Reflux

Hello everyone, I was just curious as to what, if anything, I can do to help my DD with her acid reflux? This is what we do now: after she is fed she burps and I or DH or whoever is here with me holds her upright for about 45-60 mins then we lay her down but at an angle as suggested by the doc. She's still fighting with it and still vomits....not spit up....it's projectile! Then she cries and just seems miserable, she also moans a lot in her sleep. She was on zantac for it but doc switched to previcid last week because it wasn't helping her at all. Was anyone else using previcid?

 

I have been struggling with reflux as well and my girls started on prilosec at 8 weeks. They have been on it for about 6 weeks and it helps A LOT. Most of the time, they are not in pain and it has greatly reduced vomiting (they used to projectile vomit). They still spit up but not as much. I know it is working as I forgot to give them their doses two days ago and they started vomiting and were in pain after eating.

 

We're on prevacid too, and I forgot it night before last and boy, yesterday was awful!! My baby girl has silent reflux though, not a lot of spit up but she's in pain, she'll do a lot of swallowing and grimacing, grunting, coughing, and refusing to eat because it hurts. I must remember never to forget her meds again!!

As for what else to try the only thing I can think of is to try adding some cereal in, but since you are breastfeeding that's going to be hard to do. You might be able to make a very thin mixture of breastmilk and rice cereal and feed her a little bit (a tbsp or 2) before nursing, but it could be more work than it's worth.

Also is she taking a full pill of prevacid? I heard if you cut it in half and give them half in the morning and half at night it helps reduce symptoms too, you can maybe try that!

:hug:

 

Thanks for the replies.
Danibell: The pharmacy made a compund of previcid, so it's a liquid that she gets, once in the morning and once at night. I give it to her with her 7am and 7pm feedings. Those feedings are also when I have to give her formula, Nutramigen, because she was having a very hard time having bowel movements....didn't have one for 16 days....it was awful!!! She does all of that grunting and swallowing and stuff too....my DH keeps asking me if it's normal and I told him it's b/c of the reflux...I'll have to show him your reply to ease his mind!

 

we're on prevacid and it's helped a lot with the pain.

understand that medication doesn't stop the actual upheaval of stomach contents. it only stops the acid that burns when it washes up the esophagus. medicating your daughter won't keep her from spitting up.

have you talked to your doctor about getting checked for pyloric stenosis? it's not common but since you mentioned that it's projectile vomiting you might want to have an ultrasound done just to rule it out. your pedi might also recommend rice thickened formula or adding rice cereal to her bottles. that can cause constipation, though, as it did in our case.

when you're laying her down at an angle is she lying flat or are you putting her in her carseat or swing or bouncy chair? sometimes the curvature of a carseat/swing/bouncy chair can put pressure on their tummies and make the spitups more forceful. we started out using the car seats but found they were much less likely to spit hard if they were in one particular style of bouncy seat that laid them out almost flat. positioning can help.

she may also be more comfortable and spit less if you let her sleep on her tummy when you're awake and there to keep an eye on her.

 

my girls are on prevacid but were on zantac. the zantac didn't work at all and my baby girls were still in so much pain from all the acid. the doc decided to put them on the liquid prevacid and it really made a difference in the amount of acid they produce. they aren't in pain anymore and i'm so thankful. they also are on nutramigen. from what i understand it isn't supposed to constipate them it actually makes their poop more watery like breast-fed babies. oh and they go more a day now. they used to go once a day but not they go two or three times. they would vomit as well and it was projectile on top of spitting up. every baby is different so that combination might not work for you. it's all about trial and error. i would give your pedi a call asap.

 

the only thing i can add is that it sometimes can take up to 2 weeks for prevacid to actually start being effective. that is how long it took for me to see results with my DD. :hug: reflux is so hard....

 

I just wanted to throw in that many doctors, mommies, and pharmacists have seen the compounded prevacid only last 10-14 days with the average being closer to 10 days, its just not stable for very long. So, it may be working but the stability wears off so quickly that it might not have a chance to fully run its course and work well. I would reccomend asking for the solutab, a lot of people see much better results with this. My dd is on 30mg and it has actually stopped all of her refluxing (although she was never a spitter, just a silent refluxer)

 

I know that the meds don't stop her from vomiting, it just seems that it has gotten worse over the pastt few days, I feel like she's not keeping anything down She's been on the previcid for 11 days now. I called the pedi yesterday and she told me to try giving her half the amount of milk I was giving her, I usually pump my milk to give to them because most days I'm by myself with them while DH is at work, so I know how much they are getting. So now I'm feeding her every 2 hrs rather than every 4 hrs, but it's still the same thing. She had an ultrasound last week to check for pyloric stenosis and she also had an x-ray of her abdomen 2 weeks ago, but everything was normal, she's seeing a gastroenterologist because she had not had a bowel movement in 16 days & her pedi referred us b/c she wanted to make sure there wasn't anything serious going on. He put her on the Nutramigen b/c he said it would give her more sustance so she would be able to have a bowel movement. She usually sleeps on her stomach to avoid her spitting up/vomiting (both of my babies are on apnea monitors so I know they are ok if they are on their stomach), she usually still spits up anyway. It seems the only way she doesn't spit up or vomit is if I or someone else holds her up in one position!

 

I agree with hsuter about the liquid prevacid, you said she's been on it for 11 days, and the spitting has gotten worse the last couple of days, it sounds like maybe the med isn't as effective anymore. The solutabs are great, some people just hold them in babies cheek until they dissolve, some put them in a syringe, draw up some water to dissolve it and then shoot it in their cheek (that's what I do). I would ask your dr about getting the solutabs instead and see if that helps!

Also, as long as she's still gaining weight, the spitting up is more of a laundry issue than a problem. Sounds horrible, but that's what the dr told us. My first son had the throwing up reflux, he gained weight just fine, but we used to carry a spare set of clothes for us, several for him, couple receiving blankets as burp cloths, and a wet facecloth in a ziploc bag to wipe him after he threw up. It wasn't projectile but it was lots. He wasn't crying/arching his back/fussing... or any other signs of suffering while he was on the meds, just throwing up everywhere. We even went to a pedi GI and he said the same thing, as long as he's growing and not suffering, you just have to deal with the mess!

 

Also, I know she is young but have you concidered adding cereal to her bottles?
Are you getting weight checks? If weight is becoming an issue cereal can add extra calories-that is how we got through the whole weight issue. You can also make the nutramigan 24 calorie instead of 20 calorie.

 

Thanks for your responses guys! She goes to the gastroenterologist on tuesday so I will ask about the solutabs since he switched her to the previcid. We also go to the pedi for their 2 mth check-up & shots. She has been gaining weight fine despite the vomitting....no issues for her with that (my DS had some issues and the pedi gave us enfamil enfacare for him and he's doing good with it).