Getting a little better, but…

[Anonymous]

Our daughter is on her 3rd medication now, compounded prilosec. She seems to be happier but not a “new baby” like I hear people saying here.

We are working our way up to 20mg/day, right now giving about 6mg 2x each day, so 12mg. Her dose (per marci-kids) should be about 21mg/day but 3x. Does it matter about the frequency that much? Dr. says give 2x/day. And we are giving pepcid complete (1/2 tab before bed).

She still has bad gas & throws up 5 or 6 times after every feeding, but doesn’t cry w/ spitting up. But she doesn’t seem to hiccup as much, less gagging/choking episodes and she is more easily comforted when she has one of her episodes. She is still very restless and doesn’t like to lay down on her back or sleep very long by herself.

Are those just colic symptoms now or maybe still some reflux? I guess we really don’t know for sure she ever had reflux becasue she had mixed symptons, like she was gaining weight good,etc. I just don’t want to keep increasing her meds if she really just has good old Colic or gas issues.

area1232008-04-18 00:24:55

[Anonymous]

Actually, colic is a symptom, not a diagnosis. It is a symptom of reflux, so if she is acting colicky then she has reflux. The gas goes right along with it. Sounds to me that the new med is helping, but she would be more comfortable with a higher dose.

Make sure you are giving the Pepcid at least 4 hours apart from the Prilosec too.

My son gained weight like a champ. He was HUGE.. gained 5 lbs his first month! But it was because he was overeating in an attempt to sooth the burn in his throat. So, you can’t just go by weight gain when determining reflux.

Remind me again what she is eating? Formula, breastmilk, etc…

[hellbennt]

this should help about colic vs reflux:

Wondertime article/colic solved: http://wondertime.go.com/learning/article/interview-colic-expert.html

[Anonymous]

Bensmama wrote: Actually, colic is a symptom, not a diagnosis. It is a symptom of reflux, so if she is acting colicky then she has reflux. The gas goes right along with it. Sounds to me that the new med is helping, but she would be more comfortable with a higher dose.

Make sure you are giving the Pepcid at least 4 hours apart from the Prilosec too.

My son gained weight like a champ. He was HUGE.. gained 5 lbs his first month! But it was because he was overeating in an attempt to sooth the burn in his throat. So, you can’t just go by weight gain when determining reflux.

Remind me again what she is eating? Formula, breastmilk, etc…

She is breastfed baby. She went from 5lb11oz to 10lb10oz in the 5-6 weeks, but slowed down a lot after we started treating her for reflux. She is now 11lb6oz at 2 months.

I know colic is not a real condition, but I know a lot babies can act colicy w/o having reflux. By colic I just mean gassy & very fussy. We know her acid is getting better becasue she doesn’t choke/gag & scream as much.

We are starting to give her BioGaia probiotic per the dr. recs. we’ll see what that does.

Oh, I forgot to ask the dr. today about her pooping. She really seems to strain for a long time, like 30 minutes-1 hour and then all the sudden has the most explosive poop you can imagine. But it is still normal looking, yellow and seedy. But sometimes a little runny I think from all the mylanta and drugs.

area1232008-04-18 18:34:27

[Anonymous]

The probiotic will hopefully help with the gas and colicky symptoms. It really did for my little guy!

I asked about the food b/c for my breastfed son, I had to cut out quite a lot of foods for him to be comfortable. I can’t remember if your wife has tried any of this to help relieve your dd’s discomfort. Of course, she might not be bothered by food at all! It’s so hard to know

[hellbennt]

page 2 of this article

Wondertime article/colic solved: http://wondertime.go.com/learning/article/interview-colic-expert.html

tells about giving a probiotic…

[Anonymous]

she eliminated a lot of things, milk, soy, raw fruit & veggies, spicy food, etc. Also, the poop has always been normal. So we’re very confused there.

The baby had her first round of shots today & then tonight she had one of her worst screaming fits ever & is still restless in her sleep. Dr told my wife to try dairy again so we could make sure, so she ate a snickers bar & a small piece of cheese tonight, maybe 1 hour before feeding. Now we dont know if the shots made her miserable or the dairy. Now i am holding her asleep after a warm bath calmed her down & I can feel all kinds of air/gas in her tummy, maybe from the screaming. I think she will be miserable all night. We’re really confused now. Don’t really know if it’s still reflux becasue she doens’t gag/cough/hiccup or over eat nearly as much, but still has tons of gas pain (we think it’s gas pain). & she doesn’t have as much of that sour breath as before.

