HELP! Blood in Spit Up and Dr. Appt. in 2 hours

[Anonymous]

I have not posted in a while because I thought we had things relatively under control. We happen to have an appt w/ the pedi GI at 10:20 EST so any quick advice would be GREATLY appreciated. My DD2, 5 months and about 15 pounds, is on Prevacid 7.5 mg 3x/day. During the last month, her night time sleeping has gone from 2-3x feedings/wakings a night to 5+/night. At first I thought it may be a growth spurt or teething, but things have gotten progressively worse both day/night. Yesterday was a particularly bad day, and she screamed terribly in the car on the way to pick up my older DC. At 2 AM, she had a large volume of spit up tinged with blood. At 4 days old, she had an incident of projectile spit up with bright red blood. Upper GI was negative. No obvious blood in stool but I am bringing in this morning’s BM diaper for a check. She is normally a silent refluxer, but she has had more actual spit up lately. She has been gulping alot, which indicates to me that her reflux is acting up. She is solely breast fed. I have eliminated nuts/shellfish from my diet. Previously, I had eliminated dairy as well, but it did not seem to have any impact. Although I am normally pretty tolerate of sleep deprivation, it has been getting completely out of control as of late, and I am getting dizzy and blurred vision.

TIA for anything that may be helpful in discussing situation with dr. You guys are great!

[Anonymous]

I might not be much help cause we didn’t have any situation with blood in spit up. I was just wondering if there is still something in your diet that’s causing problems (hidden dairy, soy, meats, etc)!?!??! Have you tried the TED diet at all? Also, just my non-professional thinking out loud…but if there is blood only in the spit up would it be from her esophogus? Like the acidity of the spit up is causing erosions in there? Also, I was thinking maybe there is also blood in her stool. Maybe they could do a occult blood test to test for hidden blood that can’t be easily seen?

These were just some quick thoughts. Luckily, we didn’t have anything like this so I’m no expert. Maybe some other mommas will have some better ideas!

Let us know how the appointment goes!!

[Anonymous]

isabellasmommy wrote: I might not be much help cause we didn’t have any situation with blood in spit up. I was just wondering if there is still something in your diet that’s causing problems (hidden dairy, soy, meats, etc)!?!??! Have you tried the TED diet at all? Also, just my non-professional thinking out loud…but if there is blood only in the spit up would it be from her esophogus? Like the acidity of the spit up is causing erosions in there? Also, I was thinking maybe there is also blood in her stool. Maybe they could do a occult blood test to test for hidden blood that can’t be easily seen?

Thanks for the quick reply. Due to issues w/ thrush, I had a very strict diet limited to organic meat and certain vegetables for about 2 months. TED and then some. I was losing too much weight, so we gradually added in fruits, other vegetables and dairy without any noticeable increase in symptoms other than nuts and possibly shellfish. At her 2 month appt (3 months ago), there was no blood in stool viewed under a microscope. I will have him recheck today since my diet has expanded since that time. I similarly was thinking an upper GI issue b/c of the blood in spit up but not stool. Per Marci Kids, she should be at 8-11 mg 3x per day now. I have no idea how to hit those numbers w/ solutabs (maybe 1/2 tablet 2x/day and a full tablet 1x/day for a total of 30 mg?)

[Anonymous]

Yeah, it’s hard with the solutabs to get the max dose. But I believe on marci-kids it says you can round up to the next highest and still be safe.

This is from their site…

Your child, who is 5 months old and weighs 6.8 kg, should receive a dose of 8 to 11 mg of Prevacid delivered 3 times per day for a total of 24 to 33 mg per day.

The recommended amount for each dose can be safely rounded up to the nearest available dosage form (7.5 mg) without risk of overdose or side effects (Example: A recommended dose of 6 mg given 3 times per day should be rounded up to 7.5 mg given 3 times per day, for a total of 22.5 mg per day).
Prevacid 15 mg Solutabs (lansoprazole) are scored and can be broken into two halves, each containing 7.5 mg of lansoprazole.

Prevacid Solutabs should be administered on an empty stomach and 30 minutes to 1 hour before a full meal.

So it sounds like you can do 1/2 of 15mg solutab 3 times a day and be OK. Also, I’m not sure how long your LO has been on the solutabs, but some babies can’t handle some of the inactive ingredients in them so they switch to the capsules (either on applesauce or using Buffer Babies from Marci-Kids). If applesauce you still have to time on empty stomach, but with Buffer Babies you don’t have to worry about timing. I will so though there I know there are a few babies that couldn’t tolerate the sodium bicarbonate in the Buffer Babies so they just did the beads from the capsule on the applesauce.

