Got the Solutabs!

[Anonymous]

After pulling teeth w/my GI, he Rxed the Solutabs, but he would only Rx 7.5mg/day for a month. I only got 30 tablets of 15mg. I plan to does Cole twice/day 1/2 pill at a time, so I only have 15 days worth. This morning was a disaster, I tried to syringe the granules into his mouth and he spit it all out. He is use to me using the compound form, so he always spits some of that out. I was trying to pick all the granules off of his clothes and neck. I was so upset. Oh well, I’ll try again on the 2nd does.

I’ve read that he needs to have a full meal 30-60min after the med, but Cole only eats 2, maybe 3oz at a time. (he is 6 months old) This morning he only ate 2oz. That’s the best that he can do right now.

I’m going to try to get a referral to another GI doc that is 2 hrs away from us. My friend used her and said that she Rxed Solutabs for her 3 month old, 7.5mg bid. I don’t know how to dose Cole so I need help from a Doc willing to do this. I read on Marci-Kids that he should have 7.5mg tid (3x/day) but I only have a 15 day dose right now so I’m dosing bid to start. Do u think this dose will have any affect.? My hubby thinks I’m nuts, that the compounded is the same, I want to show him that the solutabs will work. Unfortunately, I may not be able to dose Cole enough at 1st.

[Anonymous]

I really feel for you. Some people have had success with the compound and it’s certainly easier to give, but it is very hard to make correctly. And I was one of the disaster stories on the compound. If you do compounded, then print off the info about how to do it correctly from the forum and ask the pharm to make it like that. The solutabs have worked for many people. They were hard for us to use b/c of Hailey’s feeding aversion- she wouldn’t eat on command so I couldn’t time them and her stomach was rarely empty or full at the right times. It’s really key to get the dose right for each child. Good luck. I hope that things improve for you soon.

[Anonymous]

We had a struggle with the solutabs too… I got those stupid granuals all over the place.

However, several moms have found great success with simply holding the solutab in the babies mouth pressed against the cheek and then squirting in just a little bit of water to help it dissolve. That way the med stays in the mouth better.

I wish I would have known that back when we were trying it, as i think it would have really helped!!

[Anonymous]

thanks for the support. i tried again this afternoon, waiting till the 2 hr mark from when he last ate. then i tried squirting the granule/water solution into a nipple, he wouldn’t suck at all! then, i syringed it again with just a small amount of water, he spit it out all over his neck. then i resorted to putting the granules on my finger and putting it on his tongue. what another disaster! then i tried to get him to eat, he ate 0.5oz and went to sleep. he’s had 7oz and it is 230pm and he will probably nap for a couple of hours. i hate this. i want to quit and give up. i can’t take this much longer.

ok, with that said (i’ve gathered myself again, lol). i’ve heard u can put granules on food, what kinds of solids? sometimes i can get him to take a spoonful which of course he spits out, but i spoon it right back in again and again. i can try that route. if that doesn’t work, i’ll just have to keep syringing the compounded stuff. that’s what i’m going to do before he takes his last bottle tonight. i don’t know if i can time it precisely but i’ll get as close as i can. again, he doesn’t take a full feeding, probably only 2oz or less.

i feel bad because he kept crying and swatting at my hands. i had him weighed today, he has gained only 4oz in 2weeks. length and head circum hasn’t changed for 2 months. i’m going out of my mind with stress and sadness and exhaustion.

i’m thinking of bumping his formula to 27cal/oz since he is growing so slowly. Gotta call Doc again…

[Anonymous]

i’m nervous about putting the tab in his cheek because he moves and fights so much, i may drop it and he may choke! how do u guys do it? 1 hand to hold the pill, the other to push syringe with water, but which hand to keep the infant still?

[Anonymous]

Can anyone provide the link for how to make compounded Prev for a pharmacist? I can’t seem to find it on marci-kids site. Thank you. My pharm told me that he uses sod bicarb at 8.4% buffer.

[Anonymous]

I used the finger in the cheek method for months. What I did was hold the tab inside the cheek with one hand and hold my daughter still with the other. Once the tab felt like it had disintegrated (mostly) I removed my finger and grabbed the syringe of water to help her wash it down. A couple times I lost hold of the tab as she shook her head, but it disintegrates so quickly that she never choked on it.

Paige only ate tiny bits at a time too when her reflux was bad and she was just starting on the Prevacid. Do the best you can. Yes, it will work best on an empty stomach 30-60 minutes before a full feeding, but it will still help if the timing and feeding doesn’t work out perfectly. After a couple of weeks and the Prevacid started to take effect, her feeding improved dramatically and dosing became much easier.

Good luck! I hope the solutabs help.

[hellbennt]

***How to ASK for PPIs to be Compounded (condensed version): https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4505

And the ‘long version’ (Scroll down to purple posts): https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3104&a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;a mp;TPN=1

[Anonymous]

Hi Sheri,

thank u for ur post, i really appreciate it. i will give it a try. the only other thing i can do is have him drink from a cup with it immersed in a little water. today was awful, just awful! i tried 3 x with the solutab and i don’t feel like he got but a tiny bit. i tried syringe, nipple, medicine dropper. all failed because he spit it all out every time and i aim back of the mouth, cheek (this kid is that good at spitting back).

he went to sleep already and only ate 14oz, his worst day yet. i’m so upset and don’t know what to do. i didn’t dose his zantac because dosing the prev 3x today, i couldn’t get a 4hr window. trying to hold him off today was horrible too, then when he eats, he only eats 1oz or less or a few sips!! he had such a bad day, crying and refusing. i feel like such a bad mom bc i don’t know what i’m doing and i may be making it worse.

i’m miserable and scared. i know that i should count my blessings that he doesn’t have something worse, but living this everyday for months and months is just an incredible nightmare. i can’t even be a good wife or friend or anything else right now. i’ve completely lost my life.

ok, ok… thanks for listening. i’m so glad that i can vent here. this place is a God send. Thank you all for being here for us and helping us the best that u can and for the time that u spend doing it.

tomorrow’s plan is to start w/the compounded form (even though it is the wrong bicarb percentage as i read on some posts). then i will attempt the solutab in cheek method (pray that he doesn’t choke, ha ha) twice the rest of the day. i plan on dosing some zantac tonight, going to wake him (he was just in so much pain and i hope that it will help him a bit).

going to give pharmacist print-out on Mon, weekends here darn it. any tips, opinions r welcome about my plan… P.S. is it ok to give him some water/w/splash of juice in between meals before dosing prevacid? or does it have to be a no food/drink whatsoever 2hrs before?

