Prevacid and Frequent Stools (sorry if TMI)

[Anonymous]

Hi everybody. It’s been a while since I’ve been here.

Our LO was doing great on his daily dose of 15mg Prevacid and a couple doses of Zantac, until a couple of weeks ago. He started drooling a lot and spitting up more, and having more frequent “attacks” where we would have to give him some Maalox to calm him down.

He’s now almost 4 mo’s and close to 15 lbs, so the doc upped his Prevacid to 30mg 1x per day. This has really cut back on the drool, spitting up, and acid flare ups, but now he’s having lots of soft, green stools every day. Seems like every 3-4 hours, round the clock. He struggles and strains and has an aweful time just to pass a little bit.

Anyway, the ped recommended we try the higher dose for a week, then go back to the lower dose. Has anyone experienced similar problems? Did it eventually go away or what? Even though it seems to be making his reflux better, now he’s not sleeping as well (up 3x/night instead of 1x) and we’re fighting a diaper rash.

[Anonymous]

Hmmm….you might want to try splitting his Prevacid into two or three doses a day instead of just one. http://www.marci-kids.com recommends two to three doses a day because babies metabolize these meds 3-4 times faster than adults.

As for the frequent and loose stools, it’s certainly possilbe that it’s a side effect of the Prevacid. Diarrhea and/or constipation are the two most common side effects of most medications. Fortunately it usually passes in a few weeks as the body adjusts to the medication, or to the increase in dose.

My son also strained to pass very soft stools. I’m sure it was due to he DGE. This is something he struggled with until he outgrew his DGE at around 13 months.

Good luck. I hope your little guy is feeling better soon.

[Anonymous]

Oh, and make sure you are spacing the Prevacid and Zantac 4 hour apart. Also, Prevacid solutabs should be given on an empty stomach and then followed up by a feeding 30 minutes later.ndrose2007-08-20 09:51:41

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply. We do fine with the timing of meds and meals.

It’s just so frustrating – once you finally think you’ve got something figured out, it up and changes on you.

We went back to the 15mg dose this morning (the ped told us to do the higher dose for a week), so I’m sure there will be more flare ups but what can you do?

[Anonymous]

Is it possible that your LO is teething? I know it’s early, but the drooling and soft stools are certainly teething behaviours??? just a thought.

[Anonymous]

I guess it’s possible that he could be teething, but he’s been doing this for several weeks, so I would think that a tooth would have popped by now.

Yesterday he had 6 or 7 bms between 5 AM and 6 PM, but then last night he made it almost 12 hours without having a bm. Then got up this morning and had 3 within an hour and a half (might have been two, if he took a break and we were trigger happy with the diaper).

I’m going to call the ped this morning and see what they say.

gwatson2007-08-21 07:15:01

[Anonymous]

So yesterday I called the ped’s office and left a message. A nurse calls me back to tell me that loose stool isn’t a side effect of prevacid and that the doctor is gonna call us later in the day after he’s done seeing patients.

OK.

So last night while waiting for the doctor I get out the samples of 30mg Prevacid and look at the side of the box where it says the number one side effect is – surprise – diarrhea.

Oh well.

Ped called and I pointed this out to him – he said hopefully it will clear up within a week.

[Anonymous]

Sheesh! It says it right on the box. Docs don’t always know much about the meds they prescribe, but they should know that diarrhea or consitpation are the most common side effects for meds in general.

I hope things improve soon.

[Anonymous]

I guess that’s why just about the best advice is that you know your kid better than anyone else, right?

Little guy seems to have been getting better over the last couple of days (since we stopped giving him the higher dose). Today seems like it’s been even better, so I’m sure we’re on our way.

[Anonymous]

Good news! Glad to hear that things are getting better.

[Author]

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