feeding times and meds

[Anonymous]

our ella has just started prevacid. the dr has her on zantac 3x a day until the PPI starts fully working. her eating habbits have changed and all she does is sleep. now she is sleeping through meals (3-6 hours at a time) when she used to eat every 1-1.5 hours all day.

how often should I wake her and make her eat? should i be concerned that she is getting to much meds and doesnt have any acid left to digest the food she is eating? up to now her wieght gain has been great, i’m afraid that her not eating as much will cause her to now gain fast enough.

anyone been though anything like this?

[Anonymous]

my concern would be that 15 mg of pravacid is too low to give her relief.

also, about the acid. a PPI is supposed to shut down acid pumps, so that is what it does, stops acid production. Joel from marci kids addressed this once in a post and i believe he stated that you dont actually need acid to digest food. he talked about an illness where some people have and they dont create any acid at all, and these people digest food just fine.
hope that helps.

i would not let her go more than 3-4 hours without eating.

[Anonymous]

Hi and welcome!

It actually seems like your doctor knows what she is talking about – not many people are willing to let you continue with the zantac until the PPI kicks in, so you are off to a great start!

It sounds like something is working if your baby is sleeping better.

A lot of people have actually had babies that are comfort eaters – that means that they eat all of the time because it is soothing for them – ie the food passing through the esophagus calms down their irritated esophagus. Once they are properly medicated, they tend to eat less because they are more comfortable.

As per the feedings – what does your pediatrician recommend? I know that ours said that we should feed Matthew every 4 hours during the day and on demand at night (but i was unable to breastfeed, so i have no idea if this would be good for someone who is maintaining a milk supply – laura is our resident expert on that!)

don’t worry about too many meds – your baby should do fine with her digestion.

Did you read Laura’s intro?? It is very helpful and has some tips abotu how to give a PPI together with an H2 blocker (ie give them at least 4 hours apart) and when to give a PPI (better on empty stomach adn about 30min before a feeding if possible).

hope this answers your questions

[Anonymous]

Hi there, and welcome to the site. I’m glad to see that your doc is on top of things, and that your little one is getting some meds from the start. We didn’t get Hailey on meds until she was over 2 months old, and so she was in a lot of pain needlessly. Great too that they’re letting you keep her on the zantac until her prevacid kicks in.

I agree with Thais- if she’s able to sleep better, then that hopefully means that she’s more comfortable. Maybe she was comfort feeding before, as she said. Hailey used to do this in her earlier days.

As for how often to let her go without waking to feed, I’d talk to your doctor, or if you’re nursing, you can also ask your lactation consultant. Many people hold different views on this question, so best to ask the professionals who are helping to care for your child.

As for being on too many meds, like Thais said, I really wouldn’t worry about it. It’s better to have the acid controlled, then to have to deal with other problems later on because of too much pain.

Another thing to keep in mind is the kind of prevacid you’re giving. If it’s the solutab, capsules, or packets, then it works best when given on an empty stomach, followed up with a meal 30 minutes later. The meal is needed to activate the meds. If it’s a compound, then you don’t have to worry about timing of meals, but there can be issues with stability and effectiveness. There is a site http://www.ppiknow.com that explains all this in TONS of detail, if you’re interetested in a more scientific explanation. There’s another site http://www.marci-kids.com . They also have lots of information. If you do check out that site, you’ll probably notice that they believe in higher and more frequent dosing of PPIs for infants and children (so that may comfort you a bit in terms of the safety of medications she’s on). Laura’s intro talks about this as well.

How much does your daughter weigh? As you probably know, PPI dosing is related to weight, and so if you don’t see any improvement after 2 weeks, then you can always ask your doctor if she can get a higher dose. Some doctors use a step-up approach where they start with the lowest dose and then move up, and others start with a step-down approach, where they start with a higher dose, and move down as symptoms improve. The fact that she’s sleeping comfortably though is a good sign. What symptoms did she have before starting the PPI?

Good luck and welcome again.

[Anonymous]

Ella is now 8 lbs 2 oz, which is realy good since she was 5 lb 12 oz at birth. she has had most of the typical symptoms. choking (while eating and sleeping), coughing/growning/squeeking, screaming in her sleep, pucking (sometimes it’s ‘hey i’ve got stuff in my mouth maybe I should spit it out” and other times it’s the ever fun ‘wow i didnt know someone so little could puke that far across the room’), comfort eating, arching her back and tilting her head to one side. she cries a lot, but who can blame her really…she’s in pain. the only time she is flat on her back is for diper changes and even that can cause her to puke or start breathing badly.

we can only cross our fingers that the ppi does it’s job so our little one can feel better.

we do have a good doc, plus i have found that calling the dr office with a screaming baby in the background is very effective in having the dr. pay attention to you (expecially when it is alteast once a week). besides i have been very persistant in getting the dr to see her, there is no reason for her to suffer like this. expecially after i read about everyone else’s experiences on this site. things would have been a lot harder for me if I didnt have the help

[Anonymous]

It’s actually enzymes not acid that aids digestion. Acid serves another purpose which I don’t remember but it is not needed for digestion.

At that age I used to wake my babies every 3 hrs to feed them during the day and then let them sleep as much as they wanted at night. If she’s feeling better and therfore sleeping better, she will likely eat more at each feeding and not have to eat so frequently.

Sounds like she had a great doctor. I hope the 15mg of Prevacid does the trick, but if not don’t be afraid to ask for an increase.

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