Most Active Stories Shots - Health Blog Sun November 6, 2011
Second Thoughts On Pills For Babies Who Spit Up Babies have been
crying and spitting up since time immemorial. But these days
many parents ask: Isn't there a drug for that? "Parents come in
often demanding medication," says Eric Hassall, a pediatric
gastroenterologist at Sutter Pacific Medical Foundation in San
Francisco. Prescriptions for acid-suppressing medicines for
infants have increased dramatically. Hassall says some parents
have picked up on the idea that heavily advertised medicines for
reflux in adults can help fussy babies who spit up a lot. He
documented a 16-fold increase in prescriptions of one proton
pump inhibitor, or PPI, Prevacid, which comes in a child-
friendly formulation. A Food and Drug Administration review also
found an 11-fold increase in number of new prescriptions
dispensed between 2002 and 2009. These medicines aren't approved
for infants with reflux, or GERD. Still, some doctors have been
prescribing them off-label anywa