medicine anxiety!

[Anonymous]

Hello and thank you for helping me to survive the hardest of days.

My husband and I thought our baby was being fussy and we avoided medicating him until I nearly lost it. When I found this web site, I knew my son was suffering and needed help. Now my son is 4 months old and is on zantac 1.5 ml twice a day. He has great days most of the time but nights are horrific. What is the dosing for zantac for a 18 lb baby in ml? I think he needs a higher dose. He recently started fussing more during feedings. Also, I am paranoid that he spits up the medicine after I give it to him! I give him the zantac and then wait between 1/2 to 1 hour to feed him. When he spits up I freak out that the medicine came out too (which means it will be hell that night!) My all time low came when he spit up and I actually tasted a little of it to see if I tasted the bitter taste of zantac!!!

I know that sounds irrational and nasty but I don’t know what I will do if this baby doesn’t start sleeping more soundly. He has had 2 or 3 good nights since he was born and I woke up feeling like a new woman. All I need is a couple of hours of uninterrupted sleep in order to be a happy energetic mom! Recently I have developed anxiety and can’t go to sleep even when he falls asleep because I think he is going to wake up crying any moment. When he does wake up at night for a feeding, I am happy to feed him, but then he won’t go back to sleep!! It’s either that or he is screaming in his crib and I know that he is not hungry. I’m going back to the doctor today and I hope he can up his dose if that is what he needs.

I’ve been reading the posts on this discussion board for a month now and I am finally asking for help. It’s like posting would make our situation more real. I guess I was hoping that my son would miraculously outgrow it! Thank you for listening to my story and for your help!

[Anonymous]

Hi there. Welcome to the site. Glad you finally decided to post. I’m in a bit of a rush and don’t have too much time to reply now, just wanted to let you know that you’re not alone. We’ve all been there. My all time low was when I bought pH paper from the store (the kind they use to test urine) and starting testing the acidity of my daughter’s vomit to see how acidic it was!… so I can relate (though I’ve never tasted spit up, I have tasted her medication to see why she was spitting it out…)

For sleep- some people have had success with something called a tucker sling/wedge and it elevates the crib. I think once his pain is under control, he’ll likely sleep better. What are you feeding? What are his poops like- some babies are MSPI (milk/soy protein intolerant) and the formula/diet actually triggers the reflux.

If the zantac isn’t doing the trick, you might want to try a PPI- a stronger med. Check out http://www.marci-kids.com for more info.

Good luck. Hope you’re sleeping better soon.

Oh yeah… Just remembered, when dd was REALLY bad and I needed to get more sleep, I would take shifts with dh. He would take the 8-12 shift, and that was my time. That meant that I could spend the time sleeping, or some time just for me. It really helped a lot. Then he slept from 12-6 to go to work.

HUGS.

[hellbennt]

we did the shift thing, too…

as for the zantac, I’d look into getting a PPI. but, in the meantime, I’ll figure out the dose for you- don’t just take my word on it though, check here: Zantac dosing- my/other’s question: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9539&PID=82914#82914

ok so 18lbs is 8.2 kilos

the HIGHEST your baby can have is 10mgs per kilo

so that’s 8.2 x 10 = 82mgs

the liquid is 15mgs/ml so

that’s 82 divided by 15 =

5.5mls total for the day, divided up however you think it’ll be best

that’s an increase- to his current dose of 3mls…

you can also try mixing some mylanta cherry supreme in with the zantac to help it go down a bit better: Tips for Zantac & Mylanta: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=149&KW=mylanta

and, babywearing SAVED us! Babywearing: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1044&PN=1

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much for your reply. I went to the doctor yesterday and he referred me to a GI and also recommended that I switch the formula to Similac Isomil Advance. He said he could not prescribe prevacid but that the GI could. The doctor checked his bowel movement and said there was no trace of blood. Fernando’s poops are normal, but he is very gassy. and sometimes he has more than 1 bowel movement a day. We have an appointment on Friday.

I’ve read about the Tucker sling. My son is 27 inches long and weighs 18 lbs. Will he still fit in it? Also, do you put the baby in it while they are awake or asleep? I can’t imagine Fernando being put down while awake. HE protests when he can’t move around freely. I could never swaddle him!

As far as the milk/soy protein intollerance, I’m going to read up on that.

