Spitting up blood… UPDATE!

[Anonymous]

Brendan is 2.5 months. At B’s one month
appt I mentioned to the pedi (not our regular dr because ours was on
paternity leave) he was spitting up gobs of green, yellow, and brown stuff and a
streak of red here and there. He said the brown wasn’t old blood
(although he didn’t know what it was) and the red/blood was probably
from a cracked nipple. I would know if I had a cracked nipple, wouldn’t I? I would be in
pain, right? The pedi went ahead and put him on Zantac because he was having serious problems gagging/choking, and was doing a lot of moaning and groaning, back arching, etc. At his 2 month appt, this time with our regular pedi, I
mentioned a couple times a week he’s spitting up more blood and the
pedi put him on Prevacid and said that even though he’s on the highest dose of Zantac, it’s not working well enough. I agreed. He’s 12lbs and on 7.5mg solutabs once a day. Half of which he spits up even hours after we give it to him. Well, he’s been on Prevacid a week
now, today was his first day off Zantac, and he’s been spitting up
blood here and there all day. Tonight was more than I’m comfortable
with.
I have no idea what’s going on, I think it’s his reflux, but the first
pedi put major doubt in my head that I have a cracked nipple and the
blood is mine not his. I don’t know what to think. I’m not in any pain,
a little sore but B has been comfort nursing a lot because I think he
hurts. He’s also been crying a lot more than usual and I don’t know if
the blood is from him screaming his head off or from reflux… I just
don’t know. I’m supposed to call the pedi if he spits up blood again,
so I plan on calling first thing in the morning.

My 3.5 yr old son had reflux (outgrew at 2 yrs ) and MSPI so I cut dairy out of diet a little over a week ago and he’s spitting up MUCH less and seems a tad more comfortable. My baby is just throwing me for a loop because his reflux symptoms are almost completely different than my first son.
I just haven’t heard of spitting up blood as a sign of reflux so I feel lost. Anyone have any insight? Our pedi said our next step is an appt with a GI doctor and tests. Ugh, I didn’t want to have to go through with this again.

Oh my… I just went to marci-kids and used their PPI calculator…he should be on a MUCH high dose.

Luke’smom2009-02-18 12:57:34

[Anonymous]

I almost bet that he has esophagitis and that is probably where the blood is coming from. If you had a cracked nipple I am almost 100% positive you would know, b/c I bet that you would see blood in your bra or on your nursing pads (I forget what they are called, put them in the bra to prevent leaks). I didn’t breastfeed for long with my little guy for various reasons, but I think you would know if you had a cracked nipple. I bet that he needs a higher dose and probably a bit more time with the Zantac on board to help everything heal properly. Good Luck, I might call the ped on call tonight if you are really concerned about the blood it may be something more than just esophagitis. HTH.

[Anonymous]

Hi Melissa,

I’m so sorry to hear about your little guy. It sounds like he is in awful pain. 🙁

My DS spit up blood back when he was around 4 months. We had suspected he had reflux when he was a couple of weeks old but he was not medicated. At 2 months, we saw blood in his stool so I eliminated dairy and things seemed better but got worse again, where he was doing the back arching and not sleeping and crying a lot and he started spitting up a lot of milk. Then, I saw a little bit of blood in his spitup. We took him into the ped and found that he also did not gain very much weight in 2 months. he had dropped from the 44%tile to the 10%tile. Our ped put Olsen on prevacid and he did get better, although recently he has gotten worse again with the back arching and no sleeping but no blood so far thankfully. We only had about 1.5 days of blood in his spitup. But it’s so alarming. I would think that you would know if your nipples were bleeding…I would also be really worried about the yellow and green. Could that be bile? I really have no idea.

We have since seen a ped GI and he thinks that the bleeding could also be due to eosinophils, which I believe are caused by allergies. He put Olsen on a higher dose of prevacid and some steroids to take for 3 weeks in the hope of getting rid of the eosinophils (if that was indeed the problem). I’ve also tried the total elimination diet as well. We are actually scheduled for an endoscopy at the end of the month so they can look in there and see what’s going on and take biopsies.

