Mommy melt down

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I am new to the boards, though I have been lurking for about a week. I have a 7 week old daughter who has been diagnosed with reflux. She was a c-section baby who choked twice while she was in the hospital and stopped breathing. We were told that it’s common for c-section babies and not to worry about it.

Yeah right!

My husband and I proceeded to stay up around the clock and watch her until she was two and a half weeks old. Our pediatrician then told us we needed to put her down to sleep. We did, and that night she choked, threw up and stopped breathing. We took her back to the ped. the next day and she was diagnosed with reflux. Since I’m breastfeeding, she had us try an elimination diet before any medication. We tried that for several weeks and she did better for a little bit. But, this weekend was the worst she’d ever been. We went back to the ped. today and finally started Prevacid.

I thought this would be a magical solution…until I found out we were given a pill. I tried to disolve it in water, but quickly realized that there are little beads in the pill that won’t disolve. So, I tried to give it to my DD in a siringe, but the beads were lighter than the water, so they wouldn’t all come out and I have no idea how much of the medication she actually got down. I did have another mom at the pharmacy overhear my situation and tell me I needed to go to an apothacary to have the medication made in to a suspension. I just can’t believe that the dr. would give us a pill for a 7 week old and not tell us to have it suspended. (Sigh)

I’m at the end of my rope…the ped. won’t put our daughter on an apnea monitor, so my hubby and I are taken turns staying up all day/night to watch her and make sure she doesn’t have any issues. I’m so exhausted and heartbroken. My baby girl looks at me and cries the most painful, heartbreaking cries and I can’t do anything to help her. She hardly sleeps and when she does, she wakes up crying in pain and then falls back asleep. Even when I lay her down to change her diaper, she screams in pain until we pick her up. I feel like a complete and total failure as a parent and the thought of waiting another two weeks for the medication to kick in just slays me. And, now she has to go to children’s hospital for an upper GI…just one more miserable thing that I can’t explain to her.

I feel like laying in a corner and crying…or sleeping!

On top of everything, I’m so concerned – or dillusional – that I thought she was having an allergic reaction to the medication. I thought she had a couple hives on her face, so now I’ve been watching every breath that she takes in just to make sure she’s ok. Plus, now I’m totally freaked out to give her any more medication. Maybe I’m hallucinating??

Anyway, sorry to ramble here but I needed to get it out and hope maybe I can find a kindred spirit out there who might know what I’m going through and has lived to tell about it.

Andrea

[Anonymous]

The pill is the best way to give the prevacid. Having is compounded into a suspension doesn’t usually work as most of the pharmacys don’t make it correctly, some of the other mom’s can chime in about that. Another way you can give the pill (i’m assuming this is the solutab) is to hold it in her cheek with your finger and let it dissolve that way. Make sure to give on an empty stomach and then follow with a feed 30-60 min after you give the med. About the apnea monitor, there is amonitor available. Angelcare monitor that will detect if they stop breathing. Many of the moms on the site have used it with success as most of our babies like to sleep on the tummy which is a bit scary at times. Good Luck. Hope this helped some. Also it will take about 2wks for the meds to kick in good. In the mean time you may want to give cherry mylanta supreme before feeds to give some relief, be warned however that it can cause loose stools.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Beth…I forgot to mention that we’re on the Tucker Sling and Wedge, so I’m assuming the angel care monitor will not work. Any other ideas??

[Anonymous]

Sorry you’ve had such a hard time. Ask your doctor for an apnea monitor if you’re worried. I know a few people who were sent home with these. About the prevacid, a great tip (thanks ndrose) is to dissolve the solutab in a touch of water… like 2-3ml or so- then take a medicine dropper like the kind you get in a mylicon bottle (not a syringe). Suck it up, it might take 2-3 times of sucking it up and then giving it to her to finish it all up. It’s pretty easy and the beads come out nicely, I found. They’re also small enough for her to swallow.

How much prevacid is she on? The dose often makes a difference… sometimes it’s too low.

Good luck.

[hellbennt]

hi & welcome!

I have a LOT to say & (most of) it’s here:

J

Groupie Intro: my intro: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=853&PN=1&TPN=1

so glad you found us!

~laura

[Anonymous]

Oh wow, you must be absolutely exhausted. I am so sorry you guys are going thru all this. I really don’t have any advice,as I am dealing with a simular situation,but wanted to offer support and ((hugs)) to you. I sure hope your baby AND you & your husband find some much-needed help & relief soon!!!

[Anonymous]

Thanks Lori!!

We used the medicine droppper last night and it worked like a charm! I’m so excited…Sophia took it all in like it was a great treat! We’ll see how she does tonite, but at least we’re one day closer to having the medication take effect.

About the apnea monitor…my dr won’t give us one. I’ve asked three times. The last answer I got was “apnea monitors don’t save lives. By the time they go off, the baby has already stopped breathing.”

Ok…but I’d rather know after 20 seconds, and not two hours! So, I’m now resorting to trying to buy one on the black market. Or Ebay. We’ll see what happens…

Thanks again!

[Author]

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