Newly diagnosed silent reflux

[Anonymous]

My son is 5 months old. He was prescribed 15mg Prevacid. We started two days ago. The Dr. wants us to wait 2 weeks to see if the meds have any effect. If they do, he’s got silent reflux (he doesn’t spit up), if not, we do an elimination diet.

A little background…DS is very fussy when BFing. Sucks a little, cries a little. He does most of his eating when he’s very very sleepy. Even with the crying, he is 18lbs, so he clearly isn’t wasting away, though it is draining to have BFing sessions with him.

He is also a night waker. Usually he’s up at least every 3 hours, usually there is a period when he wakes every hour. We’ve been trying the No Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley…but haven’t seen results. He’s been waking like this starting around 3 months.

Specific questions:
–do you think our night situation will get better with the Rx? please say, “yes!!”
–is silent reflux treated differently from the spitty kind of GERD?
–could a little constipation from the prevacid cause MORE nightwaking? and how to fix that?
–Now what?

Thanks!!

Brenna

[Anonymous]

Hi and Welcome.

What type of prevacid did you get? if it is the capsules or the solutabs you need to give them on an empty stomach and follow with a feed 30-60 min later. It will take up to 2wks to see the true effects of the meds so hang in there. He may actually start spitting up once he isn’t in pain anymore b/c it doesn’t hurt and they don’t reswallow it after they reflux. You don’t really treat silent differently than regular reflux it can just be more damaging b/c they are getting the burn 2x up and down vs the spitters who only get it on the way up. Sleeping got better for us once we were on a good dose of prevacid. It wasn’t great until he was a year old but that was my fault not the reflux or meds. I am hoping that some other moms will chime in as well. Glad you found us.

[Anonymous]

Hello and welcome.

About the constipation question…the answer is YES! My son’s reflux is SOOOO much worse when he is constipated….period! Ped GI’s usually treat chronic constipation (which babies often get on reflux med) with Miralax or Enulose. I have used Miralax for all 3 of my chronicly constipated babies. Most of the moms around here use it as well. It is over the counter now and is super safe. It is nice because it is a tasteless powder that dissolves into anything. I put a 1/4 t in every bottle (so 4 times a day). And then I just adjust as necessary….and it isn’t habit forming. In my opinion…it is a miracle drug!

If the reflux is the issue..the nights will get better. If the reflux is just a symptom of another issue such as a food intolerance etc….then the nights might not get better until the issue is resolved. And, reflux is often a BIG symptom of a food intolerance. It seems to me there is a much more efficient way to see if the reflux is the issue rather then waiting 2 weeks…when your son is having a bad spell, try a little bit of Chery Mylanta Supreme ( or any liquid antacid that doesn’t have Aluminen), if he gets considerably better right away, its a pretty good indication it is the reflux that bugging him. Lots of moms around here use it in addition to the PPI’s and H2Blockers their kids are taking. Then like your doc said, you could start looking at eliminating foods. I would try all milk and soy products to start with…they are usually the culprits.

I would check out Marci-kids.com. It is a site created and ran by some super cool doctors who are working really hard to educate moms on reflux and the meds available to treat reflux. You will learn there are you need to know about reflux meds. On this site you will learn all there is to know about the actual reflux. This site will likely be an answer to your prayers… it was to mine. You have found a place where you can obsess about poop and spit-up and we will all still love you! It’s great!

Talk to you soon!

[Anonymous]

any chance you have OAL? That can cause feeding behavior similar to what you describe.

[Anonymous]

Thank you, ladies, for taking the time to write!!! I appreciate each of your experiences. I started looking at the MARCI kids website and will need a little time to digest the info…but it looks like a valuable source!

We’re trying to get DS to take some solids…rice cereal mixed with BM and prune juice is what our Dr recommended to counteract any constipation. But, I can’t seem to get enough in him for the prune juice to have any effect. Technically, he isn’t constipated yet…he hasn’t had a bm yet today, which is unusual. But, I think that’s making him uncomfy.

I read on the MARCI site that you shouldn’t give antacids and a PPI (prevacid in solutab form) because there is an enteric coating on the prevacid that is dissolved by the antacid…then the PPI is inactivated. So, I can’t do that. It would have been nice to test it before we put him on Prevacid though…I agree with you there.

Recently I just started using both breasts for each feeding session since he seems to only want to eat every 3-4 hours. Previously, when he wasn’t such a pain to feed, I would use only one boob. His poop isn’t green or foamy…but I do feel a huge letdown and he sometimes pulls off right after I LD. I try to squirt some of the gushing milk onto a burpcloth. He will usually go back on ok after that.

We have had a couple of awesome nights and a few really really horrible ones. They seem to alternate.

Does the Prevacid have a little effect this soon, or do I really need to wait the full two weeks before I can officially say that it works??

I plan to spend lots of time lurking around here….thank you again for the replies…I’m just about losing my mind with lack of sleep….hope and pray this works for us!

hugs,

Brenna

[Anonymous]

You can give the prevacid and Cherry Mylanta supreme “together” just not at the same time. They need to be spaced 4hrs apart for the reason that you mentioned. So feel free to use it if it has been 4hrs since or until your last/next prevacid dose. It helps in the middle of the night etc. some babies do show signs of decreased pain in less than 2wks but for us it was close to 10-11 days. Good Luck.

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