Will this ever be better

[Anonymous]

It has been a week since I have slept more than 3 hours in a row. I am exhausted- I can’t think straight.

Leah is 6 months old. I talk to the parents of other non-reflux children of the same age and their kids are napping and sleeping long stretches at night.

I have no relief here so please can someone give me some more hope. This will get better? She will start sleeping?
Sorry just feeling a little helpless and hopeless this morning.

[Anonymous]

This will get better, yes! My concern though is her dose. If she’s still not sleeping well and she is on an elemental formula, her dose may be too low. Averi was on 30mg/day(15mg 2x/dy) before we saw relief. Have you been giving any other med to help?

[Anonymous]

We are back to the specialist on Thursday but so far no one will prescribe more than 7.5 2x/day.

We started adding Zantac in the middle of the day but ahve seen no change with that. On a good night, she is up 3 times…on a bad night 5 or 6.

[Anonymous]

What form of Prevacid? Sorry, i am behind……..

[Anonymous]

yes it will get better… the question we can’t answer for you is when! Ann Marie is right which form are you using? If you are giving the solutabs are you giving on an empty stomach followed by a meal 30-60 min later? Are you spacing the Zantac 4hrs apart from the prevacid? Is she taking any solids at all? How are her diapers? My lo didn’t sleep through the night totally until he was well over a year old. But getting up 5-6 times/night is better than some I have heard. We were up anywhere from 15-20 times/night when things were at the peak. The dose may not be high enough. Since you are going back to a specialist on Thursday you could always try to up it yourself for a few days and if it helps you could tell your doc that you tried it out of desperation and that it worked and see if they will increase it then. I was at 7.5mg/2xday and asked to up to 7.5mg 3/day and my GI said “try” 15mg 2x/day and see how it does, when it worked I called my ped and she wrote our script and some moms have had to do that to. YOU are your babies only true advocate so you have to do what you have to do to make sure they are not in pain and are happy and healthy and growing! Good Luck and again it will get better!

[Anonymous]

We are on the solutabs — she gets one 30-40 minutes before a meal and I have been spacing the zantac 4 hours apart.

We are holding off on solids at the suggestion of the pediatrician and specialist until the reflux is more under control.

[hellbennt]

how much does she weigh? we/I can help you calculate the maximum dosage of zantac…

[Anonymous]

She weighs 17 lbs.

[Anonymous]

How about constipation? Is she backed up at all?

The 3 key things that helped my daughter tremendously were:

1) Neocate (or Elecare) and NO solids

2) the right dose of Prevacid, given on empty stomach 30-60 mins before feeding

3) getting her bowels moving every day

It wasn’t until I got all 3 of those things in place that she started to be more comfortable and sleep better.

I do agree with the others that an increased dose of Prevacid would likely be helpful…

[Anonymous]

solutabs have worked wonders for MANY babies here, but neither of mine could handle them. I am not sure if it was the aspertime or the flavoring, etc…. but they were just monsters on the solutabs. I do agree you may need a higher dose though, but I would maybe try a different form of the med?

[hellbennt]

zantac dose- 17lbs = 7.7kgs

(from here: conversion chart: http://www.sfca.co.uk/match/kilolbs.htm)

7.7 x 10 = 77 mgs total, for the day, of zantac

the bottle will read 15mg/ml

so

77 divided by 15 = 5.1mls total, for the day, of zantac

divide into 2 doses

the doses do not have to be ‘even’ so you can give a higher dose at night

[Anonymous]

I am so sorry you and your lo are going through so much. I know exactly how you feel! You are NOT alone.

My DS is on prilosec 30 mg/day(marci-kids dosage). I thankfully have a ped GI that was willing to look at the Marci-kids website for info when I suggested upping his meds. We originally tried Prevacid solutabs and he could not take it. He would literally scream for hours after each dose. The prilosec capsules have worked much better for us. Maybe you could contact Dr. Phillips at Marci-Kids. He was great when I emailed him. I have read that he will sometimes call doctors about their recommended dosages.

Also, how do you feel she is doing with Elecare? My DS did not do well with Nutramigen AA but better with Elecare and Neocate. His doctors have all said that elemental formulas are the same but I don’t agree. Each formula and child are different.

[Anonymous]

Thank you. Leah is doing fine with EleCare. I am not convinced she has a milk protein allergy but it made the docs happy to try it out and I figured that the formula would not hurt her.

She seems to be responding well to the solutabs. The only problem is that each dose lasts 8 hours or so and she can only be medicated every 12 hours.

It is frustrating to me that I can see it is only a small tweak needed to make her feel more comfortable but I can’t get anyone else to see it.

[Anonymous]

My Ped & GI weren’t on board either but once I TOLD my Ped that Dr. Phillips suggested “such and such” and was willing to talk to her. She agreed and that was that. The GI wasn’t thrilled, but he hasn’t fought us on it…and…He is fine keeping her on this dose until we’re ready to wean her off. Sometimes you just have to TELL them. Have you tried the extra dose to see how she does? I would and then go to the Dr and tell them that she was having a really rough time(or some other story), and that you gave her another dose and it HELPED! This has worked for others. Good Luck!

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