Thanks a million!!!

[Anonymous]

I feel your pain. My son is 5 months old and has trouble eating and sleeping. His weight gain is very slow and all efforts to get more into him have not worked well. My wife tries to feed him every three hours with one bottle before bed. We are lucky if he takes 5ounces at night – the other times he is breastfeeding and may only be getting 3 ounces. He is only 14lbs. It is very tough on my wife and I. We have debated whether to switch to forumla full time to deal with the weight gain but also know forumla makes reflux worse.

We were on Zantac but the pediatriction switched us to Prevacid. He has been on it for 8 days now and is not much better – for many days he has been worse. I know it takes time for it to work. Our problem is that it needs to be given 30 minutes before a feed. Well for a baby who doesn;t always feed well, this is not ideal. We have an appointment tomorrow and the pediatriction has recommended going back on Zantac as well at 1.6mls 2x a day. We’ll see.

I feel your frustration…there have been very few good days in a row and we have have yet to really get on a good stretch of feeding and sleeping. All we really want is for his weight to get up and be in less discomfort.

Just know that you are not alone.

[Anonymous]

It is so nice to see a dad posting. Some people say that god, or whatever greater force, only gives to us in life what we can handle. You and your wife are lucky to have eachother for support and comfort. Your son is lucky to have such loving parents. Good luck with your baby!

[Anonymous]

Thanks. I really am worried about my son and just want him to be better.

One thing I was thinking of…if my son has delayed gastric emptying, will this counteract the effect of prevacid since it is supposed to be given on an empty stomach. Would this be one reason why prevacid might not work?

[Anonymous]

I too feel your pain as the early months were so hard and I was always exhausted. My first advice is to focus on what you know for sure and in this case it is that he does have AR. When I first found this site I was so happy but became overwhelmed because there are so many other issues that mimic and/or make AR worse I was certain my son had them all. So after total elimination diets ruling out intolerances, allergy testing, ENT visits I have concluded that my son luckily only has acid reflux. But in the beginning I was convinced my son had every aliment because he was a horrible sleeper. My son is a year now, still breasfed and still on prevacid but things are SO much better. Sleep has always been our biggest issue and when he was about your sons age he was sleeping in a stroller because he needed to be completely upright. Eventually, we bought the tucker sling/wedge and he hated up but we ended up using the wedge under his mattress which helped. He would always nurse to sleep and then I would lay him in his crib on a blanket that was tucked into the side of his crib and then fold it over him, like a taco, and tuck it into the side of the crib again so he wouldn’t slide down the mattress.

For my son it wasn’t just the acid but more the actual reflux, the food would bother him coming up his throat. I know how you feel and how consuming it can be-no one ever prepares you for AR. I can so relate to the anxiety of falling asleep because you know it will be shortlived. But in the immediate future try and get sleep and keep him elevated, gravity is your friend. Good luck, you will get through it.

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much for the support. It feels really good to vent and to know that others have survived. The person who designed this website deserves an award!!

I really like your idea about the taco wrap! I don’t know whether to laugh or cry when I find my son in the bottom corner of the crib squashed because of the incline of his mattress. Poor baby was tumbling down in his sleep!

[Anonymous]

Adam,

One problem marci-kids found when doing testing on PPIs was that for babies, their stomachs often aren’t empty. If a baby has DGE, this can be worse. It doesn’t mean that the PPI won’t work, but for some babies it can definitely reduce the effectiveness. But, immediate release PPIs like caracream/zegerid, don’t have that problem. They have a built in buffer that will buffer any food that’s in the stomach.

[Anonymous]

Hi!

I would tell you to call the people at Tucker Sling and talk to them. I had one of the inventors call me and talk to me on the phone for an hour before I bought my sling. She gave me so much valuable information, although I did laugh when I thought about my daughter actually sleeping on this wedge. We didn’t get our sling until she was 2 months old and I thought there was no way she would sleep in it. But, she did – and does still at almost 4 months. I think it’s so comfortable for them because of the angle. She doesn’t even mind being confined and she’s the kind of baby who couldn’t stand to be swaddled. The sling goes up to 25 pounds, I think. I swear by it now and Sophia sleeps through the night. (She’s never spent a night in her crib..I have the sling right in bed with me and it’s heavenly!)

Good luck!

Andrea

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