Question About Reflux Meds

At the 6 week visit I discussed concerns about reflux with my pedi (Hayden will have milk run out of his nose, is fussy, spits up constantly, wants to eat ALL THE TIME, and doesn't like being on his back AT ALL Jack is fine as far as I can tell. I told him we were doing the symptom management as if my son Hayden had reflux (sleeping inclined, staying upright after and during a feeding) and had noticed a decrease in spitting up. He is still very fussy. The pedi said if I see back arching he would give me a presription. I can't really tell if he is arching since he is usually in a seat after eating. Well, my sons recently got a bad case of viral bronchiolitis. We had to make an appointment with another doc in the practice. She gave me a prescription for prevacid (didn't ask...she just was wondering if the bronchiolitis/fussiness was made worse by acids rolling back into the lungs. She told me to give half a pill to Hayden and the other half to Jack just in case (weird since they are fraternal). Here are my big questions

1)Does it sound like reflux to you?
2)How would I know if the meds are helping...what can I expect if he has true reflux and what would be a sign to discontinue the meds because they aren't working.
3)How the heck do I give this med? We have tried both ways the package stated and he ends up with those little medicine grit balls all on his face. Would it be possible to dissolve in some breast milk and feed in a fast flow nipple instead? Tips welcome.
4)I haven't given the med to Jack because I am not convinced he needs and and just doing it because his twin seems to have it seems a little over-the-top. What would you do? I hate to think he has silent reflux and I am not going to treat it, but she didn't give a compelling reason as to why he had it.

 

I am no expert on reflux, but this is my experience. My first child had severe colic and would spit up a TON and have many and prolonged spells of screaming. The ped. gave her reflux meds and after a good trial run (a few weeks), we quit the medicine because there was no improvement. My child spit up so much because she would eat for comfort and was always eating more than her stomach could contain, so she would spit it out. I would find out how long it takes that medicine to work and, if your son's symptoms haven't improved, I would discuss stopping the med. with the pediatrician. Our pediatrician told us that if it was reflux, we would see dramatic improvement with the medicine.

About the back arching, if your baby had it, you would know. One of my babies has reflux with back arching and she literally looks like a little letter "C". You cannot sit her down in a bouncy seat or any other seat because you cannot bend her that way. The ped. started her on prevacid and she's like a new baby. No more screaming spells after she spits up, and not as much spitup. She'll lay in your arms now. Dramatic improvement.

I don't know why doctors want to start the other baby on something even though they're two different people. It boggles my mind. Personally, if my other baby was happy, healthy, and doing well, I wouldn't start that baby on meds. But as a parent, you have to go with your gut, so don't listen to me.

 

At 8 weeks are boys were diagnosedsimply by me telling the ped. symtpoms. They could have been diagnosed sooner but we thought it was just colicky babies and thought it would pass. Then it got really bad. During feedings, they would scream and arch their back. I knew there was a problem because they were so hungry and they were trying to drink their milk but it hurt so bad that they could not. My boys never spit up much. THey dont have to spit up to have reflux. I think there are many levels of severity for reflux.


2)How would I know if the meds are helping...what can I expect if he has true reflux and what would be a sign to discontinue the meds because they aren't working.

Within 2 days of taking prevacid, we saw a huge improvment and in less than 1 week, all symtpoms were gone. They were no longer in pain. Around 6 months I tried stopping the med and in 2 days, symptoms returned. The ped said to stop a week before their 9 month app to see how they do. Many people see no signs of improvment and they have to try diff meds.

3)How the heck do I give this med? We have tried both ways the package stated and he ends up with those little medicine grit balls all on his face. Would it be possible to dissolve in some breast milk and feed in a fast flow nipple instead? Tips welcome.

We tried putting the granuals in the bottle and even after making the whole bigger, it still got stuck. Our prevacid comes in a packet- not a pill form so I am not familiar with a pill. We give them the granuals that are in a powder form through a syringe. I think it is a 'Safety First' brand from BRU. My boys love it and just open their mouth for it. They get mad if they have to wait for each other to have their med first. Their is strawberry flavored (i think)


4)I haven't given the med to Jack because I am not convinced he needs and and just doing it because his twin seems to have it seems a little over-the-top. What would you do? I hate to think he has silent reflux and I am not going to treat it, but she didn't give a compelling reason as to why he had it.

If you dont see symtpoms on your other baby, I dont think I would give the med. I know it is weird...my boys are fraternal and had the same severity of acid reflux. I think it obviously is pure coincidence.I would ask why she suggested to give it to your son without the symptoms

 

When Ashley got reflux, she arched her back during feeds, was obviously hungry but crying and arching her back and only eating a little. Also crying whenever she burped. The medication is almost instantaneous improvement. She didn't spit up that much. I think you would know if Hayden was arching his back during feeds, it's very distressing

 

1)Does it sound like reflux to you?

With Hayden...YES. Jack, NO.

2)How would I know if the meds are helping...what can I expect if he has true reflux and what would be a sign to discontinue the meds because they aren't working.

You will notice a change, he will eat better, and be less fussy with it.

3)How the heck do I give this med? We have tried both ways the package stated and he ends up with those little medicine grit balls all on his face. Would it be possible to dissolve in some breast milk and feed in a fast flow nipple instead? Tips welcome.

I used a syringe, it is a pain, and you have to end up adding more water to get it all. You could also try a spoon.

4)I haven't given the med to Jack because I am not convinced he needs and and just doing it because his twin seems to have it seems a little over-the-top. What would you do? I hate to think he has silent reflux and I am not going to treat it, but she didn't give a compelling reason as to why he had it.

