Switching from Prevacid to Prilosec

[Anonymous]

Hi, did anyone have success switching from Prevacid to Prilosec? Brian is almost 3 months old and is on 22.5 mg Prevacid Solutabs (7.5 mg in am and 15 mg in pm). He does fine during the morning and afternoon but then he starts to cry more during the evening, only takes 1/2 of his last bottle, and then is up every 3-4 hours from 8pm to 6 or 7am. Is this a normal nighttime pattern for a 3 month old? I thought my older son was sleeping longer stretches at night at this point. My pedi GI had said at our last appt that if the Prevacid wasn’t working, the next step would be switching to Prilosec. She is on vacation til next week and we don’t see her again for another 2 weeks. Has anyone seen improvement going to Prilosec? Will he be worse off again for the 2-3 weeks while the new med builds up in his system? Thanks for any advice!

[Anonymous]

We did! Kate was on 30mg of prevacid for three weeks with little or no change so we switched to Zegerid(immediate release form of Prilosec)and it has been the best. You don’t have to time with meals too!!!

As far as “normal”eating patterns for babies, I think every baby is so different. Kate is on a great dose of Zegerid and she still is up every two to three hours at night even though she does usually do a four hour stretch but sometimes she doesn’t! I think it is what it is. She doesn’t seem to be in pain anymore so that might just be her pattern. Bummer for me that I don’t get longer periods of sleep but oh well. She’s 5mo. old too!

As far as the meds working right away, I was under the impression,and ladies correct me if I’m wrong, that starting a new med can be like starting from scratch which stinks, but if it works, it’s great!!!

I hope you guys find a med and dose that works soon. I’ll be thinking of you!!!

[hellbennt]

switching from one PPI doesn’t take the initial 2 weeks bcse the PPI is in the system and has started to heal the esophogus- so it’s not like starting from scratch. if you have any zantac/tagament/pepsid/axid around, you might want to give that, too, (4hrs seperate from the PPI) during the transition period

[Anonymous]

Thanks for correcting me Laura! That’ll teach me a lesson in listening to my ped

[Anonymous]

Just wanted to add that we’ve been on zegerid for 11 months and it’s been WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!! I’m hoping to be done with all reflux meds. soon but it’s a good choice if prevacid isn’t working. Good luck!!!

[Anonymous]

I can’t comment on changing to prilosec, but the whole sleeping thing. Cooper is almost 6months old and we are still up at least 3 times/night. Only one night feeding, but I do have to settle him back to sleep at lest 2 times most nights, some nights even more. I am so happy when I get a 3hr stretch without having to go and in give a paci or pat a bottom etc, so sleep is so variable with all babies, at 3 months I was up all the time.

[Anonymous]

Yep, that sounds very normal to me for such a young baby (especially one with reflux, because even if they’re not in pain the sensation of liquid coming up the throat will bother them). Caden is still up a lot at 9 months, so to me it is very normal at 3 months to wake quite a bit during the night. It will get better in time though.

[Anonymous]

We switched from Prevacid to Prilosec when Carson got neutropenia from being on a high dose. The Prilosec doesn’t have that history of causing troubles when being on a higher dose – and many LO’s need to be on a high dose as their metabolism is higher….. The prilosec we are on is the generic omeprazole. I sprinkle the 14 beads on rice cereal and down it goes. He says – *med sin* and takes it down with a drink after. The great thing is that it is $10 per month = with the cost of everything else, this was a great relief.

Good luck with the prilosec! We love it. Been on it for over 12 months now.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, everyone. Can someone explain the diff between Prilosec in the capsules and Zegerid? Is Zegerid a liquid?

Also, what is neutropenia and how high a dose was your son on when he developed it? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Carson was on 30mg (10mg x 3 times a day) of Prevacid at (I think) 10-11 months but then he became neutropenia. Our Peds Gi Spec said that children rarely have any side effects from Prilosec (we are on the generic with beads) even if they are on a large dose. The neutropenia isn’t a problem until the child gets a cold/ear infection/ etc and then their body won’t be able to fight anything off. It is quite scary so we stopped the Prevacid right away and started the Prilosec. I will add that Carson has always been little and hasn’t weighed more than a wet rag – so that could be why he got this – it was just too much meds for his little body. 🙂 Our specialist is quite thorough with Carson and does periodic blood testing – this is how he caught the neutropenia. The ranges of this and that on the test and where his numbers were was quite scary. It just messed him up too much. 🙂

We have had NO trouble with Prilosec. 🙂 The prilosec capsules we take have 9 beads – that way I know he gets em all in! Being a generic, at one point our pharmacy switched generic companies and when I opened the capsule it looked like a bunch of tiny pieces of sandpaper. How was I to make sure we got all THAT in? I asked our pharmacist and she now orders the prilosec generic from the company that makes the 9 beads. If you would like the generic company I can ask our pharmacist so you are armed with all the info you may need. Just let me know.

[Anonymous]

Thnaks. My older son John was on Nexium which is a stronger form of Prilosec and he was on 40mg a day and never had an issue. I’m kind of wishing we had just started with Prilosec with Brian but the pedi put him on Prevacid solutabs after Zantac didn’t work. I hate changing meds again but I think Brian will do better on Prilosec and maybe have fewer potential side effects. I’ll keep you posted.

[Anonymous]

You may find the beads are harder to give when comparing to the solutab but the week transition was worth it for us. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Ok – it wasn’t a week but there were a few days when he didn’t want to take it! With an infant, I would think you could sneak it in with a bite of food and then the bottle in right after and down it would all go!

[Anonymous]

zegerid is a powder that you mix with water to make a suspension. The main difference is that you do NOT have to time zegerid around meals. It is “immediate release” so it can be given anytime. VERY convenient!! If you switch to zegerid, I can give you lots of good info. about mixing and storage. It’s really easy once you get the hang of it!

[Author]

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