New to Prevacid – Please Help!!

[Anonymous]

My name is Kelly and I’m a parent of a seven week old little boy who has been diagnosed with significant acid reflux. He has ALL the symptoms and had an upper GI performed last week. He is currently 11.10 lbs and is on .8 ml of Zantac twice a day and it is not helping. My pediatrician is now adding Prevacid. He was prescribed 7.5 mg once daily. I started the first dose this morning and he threw most of it up. I’m concerned he is not receiving enough of the medication if he is spitting it back up, I could even see the little granules in his spit up.

I’m interested in ordering buffer babies or caracream max. I think caracream max might be the best option as he has significant gas as well. I’m a little overwhelmed by the amount of information on here (read through it all but still feel a little lost) and was hoping someone could reassure me that we are on the right dosage and that could help me decide which products/meds would be best. I also am wondering if the combination of Zantac and Prevacid (spaced 4 hours apart) is the right choice or if I should try Prevacid and Mylanta. I read on the forums that I should continue the Zantac for at least two weeks until the Prevacid kicks in. I have not tried Mylanta at all. Is it OK to have my little guy on all three as long as they are spaced far enough apart?

Any help with my situation would be much appreciated. I’m distraught over seeing my son in so much pain daily.

[Anonymous]

Hi, I’m sorry you are going through such a tough time. Have faith that things will get better with time! I’ll try to answer some of your questions. It’s a great idea to do the Zantac and Prevacid while the Prevacid is still kicking in (up to 2 weeks for effect). Just be sure to space them at least 4 hours apart or they will interfere with each other. I don’t know about the Mylanta, so I can’t speak to that, but the Caracream and Bufferbabies essentially adds an antacid into the regimen. Caracream is basically the same as Bufferbabies except it is supposed to produce less gas (but not no gas). Personally, I tried Caracream and it made my son miserable with gas. I tried to wait it out to see if he’d get used to it, but he never did. Other people have had amazingly positive experiences with Caracream. So, I would say, try it and see if it works for you. The benefit of the Caracream is that besides providing an immediate antacid, it does not have to be given on an empty stomach and it does not need to be followed by a “meal” 30 min later. It is also more effective at getting the Prevacid absorbed into the bloodstream. If your son is spitting up as soon as he eats anything, I’m not sure the Caracream will directly help with that.

Hmm, my little man is waking…I’ll be back later to talk about your doses if someone else doesnt
~Diana

[hellbennt]

hi & welcome!

Diana really answered most of your questions, but here goes:

first of all, if you’re giving the solutabs, you need to give them on an empty stomach, followed by a ‘meal’ 30 minutes later. Also make sure to check the dose to make sure it’s ‘proper.’

there’s a great ‘thread’ (posts in a topic) called

Prevacid 101- here it is – go to the last post on the page:

https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1936&PN=0&TPN=1

I can only speak from experience about the OLD caracream, so I don’t know if that’s the current caracream or if it’s more comparable to bufferbabies?

anyway, in Prevacid 101 I have posted:

When I first started here on this reflux journey, I discovered a ‘miracle’ to help get PPIs into my baby. It was called Caracream (there was also Chocobase). The very same people (marci-kids, research based from/coming out of the U of Missouri) developed a product w/ the generic of prilosec, called zegerid (this is now manufactured and sold by another company), & I would DEFINITELY check it out if prilosec is an option for your baby. When zegerid first came out, you could no longer get caracream, but now you can; it’s new & improved & now called bufferbabies.

Caracream Max: used w/ prilosec & prevacid

Caracream Z: used with zegrid.

Bufferbabies: is another form of Caracream –look at http://www.refluxsolutions.com.

Some babies do better with Bufferbabies & some do better with Caracream – it has something to do w/ the bi carbonate…

Email them & they will get back with you pretty quickly.

Ok mylanta:

mylanta cherry supreme is the one variety of mylanta that does not contain aluminum. it’s hard to find, but you can find store brand equivalents try rite-aid, cvs brand, walmart, target, etc- just look for one that does not list aluminum in the ingredients. you can give 1ml up to 5 times a day- it’s safe, even for newborns. if you see loose stools back off.

mylanta can be given w/ zantac

mylanta cannot be given w/ prevacid (you can give it 4hrs seperate)

zantac can be given w/ mylanta

zantac cannot be given w/ prevacid (you can give it 4hrs seperate)

prevacid needs to be spaced 4hrs from mylanta

prevacid needs to be spaced 4hrs from zantac

it is fine to have baby on all three meds. mylanta is safe even for newborns. I am not a medical professional, I’ve ‘just’ been on this board for eight (8!) years now…it was safe 8 years ago to have my baby on all three meds and I haven’t heard anything to contradict that since then from other posters…

no medicine will stop the spitting up!

if baby is gaining weight (sounds like he is!) and isn’t in pain from the spitting up then it’s not considered a problem. if there’s pain, then the medicine will address that but not the spitting up…

found this:

“Bufferbabies is considered the “gold standard” of the two and is recommended to try first. We were one of the lucky families that saw NO gas issues at all from BB…we started it at 4 weeks old with my LO and are slowly weaning down now at 17 months. We LOVE it! Caracream did not come out until months after we had started BB and I didn’t want to ‘rock the boat’ with our happy little girl and try something new. 🙂 Caracream-Z is only for use with zegerid OTC but Caracream-max can be used with other OTC meds. CC is a one bottle system (BB is two) and is slightly cheaper. I really think that either of them are a great option! Good luck in whatever you decide! ”

[Anonymous]

You could try the Prevacid compound, but try to get it compounded weekly if you can, or at least every two weeks. My baby was on the compound for a while and it worked pretty well.

[hellbennt]

I do not recommend going for the pharmacy to compound your prevacid…MamAmelia was super lucky it worked for her!

if you DO go that route, be sure to TELL the pharmacist HOW to compound it: instructions are in Prevacid 101 go to the last post on the page:

https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1936&PN=0&TPN=1

[Anonymous]

Our baby spit up the prevacid also, we cut the pill and put the beads in a little bowl with a little water and use the mylicon dropper to suck them up, about 1/3 at a time and dispense in his mouth. It took a few times to get it right, but now he is use to it. Sometimes we give him a pacifier right after to help him swallow them. Hope this helps!!

[Anonymous]

Thank you everyone for the advice and support! It helps so much to know there are others out there who have dealt with similar situations. I can’t tell you how helpful it is. It has been almost two weeks and it seems the Prevacid is kicking in. I’ve noticed less screaming, crying, and thrashing. He still fusses when he eats and has his fussy moments where I can tell he is in pain – but it is far less intense. I hope he continues to improve.

We ended up dissolving the Prevacid with a little water on a baby spoon and spooning it into his mouth (I got the idea from another thread on here). We made a mess the first couple times but have it down now. Waiting an half hour is the hardest part but I ordered the CaraCream Max last week. Hope that helps!! I can’t wait for it to get here.

Thank you again for your help!!

[Anonymous]

Another good way to use the solutabs is to put it in the syringe that comes with Motrin. Pull back a little water, shake it up and squirt it between the cheek and gum towards the back of the mouth. The opening in the Motrin syringe is big enough to let the medicine balls pass through.

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