I wouldn't give it to him yet....even if he has the silent reflux, you may not SEE it, but he would be fussy with it, and fussy with feedings.

Good luck, reflux is no fun! :hug99:

 

QUOTE(Marbear @ Apr 9 2007, 03:13 AM) [snapback]211069[/snapback]
At the 6 week visit I discussed concerns about reflux with my pedi (Hayden will have milk run out of his nose, is fussy, spits up constantly, wants to eat ALL THE TIME, and doesn't like being on his back AT ALL Jack is fine as far as I can tell. I told him we were doing the symptom management as if my son Hayden had reflux (sleeping inclined, staying upright after and during a feeding) and had noticed a decrease in spitting up. He is still very fussy. The pedi said if I see back arching he would give me a presription. I can't really tell if he is arching since he is usually in a seat after eating. Well, my sons recently got a bad case of viral bronchiolitis. We had to make an appointment with another doc in the practice. She gave me a prescription for prevacid (didn't ask...she just was wondering if the bronchiolitis/fussiness was made worse by acids rolling back into the lungs. She told me to give half a pill to Hayden and the other half to Jack just in case (weird since they are fraternal). Here are my big questions

1)Does it sound like reflux to you?
2)How would I know if the meds are helping...what can I expect if he has true reflux and what would be a sign to discontinue the meds because they aren't working.
3)How the heck do I give this med? We have tried both ways the package stated and he ends up with those little medicine grit balls all on his face. Would it be possible to dissolve in some breast milk and feed in a fast flow nipple instead? Tips welcome.
4)I haven't given the med to Jack because I am not convinced he needs and and just doing it because his twin seems to have it seems a little over-the-top. What would you do? I hate to think he has silent reflux and I am not going to treat it, but she didn't give a compelling reason as to why he had it.


1) Yep, sounds like Reflux to me.
2) the spitting up minimizes pretty substantially and your kiddo will stop being fussy most likely -- but it may take a bit to find the right drug. I think prevacid tends to work well -- most moms who use prilosec (expensive, but works great) really like it. Dose needs to be increased as the baby gains weight, though, so make sure that you're calling the dr back monthly to discuss upping the dosage if you see a decline in its effectiveness.
3) I use a syringe. We have Walgreens pharmacies here and they provide a stopper and syringe set up for all their childrens liquids. I like this as I wouldn't want to put something into the breastmilk for fear that they got an aversion to it. but you gotta do what works for you. One son is real good about taking his meds, the other is not, so you gotta figure that out. Prevacid may be a powder, so I'm not sure what would work best on that.
4) Silent reflux is just as bad as "noisy" ;-) reflux. untreated reflux can cause eating issues that become hard to overcome in time. I'd get your pedi to really discuss this and get you referred to a GI Dr to be sure. Your Pedi should have no problem referring you, if he/she does, then find a new one.

Cheers, My kids have been on meds since 3.5 mos and it really helped. We found out that their reflux was caused by a dairy protein intolerance -- so they are better now that I've removed dairy from my diet.

Teri D

 

forgot to answer how we feed Ashley the medicine, I have someone hold Ashley ready with the top part of a bottle - the teat and rim of the bottle - we made a bigger hole in the teat. Then I mix the half tablet with a little bit of hot water (on a table spoon) and then add breastmilk to it, mixing it with a teaspoon, till the tablespoon is almost full. Then the person holding Ashley will put the teat in her mouth and I'll push the contents of the tablespoon (using the teaspoon) into the teat - Ashley is sucking away and sucks the breastmilk and all the little bits. If any bits are down the side of the teat, i just drip some more breastmilk on the sides. Then immediately follow with a bottle of milk.

It's very easy once you've done it a few times and much easier than using a syringe (which Ashley hates!).

 

My girls are on Zantac liquid. They had all of the syptomes, including the back arching, if they were doing it, you'd know. We started the meds and withing 2 days there were back to themselves again. The screaming/arching/spitting is almost completely gone.

 

Yeah, it sounds like reflux to me also.

We had the packets of Prevacid also. Do not desolve the little granuals. that is the time release medicine, so they have to stay as intact as possible. I know, easier said than done.

At first, when the girls were on only formula, we mixed the packet with 1 oz of formula and fed thru a bottle. we used one of the little bottles that they send home from the hospital with us (filled with formula). I had to make the hole in the nipple a lot bigger, and this in it self was quite a problem because if it got too big they would choke on the formula cause it was flowing too fast, but if it was too small they didn't get the little balls from the medicine. It took several trys and quite a few nipples, but we finnaly got it to work. Once the girls hit about 3 months old (they were on it from the age of 4 wks ) I talked to my Ped, and he agreed to let us mix it with just a little bit of rice cereal. It was a lot easier to give that way, and I didn't see any difference in how it worked.

It took us about 4 days to really see a lot of improvement with the meds. In Reagan, the medicine was enought to stop her excessive spitting up, and arching and discomfort. In Brooke, the medicine helped the arching and discomfort, but she still spit up a lot (well, really it was more like projectile vomiting ). For her I had to switch her to Enfamil AR. This help immediatly. It's pre-thickened with rice starch so it stayed down better. It was a pain because I had to buy the X cut nipples for her, and I had to be careful not to mix up their bottles, ut it was well worth the effort it took. She stayed on the AR until about 7 months old. By then we were introducing solids, and she could keep stuff down better.

If Jack isn't exibiting symptoms, I wouldn't give it to him, and I would talk with the Dr. again. But do keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't start to have symptoms. My girls are fraternal, but they both had reflux problems. Just to differing degrees. IHTH.