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[Anonymous]

Hi All!

Well, we had our little boy Harrison 2 weeks ago, and it looks like he’s got GERD too. The day we brought him home we ended up back in the E.R. because it looked like he was having siezures. It turns out it was acid reflux, so they had us put him on Nutramigen. Well, over the last few days it’s gotten worse, especially in the evenings. He thrashes about and screams in pain. You can smell the acid on his breath as he refluxes and burps. Our pediatrician prescribed Prevacid (15mg!), so we managed to get that into him last night, along with some Tylenol, and that seemed to calm him down a lot. We have an appt with the Pedi GI at the end of this month, but I may call to try to talk to her today, since she already knows us from Dagney.

I’ll keep you posted. We’re glad we know what we’re dealing with now and how to go about handling it, but it doesn’t make it easier when your little guy is screaming in pain.

[Anonymous]

Hang in there Denise!! It sounds like you’re on the right track! I hope you can get everything figured out soon so you can enjoy Harrison’s “babyhood!” I still feel like I missed soooo much of Sarah’s! I still lurk here because I know I’ll be back again in November dealing with this all over again!

[Anonymous]

hey. hang in there..

we went through the same with our second .. and it is sooooo much better this time around! i think because we know what to do.. and can take care of the issues faster. now my 2nd is such a happy baby.. and i could never really say that for shane. and as amy said.. now i can ENJOY this “babytime”…

i hope the meds kick in soon! and .. what really did it for sienna was the neocate.. because shane never went to the neocate..and i think he neeeded it all along! so dont hesitate to ask for it! and i will give u a number that will help get it covered if u need it!

[Anonymous]

Denise I am so sorry to officially hear about the reflux. I am sure things will be better this go round b/c of how knowledgeable you already are. I am glad you got prevacid already that is a huge step in the right direction. Good Luck and keep us posted about how he is!

[Anonymous]

Thanks, ladies! I managed to actually get Harry into the GI yesterday. I had called on Wednesday for an appointment, and then left a message for the GI nurse, and she said she could get us in yesterday. The GI told us to add rice cereal to his bottles, give the Prevacid a week to see if it works, and if he doesnt improve, switch to Neocate or this new Nutramigen AA (supposed to be like Neocate). I’m pretty sure the cereal isn’t going to do the trick…he actually smells of acid most of the time, and his bms are horribly acidic as well. His bottom is terribly irritated, blood red too. The doc had us add cereal to Dagney’s bottles too, but that didn’t really help her either. The prevacid seemed to really help the first 2 days, but he’s now almost as upset as he was before the Prevacid. The GI already commented that she thoght he was on a high dose now (15 mg), so I don’t think she’ll up it, but our Pedi is the one who put Dagney on the 30 mg.

I’m wondering if we can get him on the Neocate now, will that eliminate the need to up the Prevacid, or should I start workingon the doc now to up that too? I don’t want him to be on a higher dose if it’s unnecessary, but he’s worse now than Dag was at this age, and I can’t stand to see the pain on his face! Any opinions are welcome!

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Denise,

Is the mylanta helping at all? If it is helping then my plan of action would probably be:

1- not even try the cereal… I just don’t even like the idea (but that is just me)

2- Make sure he has been on Nutramigen for a full 2wks before you make the switch to Neocate ( I haven’t heard any good/bad things about the Nutramigen AA so I would probably go with Neocate as it has been around longer!)

3- Do a gradual switch to Neocate, give it a good 2 maybe 3 wks to kick in.

4- If no change then push to up the meds. I think I only know of 1 momma on here (Erin) who was able to stop meds after getting the diet right, but maybe you will be the exception to the rule..

HTH wonder if anyone else has any ideas?

[Anonymous]

I like Beth’s ideas. Also, I think though, for us, with the Neocate, we went down a bit on Dylan’s prevacid (down to 15mgs split into two doses a day) but could not go off completely. We did thicken but that was to try to keep it down, but if weight gain is not an issue and if he is not an excessive spitter, then I would hold off on that for now and try the formula change first. Also, we went straight on Neocate, no gradual transition and I don’t know if that was the right thing to do or not, but I was so desperate to get something to work, that if I thought the Nutramigen was some of the culprit I wanted to stop it as fast as possible. (I was a first time mom and very desperate for something to work fast, so not sure if I would take that approach now)…. but I also did cold turkey with Carter.

Hang in there!!!!! I think you are armed with this site and so much knowledge from the first time that you will get it figured out quickly!

[Anonymous]

I agree with Beth…I’d be leary of adding cereal to the bottle. That just seems like it would complicate his digestion even more… I haven’t heard about the new Nutramigen! Interesting! Is it a cheaper alternative to Neocate? More availability? I kind of agree that Neocate is the more “trusted” formula BUT I’m curious about the Nutramigen AA??

I’d say it sounds like he needs a combination of both prevacid and special formula…you say he smells like acid (reflux) and his poor butt is red and irritated (MSPI?). I am sure once you find the balance of those two things life will be much easier!

BTW…I see a lot of Kevin when I look at Harrison’s pictures, do you agree?

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