More Meds?

[Anonymous]

My 7 week old son has been taking Prevacid for 5 days now and while I have seen an improvement, we are no where comfortable yet. He is usually very fussy and in pain from 5pm-11pm and he finally crashes out for bed. He becomes frantic and my husband and I can’t calm him down. He acts like he wants to eat constantly but that puts him in more pain. I have brushed it off as the evening fussies or maybe colic but the intense screaming tells and reflux symtoms tell me differently. I have wondered if we need to increase medication but figured I had to give it time before the Dr. would do so. Anyone else have an infant who is semi-comfortable through out the day and then have a really rough evening/night? What deciding factors made the Dr. feel you needed to increase meds?

[Anonymous]

Prevacid takes 2 full weeks to have its full effect so I would at least wait that long before considering upping the dose. In fact, I’ve read that the reflux can get worse when you first start the Prevacid for the first few days before it gets better. Was your son taking anything prior to the Prevacid, like Zantac? If so, I would ask about continuing that for the next 9 days or so while you wait for the Prevacid to take effect. Also, make sure that you are administering the Prevacid on an empty stomach and then following it with a feeding 30 minutes later.

How much does your son weigh and how much Prevacid was prescribed? And how often do you give it? Often the Prevacid is more effective if given 2 or 3 times a day since babies have a fast metabolism.

I think it’s very common for reflux to be worst in the evening and at night. My son was certainly that way, especially at that age. I have found that you need to approach doctors kind of telling them what you want, instead of just letting them decide. If your son is miserable, not sleeping etc then advocate for him and keeping pushing on the doctor until they give you what you want. If you read on this board enough, you will learn quickly about your options and what has worked for others. I would recommend a visit to a pediatric GI doc if you have not done so already. Run of the mill pediatricians just don’t know nearly as much about reflux as you would think they should.

Good luck!

[hellbennt]

welcome!

I have a LOT to say and most of it’s here, in a link called ‘groupie intro.‘
it’s looong but TRULY will help you- read through it, refer back to it, scroll through it/skim through it. You’ll find yourself coming back to it!

https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=853)

you can do this!

this should help, too- it tells all about the different PPIs (Proton Pump Inhibitors) and there’s a link to proper zantac dosing, too:

Prevacid 101:

scroll to the last page of this post, (it’s actually also about other PPIs like prilosec, too)
https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1936&PN=0&TPN=1

when you get a chance, please go to the top of this page, click on Settings and please then click on Edit Profile, then scroll down to

Signature & put:

baby (name if you want or nickname), age (can put month & yr of birth), meds, doses & forms of meds, breastfed or formula fed

thanks!

so glad you found us!
laura

[Anonymous]

Yes, we were taking Zantac before the Prevacid and saw little to no change. Frustrating to me is that I see an immediate change for the first few days and now we are going downhill. They have him at 15MG tablets 1 time per day. He weighs 10-11lbs. Any advice how you get a baby to take medicine in the morning and get them to wait 30 minutes before eating? Usually by this time he is frantic.

Worst of all for me right now is that I am letting my emotions get the best of me. I’ve endured almost 5 weeks of his pain and I feel like we may never find anything to make him feel better. My two other boys (5 and 3) are my saving grace.

[hellbennt]

the timing thing is hard! that’s why so many of us recommend using a product that came out of the research from the University of Missouri-

read

Prevacid 101:

scroll to the last page of this post, (it’s actually also about other PPIs like prilosec, too)
https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1936&PN=0&TPN=1

[Anonymous]

Your ped actually gave you a pretty aggressive dose of Prevacid. It’s generally 1.5mg/kg per dose. Some give this 2 or 3 times a day though. I would definitely ask about breaking the tablet in half and giving half in the morning and half in the evening. It’s the same amount of Prevacid but will likely be much more effective that way.

As the prior post mentions, there is something called Caracream that you essentially mix with the Prevacid and it allows you to administer it at any time. You can read more about it here: http://www.chocobase.com/ I haven’t actually tried it yet because I’m still trying to convince my husband that it’s safe, but people seem to love it.

I don’t think you mentioned whether you breastfeed or bottlefeed. I would definitely look into the possibility of MSPI. With my first son, I tried everything and nothing helped him. Finally, I did the total elimination diet (I was breastfeeding) where I eliminated basically everything from my diet except for a handful of foods that were highly unlikely to cause a sensitivity. No dairy, eggs, nuts, wheat, soy, citrus, chocolate, etc. Within two days, he was a completely different baby. Something I was eating was a sensitivity for him. I slowly started adding foods back into my diet one by one, to try and figure out which food was the culprit. Most often it is dairy.

I know how hard it is to see your baby in pain and things just seem so hopeless but it WILL get better. Both my sons had bad reflux and the newborn stage is just the worst. Whenever people come up to me and say “Awww, what a cute little baby! I wish my kids were little like that again” or “Awww, I miss having a newborn!” I always think they are crazy, because there was very little enjoyment in those early months. Most often, the reflux can be managed. You just have to figure out the right medicine.

Mom of 2 Boys2011-07-28 14:27:04

[hellbennt]

babies’ metabolisms are fast, that’s why the research says to give 2 or even 3 doses throughout the day…

also, how much does your baby weigh? I can help you figure out zantac dose and you can give that, too (making sure to give it 4hrs seperate from the prevacid), until you get the prevacid ‘right’

when you get a chance, please go to the top of this page, click on Settings and please then click on Edit Profile, then scroll down to

Signature & put:

baby (name if you want or nickname), age (can put month & yr of birth), meds, doses & forms of meds, breastfed or formula fed

thanks!

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the input, I will ask our Dr. about splitting the dose in half. To me that makes more sense than one full dose in the morning. I treat it like liquid gold and worry if he spits any out!

My baby boy is bottle fed, currently on Alimentum due to all of our issues. My middle son had to be on Alimentum as well for reflux.

I actually have found relief by using Colic Calm at evening feeding times. If this continues to work I would rather use than Zantac. It seems to call him stomach down and he is more restful instead of frantic when it comes to bed time. I will look in to the Caracream.

Thanks for all your advice!

[hellbennt]

I’m glad that Colic Calm seems to be working!

I’m not sure of the ingredients but here’s this:

Gripe water: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3438

you might want to look at the ingredients of the colic calm and read the above link & decide for yourself

[Author]

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