Mamas to reflux babes thread

it is so hard when they are obviously in pain or upset. I know the temptation is to blame ourselves and to try so hard to "keep them happy all the time". I am working on understanding that my dd will not EVER "be happy all the time" because that is not what it is to be human. And I want her to experience the full range of what it is to be human.

DD's reflux is mostly controlled by Zantac (which I *hate* giving her because she despises it - you should see the faces and hear the gagging sounds). She still has a lot of spitting up but it is MUCH better than without. We had 911 here last week when she almost asphyxiated one night after accidentally rolling onto her back and spitting up and choking on it. That was AWFUL.

Sometimes I get kind of down about it, like, why couldn't this just have happened to someone else instead of to us, but then I remind myself that out of all the things that could have befallen her, a little reflux is probably the least of it all. Then I am thankful again that this is all it is.

Well, guess what- everything has changed now. I didn't say in my pp but the Prevacid was prescribed in a granules in liquid form. Well the granules dissolved after 1 day and I understand that means they are no longer effective. I called the drug company that makes Prevacid and they said that if the liquid was not sodium bicarbonit(sp?) that it would not be as effective.

So I called the pharm and they said that in WAS NOT sodiem bicar.. whatever and so basically I have been giving dd nothing but some cherry flavor liquid. So they told me to call Dr. back and see about what else they could do. I called her Ped. asked him about maybe solutabs but he was not helpful AT ALL. He was like is she doing better on Prevacid and I'm like I don't know b/c it's been 3 days and it takes time to work. He acted like it should already be working??? UGGGGHHHHHHHH. So he said "well lets just up her Zantac and stop the Prevacid." I told him I wanted her on Prevacid and blah, blah .... Well he said he is not comfortable giving her all these drugs so he is going to have the girl in the office call me back w/ a GI spec. # THANK GOD. I am so mad I am not ever going to bring her to the Ped. again. I am going to find a new one. I seriously do not think he knows anything!

To top it off-my mama is making sooo mad. She just told me she wasn't going to say anything but she feels dd is not gaining well and she is too hungry.

Anyway-dd is crying,I'll post back

Tiffany - have you tried another pharmacy to see what they can do with the perscription? The pharmacy should be able to compound it so it doesn't have any granuales. Holden's Prevacid is a liquid, no granuales at all. Can the doctor change the script to say it needs to be compounded?

How is she nursing? Solid food won't make her Reflux go away. Try to PM USAmma, she knows a lot about Reflux and was very helpful to me last week. She might have some more info for you.

Hang in there, my GI doc told me the meds should work after a couple of days. I've noticed a difference in Holden already. It doesn't make any sense to take her off of it now when she hasn't really been getting any!

Do you have an HMO or a PPO? If you have a PPO, don't want for the GI docs phone number. See who your insurance covers and call to see when you can get in.

More this is stressful. I know it's hard, but please try not to let your family stress you out.

Sorry this is so short, my wee one is crying. I'll check back later.

Reflux is so miserable. My dd's are 9 months old and we go through OK times and bad times. It's somewhat better now that they are older and moving and playing so I think it keeps thier mind off the pain. Sleeping though is where they really feel the pain and it is so frustrating.

They are going through a bad time right now. Most of thier reflux is silent, but there is still some vomiting. They can start to cry and if I hold them for a minute I know its reflux because I hear the gulpy swallowing followed by arching and more crying.

Tonight they BOTH woke up after and hour and a half. DD2 gets me up at 3:30-4:45 every morning and I really, really look forward to a little time for myself before bed. They were both refluxy, but I had already given them mylanta so they couldn't have any more. I tried to hold them both (in an upright position) on my bed but they only wanted to play. I just got them up rather than struggle to have them sleep. I have no idea weather that was a good idea or not. I brought them to the living room and I felt really frustrated and angry. Fortunately my sister called then and dd's were content to play alone so it helped me feel like I still had some time for me and I was with them. Two hours later I tried again for bed (and dh actually helped!!!) and they went to sleep. Now I need go to bed before they get me up at 3:30am.

Pardon the small vent.

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Does your family live near you and get to see it in person? I was getting the same sort of stuff from my family (who don't live nearby now) until I went to visit and they saw how hard it was and how different than thier experiences with babies.

It's so frustrating when family tries to give advice and they really just don't get it. I know that they give advice because they want to "fix" the problem - but reflux isn't an easy fix. My mom and aunt came to visit this weekend and now that they get what is going on with the reflux they helped by taking care of the girls so I could nap and even holding one of them for a long time when she was refluxing. It was such a nice break for me - a few hours "off" was like a great vacation.

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Could you share more of your story? I just don't see this ending any time soon for us and I would love to hear what this reflux road might be like as they get older. What was it like when your dd was able to comunicate about the reflux? What did she say about it? How long did you continue with mylanta and other meds? Were there any long term effects from the meds?

Hi everyone.

Well, Prevacid seems to be working for us it's been almost a week since he was on it. He's not sleeping any better, in fact I think he's up more now, which I was hoping wouldn't happen! Naps are a bit harder too. It may sound weird, but he doesn't seem to be as tired as he was before so he doesn't need to nap as often.

In general he's happier. It's easier to get him to smile and laugh, and he's happier for longer periods. He's still fussy a lot of the time but it's not as bad. He also has this little sing song thing he does with his voice that we hear a lot more now.

I tried giving him Mylanta to see if that would make him more comfortable but so far it doesn't seem to make a difference. I think I'll give it another day or two though. We're about to go on a long road trip and I know the car seat will probably make the Reflux worse, so I'm hoping the Mylanta will help keep him comfortable.

The Pharmacy was able to flavor it for me, but my only choice was grape. He still doesn't like it much, but he takes it better than the Zantac and gets more in. He loves the Mylanta though!

I can hear H's we burps too, I can also feel it inside him when I'm holding him.
He's spitting up more with the Prevacid too, which isn't a big deal but interesting. He's also very hoarse, and like carrietorgc said, he sounds like he has a chest cold. He's almost constantly stuffy too.

When I'm nursing H I can hear his tummy making all kinds of noises. It's something I've just noticed recently. Does anyone else notice that?