Prevacid

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I am new to this website. My son Sam is 13 months old and has suffered from reflux since 3 months. Very poor appetite, refusing to feed and poor weight gain etc. We got no help from first ped, changed to second and still took months before convincing him to put my child on meds. We started out with Zantac 3mls a day and this was then increased to 4mls when Sam was 8 months old. This was working very well, so much so that we thought he was out growing the ruflux at 11months and started to decrease the dosage. That is when all hell broke loose. Refused to eat for 10 days and screamed his way through the night. Took him to my ped every day for a week and was told there was nothing wrong with him. He never even brought up the question of his reflux.

At this point I asked to be referred to the feeding team at Cinci Childrens. They put my son on Prevacid 15mg solutab twice a day. This worked well from the point of view that he no longer screamed his way through the night, but he had no appetite either. After a week of very little eating I called the feeding team again. We put Sam back on Zantac, but they would only prescribe 3mls a day and not the 4 he had been on. This worked well for 3 weeks or so but last week he started screaming his way through the night again.

Called the feeding team back and they told me to try the prevacid again but decrease the dosage to 15mg once a day. This is working from the point of view of sleeping but again his appetite is declining. Wants little or no milk and at 13 months of age doesn’t even want to hold his own bottle or cup. Picks it up, drinks maybe an ounce and throws it down again. Also finding it increasingly harder to get solid food in this week too.

At this point I don’t know what to do, has anyone else had this problem with prevacid? Should I ask to try prilosec or would I have the same problem

[Anonymous]

Many kids develop a milk allergy around that age is seems, or at least an inability to break down (digest) the milk. My son -and many others- fluid intake decreased significantly around 9-13 months old. I experimented with different fluids (he hated soy milk, regular whole milk, skim milk, juice, pedialyte). Then I tried Yo-J yogurt plus juice that comes in half gallon containers…He slammed 6 oz at once!!! Then I begin to realize that with all the meds and reflux, his digestive system was lacking the “good bacteria” needed to digest food (milk is VERY hard to digest). “good bacteria” is found in yogurt. There is also a product called Cultureale (sp?) that are pills that come in a box – found in the vitamins section and you can open up the capsuls and sprinkle it on food. “good bacteria” are called “pro-biotics” and I think it will help your son tremendously. My son drinks milk with acidophilus added to it and eats yogurt every day. His stools were even green for a very long time until I started giving him the Cultureale – now his stools are more normal because he has the bacteria needed to properly digest his food. I think this is an issue with many refluxers.

I also wanted to add that my son NEVER slept through the night until I put him on Pepcid AC (similar to zantac) in the evening and Prevacid in the AM – prior to that he just took Prevacid and he would wake up 3-6 times a night. After taking the Pepcid AC in the evening he sleeps through the night. I never would have suspected it was acid prior to the switch. I’m still dumbfounded that it worked!

lansima2006-6-14 10:48:52

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply. I actually do give my son yogurt each day in order to get the live cultures into his system as I thought this could only help. He has been tested for food alergies and has no milk allergy. My problem is now that the 4mls of Zantac did work and he was eating well, he was still eating well for a couple of weeks on the 3mls until he started to wake during the night again. While doing well he would drink about 20 ounces a day and eat well, now with the prevacid he is doing well to drink 10, cries when we offer the bottle and his appetite is decreasing significantly. I can’t get him to drink a lot of water or juice either.

So it seems to me if we can find the right medication and the right dosage he will be ok.mersci2006-6-14 11:43:48

[Anonymous]

I should also clarify that when I say that my child was doing well at one point on the 4mls of Zantac I should have included that it took over a month to see any improvement and that also when I say doing well I mean doing well for Sam. I have spent many a day crying with frustration trying to get a small amout of food into him. So if we get through a day where he willingly participates in a meal – and does not scream and cry to get out of the high chair – then I consider that to be a good day.

However there have been days and weeks where he eats very well, but this has never lasted long and now I am just deperate to find the right medication and to see if anyone else has had the same experience as me that their child doesn’t want to eat on prevacid.

Sam had an upper GI at around 7 months and is scheduled for an endoscopy next month, although what that is going to achieve I don’t know. I would like to visit a chiropractor, but my husband is weary, but at this point I am deperate for some help.

A lot of friends don’t understand and just dismiss me as an overprotective mother because Sam has a congenital heart defect and had heart surgery at a week old. But these worries and frustrations are nothing to do with that.mersci2006-6-14 11:43:18

[hellbennt]

hmm…

it may be an intolerance to milk and/or soy proteins & not an allergy per se…(or maybe it isn’t)

the differences b/t allergies and intolerance are explained really well from the first link listed here:Here’s about mspi and related issues: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2697&a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;PN=1&TPN=1

some other ‘milks’ tried by posters here: soy, rice, almond, potato…

[Anonymous]

Do you know if the rast blood test means that both are covered. He has had that done. He does have eczema and does still throw up a lot even on the prevacid.

We tried him on neutramigen when he was much younger and Soy, they didn’t help. The enfamil AR did work again when he was younger. But my problem is that it is not just the milk, it seems his appetite for food is also decreasing on the prevacid and as I say there were periods on the Zantac where he both ate and drank well. So my gut feel is that the prevacid is not right for him but the doctor at childrens will not put him back on 4mls of Zantac and the 3mls does not seem to be enough.

[hellbennt]

what form of prevacid? some babies with mspi are sensitve to the solutabs, as they have trace amounts of lactose in them…babies are also sensitive to the aspertame in solutabs and the flavorings in solutabs & the packets…

rast is for allergies I do believe. i do not think you can actually test for intolerances. excema can be a symptom. please read from the link I put above

[Anonymous]

He is on the solutabs, should I ask for liquid to see if that will help

[hellbennt]

we LOVED caracream & you might just be able to still get it- it’s not just a (yummy) flavoring for the liquid compound, it actually makes the compound stable (not an easy task, who knew?!) and makes it so you can give it any time, irregardless of when baby has eaten…

this is what you do:

1) find smaller (not a large chain type if you can) pharmacy near you that uses FLAVORX brand flavorings for their compounds (maybe a university hospital or children’s hospital pharmacy)

2) contact joel andrewsjj@health.missouri.edu

(or anyone) at http://www.marci-kids.com

and ask them to get in touch w/ the pharmacist there to tell him/her HOW EXACTLY to order it and then HOW TO USE IT

it’s all in the ‘prevacid 101’ link that’s linked to in my welcome/intro

[Anonymous]

I thought Joel said you can’t use the caracream with the solutabs. If you can I definitely would like to get some to make the meds/feeding schedule around here a little easier.

[Anonymous]

Can you tell me at what times of day you give the solutabs?

[Anonymous]

I give Myles his solutabs at 7am, 3pm, and 7pm. That’s the only way it fits in with his feeding and sleep schedule.

[hellbennt]

you cannot use solutabs with caracream. caracream would be another option if you think the solutabs are bothering your baby.

[Anonymous]

This may have been said already, but Nutrimagen powder, Neocate, and Alimentum powder contain corn solids. If your child has a corn allergy, this could be the problem. Alimentum ready to feed does not contain any corn solids……just food for though…so to speak

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