Prevacid

[cathy]

Hi,
Has anyone ever had trouble giving the Prevacid packets? My 9 week old boy doesn't like it at all. The dr said to give the powder mixed in water in a bottle. We ended up giving it in a medicine dropper because my son refused the bottle. Any other ideas to make this more pleasant? He gets hysterical. I am hoping he gets used to it and it won't be such an issue.
Thanks, Cathy

[Stephanie]

Hi,
My daughter was just switched to prevacid(she's 11 weeks) and we were originally given the packets. We put it with water (diluted it with more water to get it in drink form) but we ended up with all the little pellets left over. Talked with a pharmacist at Children's Hospital and she said she could make prevacid in liquid form..which she did. My daughter takes it no problem, but NOW I talked to the company that makes Prevacid and they said they weren't sure how well the "broken down" form would work since the medicine is designed (hard pellets) to make it down to the stomach before it desolves. So hmmmmmmmm. We are stumped too. The next thing I was thinking of (if the liquid form doesn't work) is speaking to my ped. about sprinkling the packet with cereal (the company said this would be ok) but I don't think she's ready for that. By the way, your packets were strawberry flavored right? My daughter happend to love the flavor, just couldn't get the pellets down. Let me know if you think of anything! Thanks.

[Stephanie]

Me again, was just thinking about your post...did you dilute the mixture a little before you fed it to your son? Just a thought that he might be getting frustrated because he can't get it through the nipple.

[cathy]

Yeah, the stuff is strawberry flavored. We did dilute it and Ian just hates the stuff all around.

I spoke with our pharmacist and he said we could mix it in his formula. The main objective was to get as much in his system as possible. With the bottle of just prevacid or the medicine dropper, Ian has learned how to not swallow and spit it everywhere. We all were wearing strawberry clothes. Disgusting and frustrating.

We didn't have issues with the pellets since we had issues with the medication in general. I have been using nipples with a Y cut in them so the pellets and the cereal can pass thru. (My son takes his formula thickened with barley cereal.)

This gets very difficult sometimes. Ian just screamed for 3 hours. eh, it will get better, right?

When did you find out your daughter had reflux?

Thanks.

[Stephanie]

Hi Cathy,
You might want to talk to your pharmacist and ask if they can break the prevacid down into liquid form (there is a way to do it--I believe they use sodium bicarbonate). That's the route we had to take because of the pellet issue. Our pharmacist didn't want to flavor it because she said it breaks down the enzymes in the medicine, but I've heard others have and it still worked. Because the medicine is bitter without flavoring (it's not God awful, but it's not good) we add a little sugar and put it in a medicine nipple (we found ours at our local pharmacy) and she takes it right down. If your pharmacist is unsure how to break it down, you might want to talk to a children's hospital, that's what we had to do. It's worth a shot.

Our daughter was diagnosed with reflux at about 3-4 weeks of age. She does not spit up, but we could tell stuff was coming up and she was very irritable...could have been the colic or reflux or both. Who knows. She is getting better now at 3 months..still have issues, but much better than it was!

Stephanie

[cathy]

Hi Stephanie,
I have to look around for the medicine nipple. Our pharmacy isn't the greatest. They didn't know about the Previcid powder at all and my pediatrician had to call a few times to tell them to fill the order properly. I guess a few other parents didn't even get the right meds. I bet they won't be able to break the stuff down. I think there is a specialty pharmacy around. I should ask them if they know about this.

Thanks

[Stephanie]

Hi Cathy,
If you do check to see if you can get the Prevacid broken down the liquid they use is called sodium bicarbonate "injection." Now, I heard that sodium bicarbonate isn't good for newborns...can do something to the kidneys. I did ask the pharmacist about this and he said the "injection" is not as strong as sodium bicarbonate (baking soda)and that he has not heard of it being bad for babies. I have a call into my ped. to double check on that...I sure hope it isn't bad for her as it does seem to be working! I'll let you know if I hear anything. I also just received Baby's Bliss Gripe water and that too has sodium bicarbonate in it. Now I don't know if I want to use it or not? I guess I need more info. If anyone knows please let me know! Thanks!

