Putting baby down to cry it out…feeling guilty

[Anonymous]

My poor little girl. She has really painful gas and poop issues along
with her reflux (Prevacid Solutabs 3/4 15g tab once a day). She cries
practically all day because of it. Sometimes I can’t soothe her no
matter what. She flails her arms and tries to stand and is so frantic
it becomes impossible to hold her. So I end up putting her down. She
will cry and cry until she stops exhausted. And then starts up again. I
feel horrible but I don’t know what else to do. Anyone else
experiencing this?

[Anonymous]

sounds like she is in pain. why dont you push for the proper dose? personally i never let my son cry it out because i know how painful heartburn is. but that is just a personal choice. i hope you read through marci-kids.com

[Anonymous]

Holding her doesn’t make her stop crying. If it would help her stop I would hold her all day. Sometimes she actually pinches me she is so frantic. I think I have seen every doctor in our office to try and help her pain.

Someone on the board mentioned there is a stool test they can do to see if she has an intolerance to formula. Is that true? We have tried all types of formulas, even Alimentum.

[Anonymous]

well i would keep faxing the marci=kids info and calling non stop. i would annoy them constantly until i got the marci-kids dose. reflux is not something to mess around with, it can really damage the esophogus. i would also look into neocate because alimentum didnt help my son either. it still has milk in it.

[Anonymous]

I really feel for you. It’s SO hard. We went through the same thing with my daughter. She was crying because she was in pain. When I held her, she still cried and she arched and pushed, so she definitely wasn’t content. But when I put her down, she was absolutely hysterical. So I chose to hold her. I didn’t know what else to do. I also got a sling and paced around with her with a white noise machine until she would eventually relax and then I’d hold her for most of the night. It was terrible.

How much does your daughter weigh? Just based on her dose, I’d definitely say that there’s room to move up, and she’s clearly not comfortable. I know what it’s like to have no one listen to you when you know what your daughter needs. All I can say, is hang in there and don’t give up. Where are you located? Maybe we can help you to find a doctor who believes in higher dosing. I went from doctor to doctor- we went through 5 or more (I can’t remember) until I finally got someone to up her dose.

AIn the meantime, are you giving the PPI on an empty stomach and followed up with a meal 30 minutes later? Also, can you try some mylanta cherry supreme for some breakthrough relief? You might also want to look into a tucker sling/wedge or elevating her mattress somehow to see if that helps her. How long were you on the other formulas? Sometimes it can take several weeks with alimentum before seeing improvement. Also, neocate is always an option.

I really feel for you. I understand the desperation when you just can’t get them to stop crying no matter what you do. If you can get the pain under control, hopefully that will help with the sleep. HUGS.

[Anonymous]

Oh yeah… another thing that some people have done is to call marci-kids and talk to Dr. Phillips (or email Dr. Phillips) and ask him to call your GI. He’s spoken to several GIs and gotten them to up the dosing. It might be worth a try.

[Anonymous]

Don’t beat yourself up. You are doing the best you can do right now. If you have to put the baby down for a few minutes, it’s not going to cause permanent harm to her.

I agree with the others that it sounds like she is in pain, though. Try to see if your doctor will increase her medication. Maybe she will get some relief with that.

In the meantime, continue doing what you can for her and taking good care of her, and when you need an occasional break from holding her, you can put her down for a minute or two.

It will get better in time – I know you know that since this is your second one. I’m on my third reflux baby!

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Oh, I’ve so been there. I shudder to remember those days, but I had to put my son down in his bed a couple of times and just shut the door for a few minutes. I felt so horrible when I would go in, and he would be screaming and sweating. But it was that, or lose it. He was in pain, and it didn’t get better until we found the right dose and the right medicine for him. As the others have mentioned, I would try for more of the prevacid, but in the meantime, you are doing what you can. Are there any family members or close friends that could come and let you take a break for a bit? Just passing her off for a few minutes and walking around the block might help. Hang in there.

[hellbennt]

what formula is she on now? I don’t know anythiing about a stool test…I just know that your baby is in pain.

do you have any mylanta cherry supreme? you can give that throughout the day/night. it’s the adult kind & doesn’t have any aluminum in it, that’s why cherry supreme is recommended. you cannot overdose on it. the main thing you’ll see if you’re giving too much is loose stools. you can give it 1ml at a time all the time. it is a band-aid solution but might help you through this time.

do you have any zantac at home? tagament or axid or pepcid? if you do you can give that as well. just make sure you give it 4 hrs seperate from the prevacid.

