Prevacid Questions

[Anonymous]

My son was on zantac and he seemed to develop a tolerance for it, so we are now onto prevacid solutabs. He is 11 pounds, 9 ounces and is around 11 weeks old. He is taking one 15 mg tablet per day. My questions are:

1) Is this ever enough? I read the dosage calculator on marci kids and it said that he needed 21 to 27 mg/ day given 3 times per day. But, I would not say that my son has severe reflux. I think that he is irritable and uncomfortable, but he sleeps well at night and has happy times during the day. He gags, spits up a lot, grimaces and swallows, gets irritable frequently and chokes on his formula. His spit up also smells acidic. His naps have also shortened significantly in the last couple of weeks and he wakes up screaming. That said, would 15 mg a day ever work for a baby with such symptoms? Does the severity of the reflux influence the dosage of a PPI at all? The calculator on marci kids is so cut and dry based on weight and age, so I was not sure if it did. In reading most of the posts, it seems like most babies needed more than that.

2) Any suggestions on how to give prevacid solutabs?

3) The doctor told me to give the entire 15 mg at one time. Does anyone agree/ disagree?

4) Is prevacid weight sensitive like zantac?

5) I hope that this works! If 15 mg/ day has worked for anyone else, please let me know.

klmccart2007-11-06 20:23:07

[Anonymous]

Very good questions….

When did your son start the Prevacid? I just have a few thoughts:

1) Might be enough…but I doubt it if he’s already “graduated” from Zantac. Give it two weeks and then if he’s not a LOT better, I’d ask for the marci-kids dose immediately. I’ve had two refluxers, with my first son being less severe than my second, and both needed the marci-kids dose. I have noticed, though, that my second son’s reflux pain is so severe that even 30 mg of Prevacid does not keep it under control the entire day. We use Zantac in addition to the Prevacid for this reason.

2) I’m sure others will chime in — we’re on Prevacid packets because both my sons are lactose intolerant, and the solutabs contain a little bit of lactose.

3) Both my sons have done better with breaking up the Prevacid into at least 2 doses. Babies just metabolize it so fast, from what I understand. I’d say you’ll probably need to use trial and error on this and see what works for you. You probably are aware that it needs to be given on an empty stomach and followed by a feeding 30-60 minutes later….sometimes that fact affects which dosage timing works best.

4) According to marci-kids, the proper Prevacid dose does depend on weight and age. But I really don’t think it’s like Zantac where babies can outgrow their dose so quickly. To see what I mean, try entering a slightly higher weight into the dosage calculator on the marci-kids site, and see how much the recommended dosage changes.

5) Good luck!!! I hope it works, too, and you and your little guy can get relief. With my first son, we saw some improvement on 15 mg. With my second, we saw no improvement even up to 22.5 mg — only when we got to 30 mg did he stop fussing/crying ALL DAY. Just keep at it and I know you’ll find the answers you need!!! I wouldn’t stop til all the pain is gone.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the information. I will test it out and see if it works. If there is some improvement, but not complete, I will break it up into two doses (7.5 am and 7.5 pm). If that does not work, I will ask for 30 mg/ day. He was generally a happy baby on the zantac, but I am seeing increased irritability in him again. It seems to accompany the reflux. So, back to the drawing board!

[hellbennt]

for the zantac I’ll figure out 11.5lbs is 5.2 kilos

at 10mgs per kilo

that’s 10 x 5.2 = 52mgs a day of zantac

the liquid is 15mgs per ml

so 52 divided by 15 = 3.5mls a day total of zantac (divide it up however you see works)

Zantac dosing- my/other’s question: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9539&PID=82914#82914

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