An open response to The Daily Mail on medicating reflux

Regular readers of my blog will know my opinions on the Daily Mail and their scaremongering health articles, but a recent piece they published on medicating babies with reflux with "heartburn pills meant for adults" has enraged me beyond belief. I really feel I need to openly respond to this biased and misinformed article, which states " there is a question mark over whether there are benefits [to giving babies omeprazole] at all".

Ask any mum who is a member of the "Babies with reflux & silent reflux" facebook group, which has been a constant source of help, support and information for me over the past 18 months (more so than any quite frankly misinformed and ignorant GP), and they will tell you that they would much prefer to give their child a drug meant for adults, than to force their child to endure painful months of burnt esophagus, oral and food aversion, behavioural issues and potential internal scarring. As a mother of a child who was fobbed off and subsequently medicated too late and has had to deal with the aftermath, I think the tendency is to refuse vital medication to children with reflux, not over medicate. 

Don't believe me, see for yourself. With the permission of the members of the group, I've screenshot the responses the article got in the group (blanking out names and photos for safety/privacy issues). Comments are still going up as I write. As you can see, there's two sides to every story.

Daily mail, get your facts straight before you author such one-sided, misinformed articles! It's extremely damaging and dangerous to provide such a one sided and biased view of something which can be so damaging not just to the child but also the mental health of the parents involved (again first hand experience). All I can advise, from my own experience, is mother knows best. Not a GP and certainly not a sensationalist newspaper. If you think your child's reflux warrants medicating, push for it, or you may end up dealing with the consequences for years afterwards.