Oh well, I think I’m going to give her the pepcid for the night. Even though I don’t think she has too much acid anymore.

She had 14mg of prilosec today already. It is sooo hard even to give her that much so I don’t know how we’ll give her the 30 if we have to go that high. I still wonder if I should be doing it 3x instead of the prescribed 2x.

Oh, and Dr. says not to let her sleep on her tummy. Sometimes she will only sleep on her tummy, but we only let her if we are holding her. She will sleep on her side pretty good on her wedge when she’s comfortable.

Sorry for rambling on here, I’m sleepy and can’t do much else holding her on the couch right now (on her tummy). If I lay her down she’ll wake up screaming………

[Anonymous]

Something you might try for tummy sleeping. I have never used one, but I have a friend that has. It is a pad you put under the crib/bassinett sheet. The alarm connected to the pad goes off if no movement (breathing) is detected for more than 20 seconds. Maybe this way she could sleep on her tummy, and you could have peace of mind (and sleep).

http://www.amazon.com/BEBE-SOUND-BEBE-AC201-AC201-G-Movement/dp/B000J45HSM/ref=pd_bbs_5?ie=UTF8&s=baby-products&qid=1208580731&sr=8-5

[hellbennt]

tummy sleeping:

This is from the American Academy of Pediatrics & how they recommend that tummy sleeping is best for GERD babies. http://www.aap.org/new/sids/question.htm (thanks Sherry & Christine!)

There’s a monitor that you can use called the Angel Care Monitor that many of the parents on this board have had great success with. Jonah was sent home with a monitor from the hospital, so I don’t know firsthand about the Angel Care monitor, but here’s all about it: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/search.asp?KW=angelcare&SM=2&SI=TC&FM=0&OB=2

BEANIE BABY: for day time naps I suggest this: Try putting her on her tummy & put a beanie baby on her back for 2 reasons- to see that she’s breathing (the beanie baby will go up & down )

& for the weight- put your hand on her back & then slowly leave it & the beanie baby is there instead…

For sleeping, there’s also the Tucker Sling that people rave about: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/search.asp?KW=tucker&S M=1&SI=TC&FM=0&OB=2

as well as the Amby Hammock: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/search.asp?KW=amby&SM= 1&SI=TC&FM=0&OB=2

~laura

ps: what SAVED US (& I mean me, my dh, even my MOTHER & babysitter) was Babywearing: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1044&a mp;PN=1 (a lot of folks on this board have found it to be great, too!)

[Anonymous]

I’ll look at all this stuff later.

just wanted to mention that I already bought a sleeping wedge, it was from that pollywog website, $300. And she hates it, not sure why yet. I don’t know if I can send it back or not but I might try. I’ve tried it on her back and on the other side for her tummy, she only slept on it once and that was because she was exhausted.

Oh well, for now it’s back to sleeping on daddy, I guess it’s just the right angle for her..

[Anonymous]

OH! I LOVE her name. My daughter, Claire was almost an Amelia! It took me three days after she was born to decide between the two.

How old is she again? I know it was around 3-4 months or so, when Ben’s digestive system seemed to mature enough that he wasn’t as uncomfortable with the gas and poo straining.

However, I had also been on the TED then, so that may have actually been what helped. The painful tummy issues, for Ben anyway, always tended to come when he (I) ate something that bothered him.

I will say too that vaccines ALWAYS made my son’s reflux flare up. I have no idea why, but he was always a mess for a few days with each round. That oral one that they give now ( I can’t remember what it is for – rotovirus, I think) really was not very nice for him.

Also, if you think it might be the milk… is your wife totally off milk? It is in everything.. you have to read ingredients carefully. And, I’m not familiar with the BioGia probiotic, but many of them are grown off of milk, so she is getting it through the probiotic too. Just a thought. The snickers bar, has milk of course, but chocolate itself often causes acid flares just on its own.

Hang in there.. It does get better!!

[Author]

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