Should we go for testing?

[Anonymous]

Seth is still refluxing at times where we can hear it. It occurs mostly at night but I have noticed it during the day as well. I called his GI last week and spoke to his nurse and she said that he is at his max. dose of Prevacid for weight and age (30 mg at 23 lbs.) and the next step would be to do testing since we have never done any. This is definitely not what I expected to hear. I sort of freaked and told her that I thought some of the reflux may be related to suspected allergies and that we are seeing an allergist (we go tomorrow). I am supposed to call her back after the appt. and let her know what they say.

I really hate the idea of putting Seth through tests but on the other hand, it is concerning me that he is still refluxing and wonder if something could be wrong. We did have a stomach x-ray done when he was about four months when we took him to the ER for dehydration. They did one because he was super fussy and would not calm down. It revealed he had a ton of gas in his stomach but did not show any abnormalities.

Maybe I am getting ahead of myself and should wait and see how things go tomorrow but what would you all do?

[Anonymous]

Is the refluxing bothering him?

[Anonymous]

Hi Stacey, it does wake up him up at night. We will go in his room and he will be sitting up crying in his crib. I honestly was not even going to consider testing but he woke up again last night…. He is not arching though like he did when it was really bad. He is also teething and I know that always seems to make it worse so that could be it.

We go back to the GI in a couple of months. I think our game plan may be to wait until then and if he is still having problems then maybe schedule tests.

[Anonymous]

The only thing I can offer from my experience is that 13-15 months was pretty bad for Hailey. She got her molars during that time which was really hard. Sleep was crazy. We had actually weaned her off of the Prevacid and I was constantly second guessing that decision. I never knew conclusively though that reflux was the problem. I do remember she spit up a few times out of the blue during that period though. I continued on with the weaning and after that 15 month mark she was better.

I would wait and see what the Allergist suggests. I’m not sure you will get conclusive answers there either. Go with your gut though and if you think it’s bothering him it probably is. I think it’s reasonable for the GI to suggest testing if he’s not getting relief from 30 mgs of Prevacid at 14 months.

[Anonymous]

no amount of medication is going to STOP the refluxing. even when refluxed stomach contents don’t hurt, they feel uncomfortable. you can be left with a feeling of something in your throat. this can make a baby fussy because they have no other way of telling you that something does not feel “right”. 30 mgs is a pretty hefty dose of meds for a baby. if you feel that he is still in pain on that dose of meds, i wouldn’t even hesitate to have testing done—-but, are you sure that the waking isn’t being caused by the teething.kevieb2006-3-9 11:50:24

[Anonymous]

Christine, I’m sure the teething probably contributes to him waking up but usually when he wakes up we can hear something coming up and him reswallowing over and over…I know the added drool with teething always seems to make his reflux worse.

[Anonymous]

maybe you could get some carafate to help through the teething? did you find out anything today at the allergist? i just looked at how old seth is, he is on the older end of when to expect reflux to be gone. i know some ped gi’s say earlier, but our ped gi says 18 months. if you discover that the teething isn’t the cause, and allergies aren’t the cause, either, you might want to consider doing the tests to be sure that there is not something else aggravating the reflux.

[Anonymous]

Christine, his milk allergy test was negative. He is still teething and I guess if he does continue with the reflux episodes after his teeth pop, we will consider testing. Our GI told us he will probably outgrow the reflux when he reaches 25-27 lbs. so I am thinking it will be around the eighteen month mark for him.

[Anonymous]

Tiffany

If you give him something like Motrin, does he stop waking up crying? You may hear him reswallow because he is teething, it is making him be in pain, and when babies are in pain, they release a lot more gastric juices into their stomach and that causes them to reflux more… or so my ped says.

If after giving him Motrin he is still in pain, then def go for testing. An endo is much more reliable for testing allergies than a blood test at that age, i think!

[Anonymous]

I would probably go ahead and do the endoscopy so you can figure out where you stand at this point. We had one done on Isaac at 6 months old and it was the best test we ever had done!

[Author]

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