It's been a few weeks since we started Violet on Prilosec.
*WAIT* First...let me apologize for EVERY blog post being about reflux lately. haha. I'M SORRY. Reflux just happens to be my life at the moment, and every time I Google something it seems like a blog written by another Mom helps me out. SO! Continuing on...
Prilosec is great.
The dosage our pediatrician gave us is not so great.
He prescribed 1 & 1/2 tsp. per day. That amount DESTROYED her poor tummy. The question in my mind quickly became: "Sure, it makes the reflux go away...but are the horrendous abdominal cramping/gas/pain the meds give her WORTH it..???"
I've been slowly decreasing her dosage amount every ten days or so to see how little we can get by on. It seems the less I give her, the better she sleeps (fewer tummy aches between her all-night feedings) - but if I back her off too quickly she'll get acid rebound (where the stomach produces too much acid = reflux flare up disaster).
She's currently on 3/8ths of a teaspoon per day. I give her 1/4 tsp in the morning and 1/8 tsp at night.
She gets heartburn and those yucky, ouchy acid burps a few times a day, *but* the Fischer Price Rock 'n Play sleeper does wooooonderful things for her at night! She hardly ever cries at the reflux during the daytime now and sleeping at an angle in the Rock 'n Play keeps the acid down while she sleeps. I've wondered lately how much of the reflux bothering her was TRULY because it was painful, or if she was super sensitive because she was so miserable from not sleeping and having constant belly aches.
It frustrates me to no end that none of the three pediatricians we've seen have ever suggested that her digestion problems could be related to her reflux medications - especially now that I'm seeing there is 100% a direct correlation. I feel horrible for giving her all the medicine so early on, thinking I was helping, when I was probably just making everything worse. Uuugh I can't even spend time thinking about it - it makes me so upset.
Tonight I'm going to skip her nighttime dose and see how she does.
She eats every 3 hours, 24 hours a day. According to our pediatrician, this is normal for a baby with reflux because eating more than that can cause distended stomach and, you guessed it, reflux flare ups. So...she's basically trained herself to eat juuuuust enough to feel not starving anymore and then she stops.
Ask me if I'm excited to have her go LONGER THAN 3 HOURS.
Go ahead. Ask me. I DARE YOU.
She's actually had a couple nights this past week where she ONLY woke up to eat. So I got to sleep in three hour blocks! Surprisingly enough, it ISN'T that refreshing. It IS more refreshing than her waking up every 45 minutes with a belly ache, though, so...I'll count my blessings there.
It's really nice to have a baby who isn't so miserable all the time during the day.
Mom used to say I would wake up and sing to myself every morning when I was a baby. Violet does that now - instead of waking up screaming. She just sits there and plays with her toes and sings. I'm excited to see more of her true personality emerge as we get further away from all this gross reflux garbage.
That's all for now...fingers crossed that no medicine tonight will be a good thing!!
PS In case you're wondering whether I'm giving her solids yet or not - I'm not. Her ped recommended that we wait until at least six months because her digestion has been so sensitive. I have fantasies of sleeping aaaaallll night when I start giving her oatmeal cereal (rice cereal can be constipating for babies with sensitive tummies)!! Aaah....aaaaalll niiiiight sleeeeeppp.....someday. Someday.
PPS - We also started her on Gerber's Soothe Colic Drops! They were previously sold as Bio Gaia's infant probiotic drops, but Gerber bought them out. I've been looking for them for months and didn't realize the Gerber drops were the same thing!! They're the ONLY infant probiotic that doesn't have tons of warnings about initially causing gas and abdominal pain and I really think they're helping her. ANY BABY ON REFLUX MEDICATION SHOULD TRY THESE DROPS. You're making your baby's digestion all whack by messing with their stomach acids, so help them out with a little probiotic! Seriously. Buy these for your friends. For yourself. For strangers. Just, believe me on this one. I've tried pretty much everything out there.
Ok that's all for realsies this time.
bye bye.
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Monday, August 5, 2013
Hope this helps someone someday.
It's been one month today since Violet's reflux started acting up again and making life a living nightmare for the both of us. It took two weeks for me to figure out that she probably needed more medicine (she went through a HUGE growth spurt and antacids are weight sensitive). We bumped her Prevacid solutab dose up from half a pill to a FULL pill (15 mg). Her pediatrician said he would prescribe that amount to a toddler...and suggested it might be time to switch to a different medicine (antacids also lose efficacy after a while for some children).
