Wow this is a lot

[Anonymous]

After an overnight stay in the hospital for testing (pH probe & upper GI) it was confirmed that my 11 week old son has severe silent reflux

He is currently on a .6 dose of zantac 3 times daily along with prevacid at bedtime. I am thickening his breastmilk with 4 tablespoons of rice cereal to 4 oz of milk which he is eating every 4 hrs. He is also taking 1/2 a teaspoon of benefiber in 3 oz of water so he does not get stopped up. I feel like this is so much. Has anyone else been doing something similar?

We have yet to see how he reacts to the cereal and prevacid because we just started him on it today. I am feeling overwhelmed with it all.

On another note we are also teething early. Oh boy..

[Anonymous]

Welcome & yes, it IS all very overwhelming!!! I’m almost positive that rice cereal in breastmilk doesn’t actually thicken @ all (to help reflux) as the enzymes in bm break down the rice. I think Laura has a link to confirm this (maybe?!). I would look @ marci-kids.com to check his PPI dose (based on his age & weight) to see if it’s high enough (especially since the severe reflux has been confirmed). Also, what form of PPI are you on (ie: compounded, solutab, etc) as many/most times the compounded suspensions are made incorrectly & are ineffective.

I KNOW this is so much info so hang in there…

[hellbennt]

hi & welcome!
I would get to another doctor, as the one you have doesn’t seem ‘up to date’?
Erin is right, you cannot thicken breastmilk bcse there are enzymes in the breastmilk that will just break down the cereal. these babies have sensitive digestive systems to begin with, so there is no need to thicken your breastmilk- just nurse that baby
also there is most likely no need for benefiber, either!
breastfed babies rarely get constipated- I would consult w/ both an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and la leche league (or just one of the two) to find out about breastfeeding-
if baby’s stool is soft then there is no constipation- sometimes there is grunting and straining, but then when the poop comes out it is soft- this is not constipation. constipation is when the poop comes out HARD in little round HARD PEBBLES. so, personally, I would back-off BOTH the cereal AND the benefiber and see what happens, poop-wise. just let the little new digestive track be…we can help you some more once you stop these things…

next, I would address the zantac dose. tell me how much baby weighs and I can calculate the PROPER zantac dose for you.
I won’t even go into the prevacid just yet because I’ve already told you a lot and I’m sure you’re overwhelmed! I was when I started this journey!

my computer does not like
me to copy from MS Word to Mozilla Firefox, so please ignore the underlined
words that are not hyperlinks…

you’ve
found a great place!

the key to
all of this is RESEARCH and, of course, support!

I have a LOT TO SAY! and most of
it is here:Groupie Intro: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=853

Groupie Intro is
looong, but PLEASE read/skim/scroll
through it & refer back to it, as it TRULY will help you!

there
is even a link from Groupie Intro for finding a dr near you.

PLEASE RESEARCH All you can, as you are the mama and the best advocate for your baby! do not ‘just’ take my word for things- I always try and provide links and I speak from experience- same with everyone else here. we may seem like ‘know-it-alls’, but we all have a lot to offer to help newcomers!

to find a local internationally board
certified lactation consultant (IBCLC) click here:

http://www.ilca.org/falc.html

also you could call la leche league
for free w/ your questions: The La Leche League
Breastfeeding Helpline w/access to toll free breastfeeding help 24 hours a
day. Just call 1-877-4-LALECHE (1-877-452-5324)

a
great breastfeeding resource site:http://www.kellymom.com/

here’s
about thickening feeds:

http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/reflux.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=3806288&dopt=Abstract

http://www.lalecheleague.org/FAQ/ger.html

https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3546

here’s
about starting solids: http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/index.html

hellbennt2010-02-22 19:34:09

[Anonymous]

I am so thankful for all of the advice. Funny thing is I was against the rice myself as he had terrible problems with constipation when we tried it before (hence the beneifber). After this past doctor visit and being told it would help we thought we would give it a go. I guess sometimes you just need to listen to your instincts.

The only doctor we have seen so far has been his regular pediatrician. We have an appointment with the GI specialist that reviewed and sent in the test results at the end of March (seems like so long to wait) I am starting to keep logs of his episodes and plan on doing a few videos to take in too. Are there any other helpful things I could have ready for this appointment?

My son currently weighs 15 ibs 8 oz and is 25 inches long (very big boy) and yes the prevacid is compounded.

Thank you so much for all the useful links also. I plan to dive into research right after I finish this post. I have a lot to learn but you better believe I am going to learn all I can about this. It is amazing how many people just dont understand my concerns. I guess this is something you really have to go through to understand. People are always saying I am overreacting or overworried. It is nice to speak with people who know how serious this can be. So once again THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

[Anonymous]

Hopefully the GI will offer you some good advice. I agree with the others, take out the rice and just bf. Then you won’t have to deal with constipation on top of it, especially since trying to thicken breast milk is futile. I’d try to get the GI to prescribe a higher dose of prevacid, ideally with bufferbabies (as I’d bet that the compound isn’t being made properly). Solutabs are another route, but need to be timed around feedings- on an empty stomach and followed up with a meal 30-60 minutes later. Check out http://www.marci-kids.com.

Everyone here can relate. You’re certainly not overreacting! We were told that we were overreacting by everyone, including the doctor, until the reflux went on for so long that my baby finally decided that she wouldn’t eat, and then we had reflux and a feeding aversion. So trust your mommy instincts- it’s usually right. And don’t let people tell you otherwise, just because you’re a first time mom. That used to be one of the first things people would ask me, like if I was a first time mom, then that would explain why I was “overreacting”. When i told them no, they would go “oh”. Hang in there. This site is great!

[hellbennt]

ok from here: http://www.sfca.co.uk/match/kilolbs.htm
I looked up 15lbs 8 oz &
it’s 7 kilos
the max zantac dose by weight is 10mgs per kilo
so 7 x 10 = 70
that’s 70mgs total for the day of zantac
now, you’re thinking that your zantac is in MLs not MGs.
so look at your bottle and it says
15mgs/ml
this means that for every 1ml of liquid you give your baby, he is getting 15mgs of zantac. so 2mls is 30mgs and so on.
so, in order to give 70mgs in a day, that’s
70 divided by 15 = 4.7mls of zantac, total for the day
you divide that into two doses however it works out best- you can experiment with dividing it up however you want- the doses can be ‘uneven’ (so more in the evening if that’s a worse time)

MAKE SURE TO GIVE THE ZANTAC SEPERATED 4HRS from the prevacid.
is it safe to give the two meds? yes!
actually you’ll most likely need the zantac because all of are guessing that the compound isn’t even being made correctly…
as for me telling you how much zantac to give, don’t just take my word for it, read here:
https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=8288&PN=1

[Author]

Posts