the first one showed up. Oops!

[bjshad]

Hi - I have a question maybe someone can help me with. When my 3 year old daughter was an infant, she had terrible reflux. She was put on liquid Zantac at 2 months old. At the time, I was concerned about the fact that it had alcohol in it, but we thought it was necessary because she was visibly suffering and the Zantac did help. Anyway, I looked on Zantac's website, and they have now introduced an alcohol-free effervecent tablet that is SAFER for infants! Does anyone know if the alcohol in the original liquid just so happened to be grain alcohol? As in, with GLUTEN?

My daughter has hypotonia, and I've read in several sources that celiac and hypotonia (along with asthma/ADHD/sensory issues) all go hand-in-hand in some cases and my daughter has all of the above. What I'm trying to figure out is if the hypotonia is a celiac thing - or if it's something else. I'm trying to figure out her earliest exposure to gluten - I fed her oatmeal infant cereal and barley cereal at 4 months, so I know for sure she was exposed to gluten beginning at 4 months old. But if the alcohol in the Zantac was actually grain alcohol that contained gluten, that would explain a lot.

Her hypotonia really became apparent around 3 or 4 months old, when most babies start to move around more - she has always been floppy though, even before that - and she was breech, although I had a c-section. I remember she rolled over at 3 months old, but after that, her physical development (muscular) slowed down substantially - she never did crawl - she belly flopped or inch-wormed everywhere and when she layed on her tummy, her legs were always splayed out. She didn't walk until 22 months old and we actually had braces made for her legs to help her walk, but she started walking on her own before her braces came in. She still walks with a very wide base - she walks with her feet pointed out and her legs farther apart than most kids. She has trouble with stairs - she definitely has mobility issues. She is receiving physical therapy, so we're getting help for her. She gets occupational therapy as well. Her hypotonia also includes the muscles in her mouth, so she's getting speech therapy as well.

I'm wondering if the celiac/hypotonia/ADHD/asthma thing could explain this degree of hypotonia? Or does it sound like a mild form of cerebral palsy? Anyone have any advice? I've talked to her therapists - they think I should not be so hung up on a diagnosis, because the therapy she recieves will not change - she's getting all the therapy the school system offers, so it wouldn't make a difference if she was "labelled" or not. It would just give me peace of mind.

Any thoughts?

Thanks-

Beth

[janelyb]

I would suggest a refferal to a neurologist. CP I have learned is kinda a catch all term used for any damage to the brain. The neuro will do an MRI which will tell you if there was any damage. He might even be able to guess when it happened; for us it was very clear that birth trama resulted in my son's cp. My son has mild CP but for him he is mostly affected his speech, very mild fine/gross motor and sensory areas. He too had hypotonia which has improved with therapy over the past 2 years.

Good luck. Sorry I don't know much about the reflux meds...mine had reflux too but not bad enough to need meds.

[bjshad]

Thanks for the reply - I made an appointment with a pediatric neurologist on July 10th. I definitely agree it's something I should have checked. Hopefully we'll find some answers.

Thanks again-

Beth

[lob6796]

I know with my daughter, when we put her on Zantac liquid the second time (recently when she was vomiting constantly) it seemed to make the vomiting worse. I took her off it, and now want to check on it having alcohol.. was not aware of that. Plus, this time it was flavored and I wonder what is in the grape flavoring. I have no answers for you, but thank you for bringing it up.

[dally099]

hi, i dont know much about the alcohol content in zantac but i do know about hypotonia, as my son is autistic and has this but in a milder form, he is also ADHD/OCD. he is not gluten free as he is fussy as heck and already skinny for his age so he does not like the gluten-free food that ive tried to give him so we will wait till he is older and better to understand. anyways he has ocupational therapy, he is very active though, lots of good gross motor skills, its his fine motor that we had a tougher time with. he is now 5 and runs around pretty good, plays sports etc. look into getting her into OT with a pediatric OT. they can do wonders there is also a great book out called The Out of Sync Child with some great ideas, and there is a second one within the seires called Activities for the out of sync child, it talks about kids with sensory issues, all the different types. it really helped us, good luck with your journey with your daughter.

[janelyb]

he is not gluten free as he is fussy as heck and already skinny for his age so he does not like the gluten-free food that ive tried to give him so we will wait till he is older and better to understand.

The older he gets the harder it will be to switch him gluten-free. There is a ton of research out there that says kids on the spectrum benefit greatly from a gluten/casein free diet. I wouldn't wait to switch him over, I'd do it gradually.....this site gives great advise on how to switch an autistic child on the diet

Open Original Shared Link

it'scalled going Gluten-free Casein-free in 10 weeks. It's a slower pace to getting him on the diet that he will probably respond + to.

[cben]

Hi-

I just joined this group and saw your posting. It sounds like you are describing my daughter. She too was breech and was born via c-section. at around 4 months she started taking zantac for reflux and started eating cereal and food around 6 months. She was always floppy but as 9 months we started PT becuase she was not sitting up by herself. She too did not crawl, she scooted on her butt. She started walking around 28 months and she too has mobility issues. btw- she just turned 3 a few weeks ago. The hypotonia has also affected her speech and she has really just begun to use her words. She receives PT, OT, Speech and DI.

We always thought the she would do things on her time frame but the more research that i have been doing the more i am curious about a gluten free and/or dairy free diet. I would greatly appreciate anything you can share with me from your experiences.

thanks,

Chani