Should DS me on meds??

[Anonymous]

DS has been a spitting up pretty much since birth. He is now on Alimentum with 2 TBSP of cereal. When he was younger he used to be really congested at night and was always grunting. Now he is almost 4 months old that has improved and he is mostly congested after feedings. He still spits up/vomits at least 2 times and even 3 hours after a feed. After he burps he tends to occasionally cough and hiccups. Otherwise he is a happy baby.

The doc did prescibe Zantac but I did not see any improvement. While on Zantac he was fussier and did not want to finish his bottles. I took him off and he has been better. Should I persist with another med like Prevacid or do you think DS is ok with out meds. I just don’t want the acid reflux to affect him and maybe cause food adversion in the future or eat away at his esophagus.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Sabrina

[Anonymous]

If he shows any signs of pain I would consider trying a PPI, but if he is happy and seems comfortable I would not bother. The meds will not make him stop spitting up they just make it not painful by taking away the acid.

My guess is if he is not in pain then there is probably not acid coming up, just the food. Of course I am not a Dr. or expert at all, so I could be way off. Trust you instincts and go with what you think he needs.

[Anonymous]

Only your Dr can tell you if he needs meds. (my disclaimer)

But I wanted to let you know that Zantac dosing is very weight
specific. My grandson grew like crazy and every week his dose needed to
be increased. When it wasn’t working any more the Dr gave him Pepcid
which is in the same class of med as Zantac. That didn’t work either.

It seems the children with bad GERD (and congestion can be a sign that
it is coming up to his ears, throat) do better on meds called Proton
Pump Inhibiters (PPI’s) like Prilosec, Prevacid ect.

There is a website that explains the signs of GERD and what they have
found to be the best doses of PPI to give children. But beware, many
Dr’s don’t want to give children under 1 years old PPI’s.

Apparently they haven’t kept up with the research that shows
babies can take them, that they need larger and more frequent doses
because their metabolism is faster than adults.

If you go to this website, find the link to EER which is extra esophogeal Reflux which is the kind that can cause congestion.

The whole site has great info and many parents print out the Marci Kids dosing information to bring to their childs Dr.

You might want to have him sleep with his head and shoulders elevated.
What many moms here do is put their babies to sleep in a bouncy chair
or a carseat that is put into the crib, tilted back a little. Just be
sure that your baby’s is not slouched where his belly is pushing up
toward the chest because that will increase pressure on the lower
esophogus and the acid to come up more easliy.

My GS slept in a bouncy chair then his car seat before he got the PPI
and his GERD straightened out. He has been sleeping flat on his stomach
in his crib for a week or so and is doing fairly well.

Good luck!

http://www.marci-kids.com

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