How are your LO’s stools? Have you ever noticed any blood in his stool? My baby’s stools still are not textbook breastfed stools, they are green, which the ped GI says means that the food is moving through the intestines really fast and could be the reason for his slow weight gain. I would go ahead and try to get an appt with the ped GI as soon as you can since it seems to take forever sometimes to get into one. We were so lucky that someone had canceled and we were able to see the doctor 1.5 months before our actual real appointment!

Anyways, I don’t think I was much help because I feel like the blood my baby had is still a bit of a mystery, probably due to reflux and esophagitis and also from allergies as well. I hope you get answers really soon and that your baby boy can get some relief soon!

Lisa

[hellbennt]

some mamas when they are desperate find out when the ped GI is on call at the local children’s hospital and just go to the ER- this is no guarantee, but it’s a start…if baby doesn’t ‘perform’ at the hospital by spitting up blood, TELL them to check his stool for occult blood- that’s a start. Then when there is blood do not be bullied to stop breastfeeding! there are mamas here that have SUCESSFULLY resolved blood by altering their diet.

there is HOPE!

also: the prevacid dose is very low. http://www.marci-kids.com

is at the forefront of the research about PPIs and infants-you could even contact them to see who they ‘know’ in your area- you can also look for the many parents’ (who post here) recommendations- look for the link ‘Finding a GI’ form here:

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

Please PLEASE take the time to read/scroll/skim through the info from this link, as it truly will help you!

[Anonymous]

Hey there. We went to the ER for blood in spit up just a few days after my son was born. BUT, my nipple was bleeding. There was a scab, so I KNEW that’s what it was when the doctor suggested it. IF you don’t have a scab, or your nipple doesn’t bleed when you pump or hand express, then it’s not from you!!!

Bloody spit up IS scary, so don’t back down. I think you are on the right track with eliminating the milk, but he could definitely be on a higher dose of the Prevacid.

[Anonymous]

UPDATE: The pedi told us to come in first thing this morning. Thank
goodness he didn’t even mention a cracked nipple again. The pedi
mentioned a milk protein allergy but I told him I cut out all dairy and
most soy almost two weeks ago. The projectile vomiting has mostly stopped
but he’s still hurting. So he’s sending us off to a pedi GI dr at the
Children’s Hospital. He warned me they will probably want to do a scope
to look at his esophagus and stomach with the amount of blood he’s
spitting up. After looking on marci-kids, I truly believe he’s on an insanely low dose of Prevacid
and that’s why he’s in so much pain. Hell, he can’t even keep down the
Prevacid I am giving him. So, hopefully I’ll hear something at the
beginning of the week. I’m a little upset because the pedi wouldn’t raise his Prevacid dose so I’ve decided to keep giving the Zantac. It may not take away all the pain but at least he wasn’t spitting up blood.

Esophagitis is
definitely a possibility and gave me lots to read up on. Thanks for the
suggestion. Like I said, I feel lost with this little one.

I also thought bile when I first saw the green/yellow spit up. The
first pedi didn’t think much of it. It has since stopped but that’s
when the blood started showing up.

His stools are textbook for a bfing baby. Yellow, no (visible) blood, no mucous, nothing. But I will ask the ped GI to test.

Helbennt, I’ll re-read
your intro again. I skimmed it last night and will go back today. I
read it 3 years ago with my first, it’s hard to believe!

Thanks to everyone who replied. I don’t know why, but it’s comforting
to read stories about people who have been through similar experiences.

[Anonymous]

Brendan had his first GI appt yesterday for his spitting up blood last month… A MONTH for an emergency appt. Anyway, was not impressed with the dr who seemed rushed and very short with me. After talking over his history and symptoms, the doctor said he looked
fine and he was okay with Brendan taking both Zantac and Prevacid. I would prefer a higer dose of Prevacid only, but as
long as he’s on both he seems relatively comfortable and there has been
no blood for over two weeks now. I mentioned that when I cut dairy out of my
diet and most soy he stopped projectile vomiting for the most part. We’re still
having a really bad time with him choking and gagging and needing help
to clear it out but I’m not sure what they can do for that?
The
dr. did a stool sample
and it came back with traces of blood. So now instead of just
continuing his meds, the dr wants to do an endoscopy and colonoscopy.
He said it could be a bleeding ulcer, esophagitis, or an allergy to
something I’m eating. I’m beyond frustrated because the first thing he
mentioned was going to formula. Luke’s GI dr told me the same thing at the time. It
really makes me angry these drs aren’t willing to work with you and
would rather take bfing out of the equation. He has an appt for
bloodwork today and the tests are currently scheduled for next
Thursday (the 26th).