you might find a family doctor will help you more than any pediatrician. many on this board have had great success w/ a family doctor- they have been open to learning/reading about the marci-kids recommendations…

we can help you find a ped GI

in the meantime you might want to increase the prevacid dose on your own. if it helps, then tell your dr. You can always tell a white lie and say that your husband was giving the meds & you didnt realize it, you’re so sleep deprived but hey! it has worked miracles, so dr please increase the dose…I hate to tell anyone to do anything w/o consulting a doctor, so if you go this route, you must make this decision for yourself…I am in no way shape or form a medical professional, just someone who has been through reflux hell and has been on this board for 4 years now (see my signature)…

you say baby doesn’t want to be held…well me, I preferred to hold a shrieking/howling baby than not…I swaddled him, put him in my pouch (http://www.kangarookorner.com), stuck a pacifier in his mouth (& held it htere) and took off for a walk around the block. oftentimes I’d do laps around the house…it was a nightmare.

hang in there and PUSH/be the best advocate you can be for your sweet baby!! you can do it. you found us & we will help!

[Anonymous]

When Brian would get like that, the only thing that worked was putting him in the Baby Bjorn facing me and taking him outside for a walk. I don’t know why but that always calmed him down and then he would fall asleep in there, thank god. All of my neighbors know about his reflux because they have seen me walk him around the block over and over and over throughout his first couple of months of life. When he was 2 months old and about 12 lbs, we weren’t getting any relief from 15 mg Prevacid so our pedi increased his dose to 7.5 mg in the am and 15 mg in the pm (22.5 mg total). Our GI then also prescribed a medicine called Carafate that coats and soothes the esophagus. It’s like a “super Mylanta”. That worked wonders for us. Brian is now doing much better and eating and sleeping well.

I agree with the others that you should reach out to anyone you can for help…family, friends, neighbors. Brian used to cry more if other people held him so I did most of the holding but I would get people to come over and watch my 3 yr old or take him out so at least I only had Brian to deal with and not the both of them.

I know how hard it is so please know that you’re not alone in how you’re feeling. I went on an antidepressant (Lexapro) because the anxiety was totally getting to me. But it will get better when you find the right med and dosage for her.

momoftwoboys2007-09-07 22:09:47

[Anonymous]

Als, one other thought, if she has never done well on Prevacid, even after giving it the normal 3 weeks to fully kick in, perhaps it is not the right med for her and you should try another PPI like Prilosec or even Nexium. If all the PPI’s cause her tummy problems you could try Axid. Sometimes it’s just trial and error to figure out which one works best. I would definitely recommend seeing a GI too and try to find one that is willing to be aggressive with dosing if need be.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone for all the advice and support. I wasn’t going to post this but was feeling so alone and desperate for help.

I called and got her in to see the main ped on Monday morning. Two weeks ago my daughter was 9lbs 4oz. On the merci kids website she should be getting a dose three times a day not just once. So I will bring that up. I will also try that Mylanta. I bet that will help her gas a lot. I bought that colic calm online and it didn’t help at all. And it was expensive.

Oh, I had asked the dr previously about giving her the Prevacid 20-30 min prior to a feeding. He said that was for adults and I didn’t need to do that for my baby. ????

We have had her on regular Goodstart formula which made her gassy. Goodstart Soy made her constipated. Alimentum made her have diarrhea. So the dr put her back on Goodstart and has me putting Karo Syrup in her bottle 2x a day. She is so unhappy I don’t know what is causing it anymore. That’s why I thought if their was a test to see if she actually has an intolerance that would be so helpful.

Anyhow, thanks again for the help. Hopefully Monday will bring some changes that will bring my baby some comfort. :o)

[hellbennt]

I would get to a different doctor…

if you didn’t give alimentum 2 weeks, then I’d consider trying it again?

not sure it’s ‘good’ to have karo in the bottle on a regular basis? (I know nothing about this)

hang in there!

~laura

[Anonymous]

Momof4…I tried replying to your private message but it wouldn’t let me. Just wanted to thank you for your thoughts.

[Anonymous]

{{Hugs}}

Yes there is a stool test for milk protein allergy! It is one of the problems we’ve actually been able to address, and my daughter is now on Neocate. It is completely milk-free. Most children with a milk-protein allergy, I’m told, can do well on an over-the-counter formula called Nutrimigen.

My daughter had the blood in the stool but it is microscopic. They can (or should) be able to do it at the pediatrician’s, but our GI has also done it.

I have twins, as you can see from my ticker. I’m still going through some of what you’re desrcribing right now–the milk allergy seems to have taken care of some of the crying, but I think there’s still reflux and I think there’s also colic. And trying to hold one baby in crisis and tend to the other–I know it sounds crazy but I wish I only had to carry one baby all day! It could always be worse. Both my babies could have these problems. Thankfully, my son seems healthy by all counts at this point.

Jodi

JoHo2008-01-07 20:19:09

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