I need help!!!

[Anonymous]

My son is 2 months old, is currently on prevacid 30mg/day, giving 15mg in amd and in pm, which I have increased myself. He started on zantac, then to prevacid 7.5mg/twice a day, now to the 30mg. He has been on the prevacid for 2wks total, the 30mg x 5 days. During the day he is a different baby, usually happy, smiling, which he never did, but he still spits up and still wants to eat all the time. But last night and tonight, he is constantly crying, you can tell he is having reflux, he keeps having wet burps, then crying, coughing or gagging on feeds. He is not eating well and both nights following the prevacid dose he would feed then screams for a good 30-45 mins, spitting up, gassy, unable to console. Once he stops screaming he remains fussy and irritable and only calms when you are holding and rocking him. My question is: is this the prevacid? is he not tolerating it? i have read that some babies do not tolerate, but unsure what the signs are. Or do I still need to give the med more time? I thought for sure this would work and I am at a lose as what to do. We did try different formula( nutramigen), but he would not eat it, so I went back to regular enfamil lipil. I was adding cereal to every feed, but have cut down to just the night feed. I have an appointment tomorrow with his ped, but she is not very willing to do anything with his meds, states spitting up is normal. She only gave prevacid 7.5mg twice a day. Curious if i should ask for different meds.

Should I try splitting the prevacid dose? Do you think he is going to long without medication?

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Personally it sounds like MSPI and that he is reacting to the formula. That was our problem. You may need to mix the Nutramigen with the enfamil lipil until he gets used to the flavor… Cooper loves the stuff. You may also want to try Alimentum which is just like nutramigen just made by a different company and may have a different flavor. The constant fussing after feedings leads me to think formula and not meds, but it could be the meds… but my head says formula.

[Anonymous]

Did you find that cooper spit up more with the nutramigen? That is one thing I notived, but maybe it is do to the taste. Also, I have read that some babies grunt, Camden grunts all the time, usually the worst from 2am on. He grunts so much, that he spits up more. Is this due to the formula or reflux? Does it ever get better?

[Anonymous]

My son did was miserable after his Prevacid doses for about two weeks. I thought it was my imagination, but every time I gave it to him he would scream while feeding and he’d draw up his legs like his stomach hurt. I was about to quit the Prevacid when I read on this board that some babies get stomach cramps initially due to the aspertame or the lactose in the solutabs. Most babies adapt to it with time and the cramping stops. It did stop after about two weeks for my son. I hope that’s all it is with your son and that it passes soon. Once the cramping stopped my son did absolutely wonderful on Prevacid.

Of course, it is possible that he’s MSPI and the formula is bothering him. Some babies do worse on Nutrmigen due to the high corn content and thsoe babies do better on Alimentum RTF (the powder contains corn).

Marci kids does reccommend three doses of Prevacid and that’s what worked for my little guy. I split his two 15 mgs tablets into three doses so that he was getting approximately 10 mgs three times daily.

Good luck. I hope things turn around soon.

[Anonymous]

thank you for the suggestions. my son’s saw his ped today and she had suggested to try alimentum, since he diid not like nutramigen, will definitely try the ready to feed.

Was it difficult to split the pill into 10mg, how did you know that’s what he was getting?

You said it took two weeks for him to tolerate prevacid, was that two weeks total or a total of four weeks( two weeks post start of symptoms)

thanks!!

[Anonymous]

I didn’t notice any change in spitting up with nutramigen over bm or soy he just spit all the time, luckily that is getting so much better so there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

[Anonymous]

To answer your question regarding Prevacid, when my son was on a too low dose he was so miserable it was hard to tell if he had any cramping from it or if he was screaming from reflux pain. However when he started on 30 mgs it was very obvious to me that he had actual cramps because he acted differently (drawing up the legs) and it was always right during his feedings that followed his Prevacid dose. On day 10 (on 30 mgs) I noticed he was less irritable and was eating better( (so the higher dose was working), but the cramps continued for another few days. I’m pretty sure the cramping after each dose stopped by day 14 and he never had any problems with Prevacid after that.

To split the solutabs I used to break them slightly off center so that I’d end up with two bigger pieces (10 mgs) and two smaller pieces (5mgs). I’d use the two smaller pieces for his first dose and then store the other pieces in little rubbermaid containers. Some moms here have used a pill cutter, but I hadn’t though of that. It’s probably not necessary to be perfect in splitting them because he will end up with 30 mgs total for the day either way.

I hope that helps. And I hope the Alimentum works well for him.

[Anonymous]

I tried upping my LO to 15 mg twice a day when he was 7 months old, and it gave him a bad tummy ache. So, we went down to 11 mg (3/4 solutab) twice a day, and that worked wonderfully for us. You could wait the two weeks, and see if the cramping subsides or try cutting back a bit.

Good Luck! Hope things get better for you and your LO!

[Anonymous]

I just wanted to say thanks for the replies. I did try the alimentum RTF and he is eating it very well, actually I would say even a little less spitting up. Still cranky post night feed, but not nearly as bad. I will give the 30mg a full two weeks and go from there, hopefully it well get better.

Thanks again!!

[hellbennt]

Babywearing: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1044&PN=1

[Anonymous]

I was just wondering too about the cereal. You say you are still adding it to the pm bottle and that is the one after which he is uncomfortable. Perhaps he is having a hard time digesting the cereal. Many refluxers do, so unless you really think it is helping, maybe try cutting that out for a night or two and see what happens.

[Anonymous]

I was actually thinking the same thing, it was either the prevacid or the cereal and tonight I tried no cereal, still alittle crabby, but not nearly as bad, so it was probably the cereal, will continue to keep out for now. Thanks

[Anonymous]

My daughter’s reflux was always at it’s worst in the evening/night time. A feeding specialist we saw told us that this is quite common b/c the GI tract slows down at night, so food sits in the stomach longer than during the day when the metabolism is faster. Are you keeping him elevated at night? We found that helped a bit. Also, it can take a couple of weeks for the alimentum, in that the body needs to remove itself of the offending proteins, I’ve read. Good luck. Hope that’s the answer.

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