Stephanie

[Stephanie]

About the medicine nipple...that's my term, so I don't know what a store would call it. All it is is a small cup with measuring marks on it that has a nipple on it...basically a very very small bottle. I know you can find them at Wal-mart, not sure what stores you have by you. It probably would not work with the packets though...but it's nice for small amounts of medicine. My daughter takes Maylox (GI said smaller amounts were ok) and the med. nipple works like a charm. Good luck!

[mom2]

Hi there,
My daughter takes Prilosec not Prevacid but I wanted to let you know that we found a pharmacy, recommended by the ped. gi, that would compound the medicine into a liquid form and it worked like a charm. We did have to go to four pharmacies before we found one that would do it because it is evidently time consuming and they don't get fully reimbursed from insurance companies, blah, blah, blah. We give it to her with a syringe because she absolutely refuses a bottle (good thing I'm a stay-at-home!). Good luck to all of you, hope things get easier soon.

[cathy]

Thanks for all the info. I found the medicine nipple at the grocery store and it is just as you described. :)

When do babies tend to grow out of reflux? Do they or do some children end up with reflux as children and then adults?

[Stephanie]

I'm not an expert on reflux, but from talking to GI specialists, other moms, and my pediatrician, I've heard that children do outgrow reflux. Typically, when children are able to sit up they seem to do better which makes sense since they are upright more often. However, I've heard of it lasting up to 4 years! From what I know ALL infants have a form of "reflux" because their valve that blocks off the stomach contents from coming up is immature, some just have it worse than others (like our children). Once they grow, and gain greater control over their bodies, it gets better. Let us hope so at least! I've read a lot of good responses on this web site regarding reflux so you might want to search here. Have you tried things like sitting your baby upright at least 30 minutes after feedings, elevating crib (at least 6 inches), burping well, and not jostling the baby a lot after feedings. These things have helped us. Our GI suggested thickened feedings (you said you already did this) but our daughter got fussier when we did this. Also, I've heard that sleeping on their right side helps.The Maylox has helped a lot even though there are varying opinions of its use in infants. I know that it does help our daughter eat better (it coats her throat) when she is having bad reflux. Best of luck to you. One of the many things I've learned from being a mom, sometimes you really have to be a squeaky wheel. I was on the phone with our daughter's doctors every day until we found something that worked. If you don't see results in 10 days, might be worth making a switch.

Stephanie :)

[Stephanie]

This site has a lot of info. on reflux. It was created by a mom.

http://www.infantreflux.org

[cathy]

We have his bed elevated at a 30 degree angle, he stays up right after eatting for about 45 minutes, and I cart him around in a Baby Bjorn carrier alot of the day. These things help. I think he is teething now, too. He's constantly chewing my fingers. Poor little guy.

I like our pediatrician alot. She seems very up on stuff.

Thanks for your insights. Good luck with your daughter.

:)

[katesmom]

We also use Prevacid for my 10 week old. We use 1 ounce of water with half a packet. I bought a dropper that draws up the fluid at Target then I can just shoot it in her mouth!! Also just to let all know about something I tried. We used AR for her formula. Well recently Enfamil started adding LIPIL to all AR. My daughter can not tollerate it. Screaming/Crying NO SLEEP- NEED I SAY MORE!! Well I read so many good things from moms about Carnation Good Start!! I tried without thicken rice. WOW! She spit up everywhere and it even came out her nose!! I called the doctor and they said to add 1 teaspoon per ounce of formula. I added this to the good start and wow a brand new baby!! We had 10 minutes of tummy time today and she even got in her swing!! No crying and 8 1/2 hours of sleep last night! I know all babies are different but I hope this helps someone out there who feels as helpless as I did. :) :)