-Susan

[Anonymous]

Is Cole familiar with a baby spoon? Even when Landen wasn’t on solids yet, I put the solutab on a baby spoon with just a couple drops of water to soften it and he’d open his mouth for the spoon and I’d drop it in his mouth and he’d swallow it. Worth a shot! (don’t use too much water, just a few drops to soften it up so he doesn’t choke) when I had trouble adminstering solutabs and posted on here, another mom gave me this peice of advice and it is always how I gave them to landen so i am happy to pass it along! good luck!jilly782008-03-14 09:58:54

[Anonymous]

today has gone better with the solutabs. thank u, Sheri. i;m using the cheek method. he fights for a while and then just cries. i can’t get him to drink much water though because he spits that out. i just try to dump a little in his mouth.

i am scared though. i’m dosing him 3x a day with 7.5mg solutab each time. this is a lot more than the GI rxed me. my son won’t grow an extra toe or anything, will he? (JK) yesterday was a disaster, but today i think he is getting most of it. although, again dosing windows r tough. he only ate 1oz after his afternoon dose and it took 20 minutes of me pushing. ugh…

i really hope that this works soon because i only have an 11 day dose, i do have 1 refill. i decided to go with all solutabs 3x/day because why use the compound form if it isn’t made correctly? i really hope that we see improvement so that i can tell the doc that i really need that doseage.

thanks again for ur help. i don’t feel so alone. none of my friends understand this or heard of it.

[Anonymous]

I’m glad the dosing has gone better for you today! Hang in there, I know how tough it can be. It can take a few days, but I really hope you start to see improvement before long.

Just FYI, I saw some improvement with Paige after about 10 days of Prevacid and noticable improvement after about 20 days.

[Anonymous]

dosing has been so difficult with 3x/day prevacid. today i dosed the 1 two, 7 hours apart and the 3rd only 2 hours apart. i feel like this is going to be a failure too… i know that i should spread it out, but it is sooo tough. i’ll try again tomorrow to get them more evenly spaced.

[hellbennt]

hugs! you do what you can!

and, if you want to try the zantac at only 2 hours seperate from the prevacid, you can- it’s worth a shot. Our ped Gi said 2 hrs & that’s what we did…so it’s worth a shot. also, we can help you find the maximum zantac dose for his weight- 10mgs per kilo

what does he weigh?

[Anonymous]

We use the cheek method as well. It works out very well. I use my right index finger and hold the tab in her right cheek. I use my left hand and squirt a tenny-tiny bit of water every 30 seconds or so to get the tab to dissolve. I sort of manipulate the tab between my finger and her cheek to help it dissolve. The whole process takes about 3 minutes. Sometimes I have to go slow to ensure she swallows it all. If I am rushing, she’ll spit more of it out. As soon as I feel the tab dissolve, I use my index finger as a pacifier and she sucks on it & swallows the dissolved tab particles. I then squirt a little bit more water in her mouth a few times to get her to swallow excess particles down.

Sometimes I get a bottle of warm water out before I give the tab and let her suck on that for 10 seconds or so, just to lubricate her mouth. This helps the tab to dissolve quicker.

If your son takes a pacifier, once you feel the tab dissolve, can you quickly stick that in his mouth to get him to swallow it all?

One other mother I know does half a tab at a time…..her daughter is 6 months old. She gives her half tab and her daughter munches on it. Then she gives the other half and her daughter chews that up. She initially gave 1/2 the tab and her pedi told her to just give her daughter the paci and she’ll suck on it until it dissolves. That worked until her daughter started chewing it up.

It took about 7-10 days for us to see full relief. Within a couple days, I could tell things were getting better. At 14 days, all better!

We don’t always wait the full 30 minutes. Sometimes 20-25 is all we can do. But as long as you give it on a completely empty stomach, 25 minutes should suffice.

Also, something for you think about, your son is only getting 1-2oz, which is not a full meal and likely not filling his tummy. Thus, he’s probably hungry every 1-2 hours instead of every 2-3 hours. Because the 1-2oz you are giving him is likely digested much quicker than 3.5-4-5oz that many babies are getting, you might not have to wait as long between feedings. I know the standard is 2-3 hours after the last feeding but I am pretty sure that is based on a full feeding (which varies with infants). So, you might email Dr. Phillips and ask him about that.

Sometimes my daughter doesn’t nurse as long and will be hungry at a 2 hour interval instead of a 3 hour interval. If she is hungry at 2 hours instead of 3, I know that her tummy is likely empty and that it’s okay for me to give her medicine then. I don’t always go by the 2-3 hour timeframe…..I judge her signs of being hungry as having an empty tummy. Likewise, sometimes she has a really LONG feeding and the 2 hour rule doesn’t apply — she needs 3-4 hours to have an empty tummy after a long feeding. I did her her meds at the 2 hour mark after a longer feeding and the med didn’t work as well so that’s how I figured out that I just need to learn her signs and let her tell me when she has an empty tummy!

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