Time to lower dose?

[Anonymous]

AAAAHHH! What to do? Ben is FINALLY starting to be a happy baby MOST of the time, and we are so THRILLED! Reflux is, by no means, behind us, but he doesn’t seem to be in pain anymore, I don’t smell acid anymore, and he is eating so much more comfortably.

Now, I just happened to visit Marci-kids to check out a dose for a friend of mine and noticed that they recommend 21-30 mgs. a day for Ben’s age and weight. Currently he is getting 42!!!! I have always hated the fact that he is on so much medicine, though I know it is helping him so much, but now that he seems stabilized I am wondering if I shouldn’t try lowering his dose to something a bit more normal???

Any thoughts? I am so scared to try it, but I also am scared not to, IFYKWIM??

[Anonymous]

are you using the 20 mg packs or the 40 mg packs? the calculator for the 40 mg packets on the website is not entirely accurate. we started on 30 mg of zegerid-that was Dr Phillips instructions at 4 months and about 11 pounds.

but…we had some issues with the zegerid. my son eventually needed 60 mg of it to control his pain. that was the main reason we switched to prevacid and now he only requires 27-30 mg a day. i think the main thing with the zegerid was all of the buffer issues, with the 40 mg packs you need a lot more medicine to ensure you have enough buffer. and i also know a lot of people whose babies needed a TON of prilosec (zegerid) and their babies were maxed out on the dose ( as were we), but once switching to prevacid, resumed a more “normal” dose. from my gathering, prevacid seems to be a stronger med.

nataliachick72007-4-19 18:39:57

[Anonymous]

Was Claire a refluxer too? If so what age did she outgrow it? We tryed at 6 months and then not again until 9 months. Finally at 9 we took Justice off all meds. It is such a hard call on wheather to lower the dose. I guess I would say go for it and see what happens. I could be wrong though. I think it’s worth a try though. A lot of babies outgrow it at 6 months. Keep us posted with what you decide to do.

[Anonymous]

Yep, Claire was a refluxer too. She got a lot better at 6 months and we took her off meds at 9 months. I’m hoping this is the road that Ben will follow too. I’m not at all ready to totally wean him, I just thought that it might be time to get his dose a little more normalized.

Natalia: he’s on the 40 mg. packs, but the calculator gave the same dosage for both the 20 and 40. I checked just to be sure.

[Anonymous]

I would be hesitant to go down on the meds quite yet. This is just me, but I would wait a month or even two and let the meds work and hopefully his little insides will heal. When I think about the reflux it has to reek havok to their whole digestive system from mouth to bottom. I would let it work and maybe (MAYBE!!) after having the reflux controlled for a while and his GE tract healed, Ben would be able to tolerate more foods also.

I know what you mean about giving meds all the time. Wouldn’t it be so great to just let them be for the day without having to watch the clock and give meds! Some day, some day that will be for our kids!

[Anonymous]

Bensmama wrote:

Natalia: he’s on the 40 mg. packs, but the calculator gave the same dosage for both the 20 and 40. I checked just to be sure.

yeah, thats why its innacurate. the dosing should be different for the 40 mg packs than for the 20, because of the buffer issue. you can email dr phillips directly, he will explain it to you.

[Anonymous]

It is such a tough decision to make! I know how you feel! When Sarah cut her first tooth at 6 month, I upped her dosage slightly. It was the answer for her and she stayed on the higher dose (happily) for several weeks. At around 7 or 8 months I tried to lower her down to her original dose and she was irritable for a few days. NOT the nightmare reflux that we had seen before, but I could tell she was more uncomfortable. I increased it back…she was happy again. I tried this one more time around 9 months with the same result. She just didn’t seem ready. I don’t know yet when I’ll be brave enough to try again. Because we only lowered it slightly, we didn’t face the severe reflux monster and once returned to her higher dose, it was only a day or two before she was back to normal. I only tell you this because maybe it will give you confidence to play with his dose slightly without fear of returning to weeks of miserable Ben before he is back on a high dose. I was lucky (if you call it that) that it only took playing with her meds a little bit to KNOW that she wasn’t ready.

That being said…I know Dr. Phillips has mentioned to moms that slight increases/decreases (just a few mg) won’t tell you anything…but that wasn’t the case for us. Every baby is SOOO different!

I would also double check the dosing information like Natalia mentioned and make sure you are correct in the dosing for the 20 and 40 mg packets and follow your mommy instinct.

GOOD LUCK!

[Anonymous]

We tried lowering Addy’s dose 5 times probably and not suceeding until 13 1/2 months. But it was worth the peace of mind for me. I hated that she was on so much (more than what the site recommended per Dr Phillips instruction) but anything lower and she would be in so much pain. It is so hard deciding whether or not to do it. A lot of babies outgrow it at 9 months. Maybe his esophagus is just now completely healed? It took Addy awhile to be the happy baby that I knew she was after we started the Zegerid…but each time we tried to wean or lower her dosage, he reflux would be so awful. I know, my post is so mixed!!! I just know what a hard decision that is. Good luck with making it!!!

[Anonymous]

Maybe give him and you a chance to have some “happy baby” time….some breathing space to enjoy. There is NO SUCH THING as normal…there is only a normal continuum….a few need less, a few need more, lots need about the same. I wouldn’t worry to much about the actual dose myself…I’d just start playing around with it when you feel you are ready to try a slow wean.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone. I’ll probably give it a few more weeks just to be sure we are moving in the right direction and then start to lower it by a couple milligrams and go from there.

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