New mom – at wits end…

[Anonymous]

I have been reading about your little Emma and wanted to let you know that in my research of reflux- it takes at least 2wks for the meds to start working. If you change to much at once you won’t be able to figure out what is working. I have had a nurse come out to my house in addition to the three different docs and her advice is to keep a log about your child. I kept a log that tracked sleep patterens, fussiness or agitation, restless sleep, screaming etc…it really helped.

Also what I did

1. Put the crib at a 30 degree angle. It has helped me.

2. My son sleeps on his stomach. he did sleep with us for a few weeks

3. Gripe water or Colic calm or colic tablets.

I got these at the health store. During those times when he is really bad i give him two little colic tablets that disolve in the mouth in a few seconds and a teaspoon of the gripe water. in most cases it takes about 30min and he is out for about 2-4 hours of much needed sleep.

Zantac and Prilosec in my opinion are horrible meds. We have Allie on Prevasid and I have only seen a small difference in his reflux but with the combo of all the things i give him i am starting to get my sanity back

[Anonymous]

i would get off the zantac…be forceful with the doc. i have a friend whose baby was colicky and they do offer a pain med that she was given for the gas….my docs did not give me anything….i just posted a tool that helped me

Gripe water or colic calm or colic tablets they are at the health store. call ans see if your town carries these. it has been a gift….also i give my son a sip of water. it settles him down when its a bad day off his pacfier. it kinda jolts his senses

[Anonymous]

I don’t see how they can rule out reflux with no test….

[hellbennt]

there’s actually no test for reflux- I mean ther is after a long while- there’s a ph probe and there’s an endoscopy- but usually those tests aren’t given until baby is suffering long and hard w/ reflux.

The Upper GI, (also called a barium swallow?) is good to look for structural abnormalities,
it is *not* good to verify reflux: it is a snapshot in time if you were, so if baby doesn’t happen to reflux at that particular time of the test then a dr might be quick to dismiss you & tell you reflux isn’t there/isn’t bad- the way to show reflux is a ph probe, where the actual length (duration) & frequency (how often) of reflux episodes are recorded (I think actually the acidity is measured as well? Thus the ‘ph’ part of the test?)…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

as for zantac & mylanta, yes my baby started off that way…wound up then on prilosec, maxed out on the dose (was taking zantac along w/ it) and then switched to prevacid- the whole storey is here:

Groupie Intro: my intro: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=853&PN=1&TPN=1

as for the babywearing (using the bjorn) I have a lot to say about this too! LOVe it!

Babywearing: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1044&PN=1

as for colic stuff- I’d be wary of gripe water etc:

Gripe water: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3438

[Anonymous]

I am so thankful to look back at all your posts. I feel like i was brushed off yesterday and walked out feeling like there was more that could have been done. Shpuld she be tested for something???? How long before they test her. Should I have her tested for a milk allergy? I know there is no cure but, why hold off on putting these kids on something stronger?

How long in your experience does it take to see any change from mylanta and zantac? My next appt is a month from now and I feel like it is a long time to judge if something is working or not

[hellbennt]

Kdenihan wrote: Shpuld she be tested for something???? How long before they test her. Should I have her tested for a milk allergy? I know there is no cure but, why hold off on putting these kids on something stronger?
How long in your experience does it take to see any change from mylanta and zantac? My next appt is a month from now and I feel like it is a long time to judge if something is working or not

I have a hard time keeping track of everyone. please go to the top of the page, to the upper right hand corner & click on .settings’ and then update profile’ to make your signature- you can please put baby’s age (DOB), meds- names & doses (for what weight), name of formula/breastfeeding…thanks!

ok:

I can’t say whether baby should be tested for something. there aren’t a lot of tests per se. there’s mainly symptoms. if you go to Groupie Intro & scroll/skim through to find about Sandifer Symptoms- this might help you.