Bumping her Prevacid dose up was HORRIBLE. She was crying constantly, had terrible gas pains, belly aches all night, wanted to eat for comfort constantly, etc...I found a blog one awful, sleepless, tear-filled night and what I read there is what has motivated me to write this blog. It was a mom with a baby who has reflux explaining their experience with antacids.
Moms: I found that cutting Violet's Prevacid into quarters helped her NOT get terrible belly aches/gas. I was giving her a quarter of a 15mg solutab every six hours. Unfortunately, six hours started to not be enough - she would spit up stomach acid that left her skin pink and hot for a half hour :( Her ped recommended giving her a whole pill broken into halves twice a day - but...that was making her really uncomfortable..so...we switched to Zantac.
Zantac (Ranitidine) tastes TERRRRRRIBLE. She would SCREAM every time I'd make her take it (three times a day. uuuuugh). She'd spit it out. She'd choke and throw it up. Also? She wasn't 100% better. She was still coughing, crying when she was spitting up, unable to sleep at night, etc...
The MAMAROO was AMAZING for a few nights! Sleeping her at that angle was fantastic while she was on the Zantac. It was a total pain to snap her in and out of it over and over again all night (she was comfort eating every couple hours), but it helped her get a little rest at least.
We switched her off the Zantac to Prilosec (Omeprazole) after only a few days. Prilosec has been great...but taking the full dose has been really hard on her. She doesn't seem to mind the taste as much. I mean, she'll grimace and fuss and try to spit it out, but at least she isn't screaming her face off. It gives her diarrhea, gas, nausea, etc (which has eliminated the Mamaroo as a sleeping option - the strap hurts her tender belly). I'm backing her off the full dose now to see if we can find a happy medium...She was prescribed 1 &1/2 tsp every day. I give her 1 tsp a day in two, half-tsp doses. I'll let you know how that's working in a few days.
I'm not sure if this post makes total sense....I'm pretty tired. But I just wanted to get it out there for someone else who might be doing a Google search in the middle of the night, frantically searching for something to help their babies (and themselves) find happier times.
Antacids give babies belly aches. Giving them in multiple small doses per day helps! Also, give them at LEAST thirty minutes before feeding your baby - no matter what!! They won't work if you don't give them time to absorb in an empty belly (except Prevacid...those little solutabs absorb almost immediately and taste like candy. *sigh* why can't ALL antacids be like that!??)
Ok. That's all.
Bumping her Prevacid dose up was HORRIBLE. She was crying constantly, had terrible gas pains, belly aches all night, wanted to eat for comfort constantly, etc...I found a blog one awful, sleepless, tear-filled night and what I read there is what has motivated me to write this blog. It was a mom with a baby who has reflux explaining their experience with antacids.
Moms: I found that cutting Violet's Prevacid into quarters helped her NOT get terrible belly aches/gas. I was giving her a quarter of a 15mg solutab every six hours. Unfortunately, six hours started to not be enough - she would spit up stomach acid that left her skin pink and hot for a half hour :( Her ped recommended giving her a whole pill broken into halves twice a day - but...that was making her really uncomfortable..so...we switched to Zantac.
Zantac (Ranitidine) tastes TERRRRRRIBLE. She would SCREAM every time I'd make her take it (three times a day. uuuuugh). She'd spit it out. She'd choke and throw it up. Also? She wasn't 100% better. She was still coughing, crying when she was spitting up, unable to sleep at night, etc...
The MAMAROO was AMAZING for a few nights! Sleeping her at that angle was fantastic while she was on the Zantac. It was a total pain to snap her in and out of it over and over again all night (she was comfort eating every couple hours), but it helped her get a little rest at least.
We switched her off the Zantac to Prilosec (Omeprazole) after only a few days. Prilosec has been great...but taking the full dose has been really hard on her. She doesn't seem to mind the taste as much. I mean, she'll grimace and fuss and try to spit it out, but at least she isn't screaming her face off. It gives her diarrhea, gas, nausea, etc (which has eliminated the Mamaroo as a sleeping option - the strap hurts her tender belly). I'm backing her off the full dose now to see if we can find a happy medium...She was prescribed 1 &1/2 tsp every day. I give her 1 tsp a day in two, half-tsp doses. I'll let you know how that's working in a few days.