After talking it over with my husband last night I think we’re going to cancel the tests. At this point, we just don’t feel comfortable with it. He’s a very happy boy now that he’s on his meds and I want to try the TED diet before we go any further to see if that will fix the blood in his stools. I hope we’re making the rest decision but I can’t see why I’d go through the tests when he seems to be responding to drug therapy??

His stools lately have been explosive, watery, and very dark yellow. Does that sound like a food allergy? I’ve never seen any kind of blood in his stools so I was surprised the stool sample came back with traces of it…

Luke’smom2009-02-18 13:25:12

[Anonymous]

Well, I think you have to do what you are most comfortable with, but if it were me, I would do the tests. they are very minimallly invasive and will give them a better idea what is going on. You may have improved the issue but it may not be gone as we had several “honeymoon periods” when changing diet, formula, etc… but would go back without much time…. so, totally you have to do what you and DH are comfortable with, but the procedures are not that invasive and give them an opportunity to make sure there isn’t something else going on….

hang in there! Sucks to go through it twice, I totally understand!!!!!! Sounds like your second is being more difficult than your first, ugh…..

We are all here for you!

[Anonymous]

I totally agree with Ann Marie. I would do the testing just to be safe. I would hate for you to spend on the time on TED only to find out it isn’t anything in your diet and end up doing the testing further down the road and there be more damage. Like Ann Marie said those tests are really minimal in the big picture but can tell them so very much. But again you have to do what you feel the most comfortable with. Good Luck in whatever you decide.

[hellbennt]

I’ll chime in for the test- during the endoscopy they take biopsies and test for EOS cells- if there are some then you know for SURE it’s a protein allergy, most likely milk and/or soy…

also, I’d get strips to test stools at home- erintx posted somewhere where you can actually buy some and do very easily at home- this might help you as you try to monitor how your change in diet/TED is affecting (stopping or not stopping) the blood in the stools…

if you go to the upper right hand corner of this screen and click on ‘search’ then put erintx in the ‘search by member’ part & choose ‘all forums’ and then choose ‘past 6 months and OLDER’

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the update. I’ve been wondering how your baby was doing. I’m glad your little guy is feeling better. My DS also had blood in his spitup on one occasion and occasional blood in stools. he did get better on prevacid but he wasn’t completely better all the time. We decided to do the tests to see what was going on and also to see if there was any damage. Everything looked good except for mild inflammation in his colon. All his biopsies were clear except for increased eosinophils in his rectum. So the doctor concluded it was most likely my diet (I hadn’t been fully eliminating soy) and also put Olsen on a short series of steroids to decrease inflammation. The tests were scary to me because he was put under general anaesthesia. I’m glad we did it to really find out what was going on and to see that there was no damage in his esophagus but to be honest I was terrified at the time (although I think the whole thing was harder on me than on him). I agree that you should only do what you are comfortable with.

After I had initially eliminated dairy, Olsen had very watery yellow-brown explosive poops for awhile. I don’t know if there is any correlation. It wasn’t good poop though and I’m not sure if it was because I was overdosing on soy since at that time I had just eliminated dairy. anyways, I wish you the best of luck as you decide! I hope your little guy remains happy.

[Anonymous]

one thought I had. I’m not sure if scheduling procedures takes a long time like it does here. But perhaps you could schedule an endoscopy/colonoscopy a month from now. That way you would have one scheduled but would have more than a week to decide if you wanted to do it or not. You would also have a little more time to see if the medicine keeps working for your little guy.

[Anonymous]

here’s one more vote for going ahead and doing the tests! i had no idea how bad sylvia’s reflux was until she had testing done. the testing really is not that big of a deal. i have had a scope and a colonoscopy (i had the colonoscopy in the days before they put you out for it) four of my children have also had scopes done—-one i was even allowed to stay in and watch the procedure.

i do think it is possible, if you say your nipples are a little sore, that you could have a very small crack that would only bleed when your little one is nursing—but if you are using a pump, you would probably see a slightly pinkish color in your milk if you did have a crack that bled only with nursing.

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