(if baby doesn’t have Sandifer’s not to worry. just a thought)

as for milk allergy, soy allergy, etc- again it’s symptoms- rashes, extreme cradle cap, excema, constipation, gas, etc. From Groupie Intro there’s a link to the ‘main’ MSPI page. this will help you. look for link that tells you ‘best explanation b/t allergies & intolerances’

zantac takes maybe a few days. might not be a high enough dose. figure for 10mgs per kilo:

1) take baby’s weight in pounds (round to nearest whole or whole & half pound- so 15 lbs 5 ounces is 15lbs and 15 lbs 8ounces is 15.5 lbs-there’s 16ouncs to a lb…)

2) divide by 2.2 to get kilos

3) multiply baby’s weight in kilos by 10;

this gives you number of mgs of zantac fo the day

4) divide this number

by 15 (there’s 15mgs/ml in your bottle of zantac- check the bottle);

this gives you the total mls of zantac for the day

[Anonymous]

Well Emma has been on Prevacid 15 mg (split in half and given twice a day) over 2 weeks now. She is only vomiting once a day now, usually the first bottle of the morning. But she has started coughing and gagging a lot at night while sleeping now. Any of your babies doing this?

Also, she wants to sleep bent completely in half (backwards) with her head thrown as far sideways as she can get it. It looks terrible, but when I try to move her back she just reforms herself into a pretzel. I asked the doctor about it and she said it is fine as long as she doesn’t do it when she is awake. I don’t get that. (I can’t put her to sleep on her stomach – she vomits every time.)

[Anonymous]

Justice has been having a reflux flare recently and the coughing and gagging is exaclty what he is doing. I’m not an expert, but I would try giving mylanta cherry supreme during those times or even some left over zantac or pepcid complete. If I give him a half a tablet of pepcid complete he will go back to sleep and the coughing stops. If you decide to do either of those you will have to ask the ladies on here how much to give. I can’t really remember. I do know though if you try the zantac or pepcid you have to give it 4 hrs apart from the prevacid. Also be sure that you are giving the prevacid on an empty stomach and waiting 30 mins to feed the baby. The drs. usually don’t tell you that. Also make sure on the Marci-kids website that your baby is getting the correct dosage. If the dose is too low for your baby then she might as well not be on anything at all.

[Anonymous]

I have been having similar problems with the coughing and gagging lately. Grayson has been on a rollercoaster ride this week. Her dr. still will only give her zantac 1ml. We took her off mylanta because it upset her more. Just to give everyone a heads up so they do not end up like myself last week. Grayson started to eat only 1-2 oz a week and a half ago and I had no clue why. She played with her bottle and spit it out even though she was hungry. I went to the dr and she had not gained weight since the 31st of Jan and finally they were concerned. He watched her feed as well ans saw what I kept telling him. My ped called my gi and they agreed she needed to do more testing, after going for a barium swallow they admitted her into the hospital because she was dehydrated from not eating and lethargic. We then had an enoscopy. All of these showed nothing significant. As my dr says all bABIES HAVE REFLUX. I am so sick of hearing that. She had a NG tube in her nose to make sure she was getting enough into her. Whatever she did not take through mouth we had to put in the tube. My gut says she stopped eating because she knew it would hurt, but they dont like to hear that. So I am still in the same place, but now waking her every 3 hrs to feed her and she has been doing ok, but as I said before now she has this cough all the time which leads her to spit up what she ate sometimes. I go back to the gi on March 7th and hope that she will be more aggressive with the medication, but I doubt it.

Also, I am waiting for metabolic testing results to come back because grayson had elevated lactic acid levels as well which could be part of the problem. Of course every dr in New York is on vacation this week because the kids are off so I have to wait for next week for any help.

I am going to keep pushing But I feel like it is very hard to get through to the drs. Don’t want anyone elses children to have go through what Grayson did and still have no help.

Still feel like there is more that they can do

[Anonymous]

OMG, I’m so sorry to hear that. Emma has not been wanting to eat lately either! Oh no. Now I’m really worried. Although with Emma it is not every bottle. It’s usually during the night and I though it was just because she was so sleepy. She’ll eat about 1 1/2 oz then refuse anymore. I’ll let her sleep half an hour then try to get her to eat the rest. But then I’m feeding her all night long and her total daily intake has dropped. She hasn’t lost weight, but she isn’t gaining either. I guess I better call the doctor.

[Author]

Posts