I'm not sure if this post makes total sense....I'm pretty tired. But I just wanted to get it out there for someone else who might be doing a Google search in the middle of the night, frantically searching for something to help their babies (and themselves) find happier times.
Antacids give babies belly aches. Giving them in multiple small doses per day helps! Also, give them at LEAST thirty minutes before feeding your baby - no matter what!! They won't work if you don't give them time to absorb in an empty belly (except Prevacid...those little solutabs absorb almost immediately and taste like candy. *sigh* why can't ALL antacids be like that!??)
Ok. That's all.
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Light at the end of the tunnel...
Having your first baby is hard. One of the toughest parts? Not having any experience/anything to compare your child to. I've read the books about how to get your baby to sleep, I've tried all the tips. I thought maybe I was just a failure and my baby screamed all day and night because I was a bad mom :(
Turns out my baby has some serious tummy problems. I didn't know that's not how normal babies acted, because I've never had a baby before! All the advice and info in books and blogs wasn't working for my baby because my baby was in pain. So sad :(
Violet has reflux. For any mom out there who's baby screams while eating, or after eating, arches their back, wheezes/coughs/gags a lot, and spits up like crazy: LOOK INTO REFLUX. One little pill a day helps *TONS*. Even if your baby ISN'T spitting up, but has the other symptoms - look into it! There's a reflux called 'silent reflux' where the baby doesn't spit up tons, but still feels the burn!
Violet also has digestion issues. The pediatricians have told us her little system still needs to mature a bit...
At the beginning of her seventh week, we took her to see a chiropractor who specializes in allergy testing (called NAET). We had her on the reflux meds already, on special pre-digested formula, were taking her every few days to get foot-zoned, etc...That afternoon she went a few hours without screaming! It was a miracle. That Sunday she slept and we made it through all three hours of church - a FIRST for us since she was born.
She started having happy awake time! It wasn't much, but it was a massive improvement over constant fussiness and never ending hysterical fits.
We took her to get her 2 month shots the next week and told the doctor she was still struggling. He said he suspected a condition called 'delayed gastric emptying', which is common when an infant has GERD (reflux). I had read about it before and I had thought that, too. It would explain why she always pushes and grunts and fidgets and can't ever pass gas or poop without straining and crying. He prescribed a medicine called Reglan.
I had read about Reglan before and the side effects terrified me. I understand why people put their infants on it (believe me, there were days that I would've risked ANYTHING to have her stop crying!) but since she had started improving ever so slightly, I just couldn't bring myself to give it to her. As a last ditch effort, we switched her from Nutramigen (her fancy pants formula) to Gerber Good Start Gentle (a formula I had read about in online forums for parents who hadn't experienced much success on Nutramigen). I was afraid it was going to mess her tummy up worse, but it was worth a shot before starting her on a new medication.
That night she woke up every two hours to eat (like usual), but instead of taking thirty minutes to calm back down and spending every minute listening to her whine and fuss and fidget - she was quiet. She was so quiet, in fact, that I spent the entire night getting up to make sure she was still breathing! She woke up, ate, burped, fell back asleep peacefully. It was astonishing. ASTONISHING.
Don't get me wrong - she still gets belly aches and spends a lot of time cranky and not sleeping well BUT she also has days and nights that she behaves like a normal baby. I can take her out in public. I HAVE NOT HAD HER OUT IN PUBLIC LIKE EVER (because she's so miserable all the time and who likes carting around a screaming child?!). Isn't that amazing!?
So, to recap...If you're a new mom and your baby cries all day and all night:
1. Recognize that it ISN'T normal for your baby to cry that much and it ISN'T your fault!!
2. Look into reflux and how to deal with it.
3. Pay attention to your baby's gas! (Violet NEVER passed gas before we put her on this new formula. I'm not kidding you. I NEVER heard her toot except when she'd poop - and that wasn't that often! - no wonder she was so miserable!!) and consider switching formulas (if you're formula feeding. duh.)
4. Consider NAET testing and foot zoning. I never thought I'd be a believer, but after every gripe water/colic remedy/pill/etc I could get my hands on failed?? those things pulled through.
We're not 100% better, but I think we're on the path to happier times! And, oh...this day couldn't have come soon enough!! Wahooooooooo!
xo.