HTH! Please post how the appt goes if you can!

I’ll be thinking of you guys.

[Anonymous]

We are currently dosing at 22.5 per day, which a little below the recommended range of 24-33 mg/day based upon her age/weight and it has not been controlling her symptoms. It turns out the DD2 did not spit up blood, per the GI’s testing. We are not sure what it is (significant volume on DD2’s swaddle, PJs and DH’s shirt) but suspect it may be Prevacid. We had given it to her about 4 hours before she spit up though, so I would have thought that it would have been digested by then.

Our pedi GI has now changed us to Zegerid. He states that there have been mixed results in his experience.

I am really at me limit, particularly with the sleep deprivation and 30 minute naps. We are prayerful that the Zegerid will help.

[hellbennt]

if you have any zantac or pepcid or tagament, you can give this, too making sure to give it 4 hours seperate from the prevacid

[Anonymous]

hi, also wanted to reply really quick & i am sorry i couldn’t get to this sooner… i saw you had some previous issues w/thrush. do you know if that was cleared up completely? thrush can be tough to get rid of and really flare up reflux horribly. it can also irritate the mouth, throat and esophagus. when my DS2 had it, he had one of the worst reflux flares i’d ever seen and he made terrible growling and gurgling noises and didn’t sleep no matter how high of a dose of anything he was on, until the thrush was completely gone.

if you think it could be thrush, check out this thread:

https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9376

ok, back to election news…

hope your baby is feeling better soon. HUGS!

[Anonymous]

jilly78 wrote: hi, also wanted to reply really quick & i am sorry i couldn’t get to this sooner… i saw you had some previous issues w/thrush. do you know if that was cleared up completely? thrush can be tough to get rid of and really flare up reflux horribly. it can also irritate the mouth, throat and esophagus. when my DS2 had it, he had one of the worst reflux flares i’d ever seen and he made terrible growling and gurgling noises and didn’t sleep no matter how high of a dose of anything he was on, until the thrush was completely gone.

if you think it could be thrush, check out this thread:

https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9376

ok, back to election news…

hope your baby is feeling better soon. HUGS!

I am not at all certain that our battle w/ thrush has been fully resolved. I have had an extremely resistant case that spread to my mouth while taking diflucan. I have taken 4 Rx of diflucan, itraconazole, endless probiotics, grapefruit seed extract and gentian violet, not to mention sterilizations. I even consulted w/ Jack Newman’s office (author’s of various thrush treatment protocols). DD2 did not have visible signs of thrush but did have the hoarseness and other symptoms of esophageal thrush. About a month ago, we both were treated w/ diflucan simultaneoously (finally). I still have the thrush blisters and intermittent pain (nipple and duct). Short of stopping BF, I am at a complete loss as to what else to do.

[Anonymous]

how long have your courses of diflucan been prescribed for? i fought it on my breasts for probably over 6 months. sylvia would chew her food and spit it out or sometimes refuse it, and she was not sleeping well or gaining weight well.

you need to have a longer than normal course of diflucan, but i can’t remember how long we treated sylvia or kassie with it.

[Anonymous]

kevieb wrote: how long have your courses of diflucan been prescribed for? i fought it on my breasts for probably over 6 months. sylvia would chew her food and spit it out or sometimes refuse it, and she was not sleeping well or gaining weight well.

you need to have a longer than normal course of diflucan, but i can’t remember how long we treated sylvia or kassie with it.

Each course of diflucan was for at least 2 weeks in line with the thrush protocols that I have seen on kellymom and other sites. I have a cold right now which has suppressed my immune system and resulted in a spike in thrush symptoms. Once I stop BF, I will be able to try some other remedies. I have not eaten dessert in 5 months and have had such a limited diet. I have lost WAY too much weight and just feel terrible.

Fortunately, DD2 is gaining weight well, notwithstanding our challenges. Also, since we switched to Zegerid (40 mg packets), DD2 seems to be feeling better and has stopped screaming in the car.

Melbel2008-11-10 00:40:05

[Anonymous]

I think it may have been the med which can cause red streaks in the spit up or it could have been bile. If you had given the meds that far ago my best guess would be bile.

Glad to hear with the med change things seem to be looking up fo r you.

[Author]

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