(PS - remember when Violet was 3 weeks old and she'd wake up, eat, then scream for two hours before screaming herself to sleep, then wake up screaming fifteen minutes later to eat and start the process all over??? 24 hours a DAY?! and how that lasted for WEEKS?! and I didn't know it wasn't normal, so I thought EVERY mother went through it and I was just a weakling for crying hysterically every day out of exhaustion?! oooh yeah...NEVER EVER again. ever. ever ever. bless america.)
Turns out my baby has some serious tummy problems. I didn't know that's not how normal babies acted, because I've never had a baby before! All the advice and info in books and blogs wasn't working for my baby because my baby was in pain. So sad :(
Violet has reflux. For any mom out there who's baby screams while eating, or after eating, arches their back, wheezes/coughs/gags a lot, and spits up like crazy: LOOK INTO REFLUX. One little pill a day helps *TONS*. Even if your baby ISN'T spitting up, but has the other symptoms - look into it! There's a reflux called 'silent reflux' where the baby doesn't spit up tons, but still feels the burn!
Violet also has digestion issues. The pediatricians have told us her little system still needs to mature a bit...
At the beginning of her seventh week, we took her to see a chiropractor who specializes in allergy testing (called NAET). We had her on the reflux meds already, on special pre-digested formula, were taking her every few days to get foot-zoned, etc...That afternoon she went a few hours without screaming! It was a miracle. That Sunday she slept and we made it through all three hours of church - a FIRST for us since she was born.
She started having happy awake time! It wasn't much, but it was a massive improvement over constant fussiness and never ending hysterical fits.
We took her to get her 2 month shots the next week and told the doctor she was still struggling. He said he suspected a condition called 'delayed gastric emptying', which is common when an infant has GERD (reflux). I had read about it before and I had thought that, too. It would explain why she always pushes and grunts and fidgets and can't ever pass gas or poop without straining and crying. He prescribed a medicine called Reglan.
I had read about Reglan before and the side effects terrified me. I understand why people put their infants on it (believe me, there were days that I would've risked ANYTHING to have her stop crying!) but since she had started improving ever so slightly, I just couldn't bring myself to give it to her. As a last ditch effort, we switched her from Nutramigen (her fancy pants formula) to Gerber Good Start Gentle (a formula I had read about in online forums for parents who hadn't experienced much success on Nutramigen). I was afraid it was going to mess her tummy up worse, but it was worth a shot before starting her on a new medication.
That night she woke up every two hours to eat (like usual), but instead of taking thirty minutes to calm back down and spending every minute listening to her whine and fuss and fidget - she was quiet. She was so quiet, in fact, that I spent the entire night getting up to make sure she was still breathing! She woke up, ate, burped, fell back asleep peacefully. It was astonishing. ASTONISHING.
Don't get me wrong - she still gets belly aches and spends a lot of time cranky and not sleeping well BUT she also has days and nights that she behaves like a normal baby. I can take her out in public. I HAVE NOT HAD HER OUT IN PUBLIC LIKE EVER (because she's so miserable all the time and who likes carting around a screaming child?!). Isn't that amazing!?
So, to recap...If you're a new mom and your baby cries all day and all night:
1. Recognize that it ISN'T normal for your baby to cry that much and it ISN'T your fault!!
2. Look into reflux and how to deal with it.
3. Pay attention to your baby's gas! (Violet NEVER passed gas before we put her on this new formula. I'm not kidding you. I NEVER heard her toot except when she'd poop - and that wasn't that often! - no wonder she was so miserable!!) and consider switching formulas (if you're formula feeding. duh.)
4. Consider NAET testing and foot zoning. I never thought I'd be a believer, but after every gripe water/colic remedy/pill/etc I could get my hands on failed?? those things pulled through.
We're not 100% better, but I think we're on the path to happier times! And, oh...this day couldn't have come soon enough!! Wahooooooooo!
xo.
(PS - remember when Violet was 3 weeks old and she'd wake up, eat, then scream for two hours before screaming herself to sleep, then wake up screaming fifteen minutes later to eat and start the process all over??? 24 hours a DAY?! and how that lasted for WEEKS?! and I didn't know it wasn't normal, so I thought EVERY mother went through it and I was just a weakling for crying hysterically every day out of exhaustion?! oooh yeah...NEVER EVER again. ever. ever ever. bless america.)