Infant with Reflux - Fort Worth,TX

Updated on October 17, 2008
J.H. asks from Fort Worth, TX
7 answers

my son (6wks) has been diagnosed with reflux- we have tried zantac with no relief. He is now taking Prevacid and it is working somewhat. The pediatric GI wants to add Carafate to help with the reflux. Has anyone ever used this medication for their child. I have not heard of it and am concerned about giving him something - esp since the side effects are constipation, gas and upset stomach- which he already suffers from gas and upset stomach b/c of the reflux. any suggestions/ideas to help my little man are much apprecaited. He is breastfed exclusively and I have tried a version of an elimination diet but no real success with that. thanks

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C.J.

answers from Dallas on

My daughter was diagnosed with reflux when she was 8 weeks old. She was a breastfeed baby so I didn't try any of the thicher based formulas. They might have helped. We were on Prevacid for a couple of weeks and it seemed to work at first, but then I felt like it just stopped working. I took her to a chiropractor and after just a few sessions (two or three weeks) she was so much better. Even after the first one the reflux got a little better then just kept improving. I know this might sound a little weird, but give it a try it worked miracles for us.

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E.W.

answers from Dallas on

My daughter had reflux when she was an infant, and also took Prevacid. The Prevacid worked fine for her we just had to mess with the dose and timing. You may try switching the time of day the little guy gets it. For instance we gave my daughter hers at 8am, that did not work. So then we started splitting the pill (per my pedi advise) and did half at 8am and half at 6pm. This worked miracles!! I would try doing something like that before adding meds to the mix, good luck!

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K.K.

answers from Dallas on

My pedi apparently has some natural methods to help, including chiropractic care. I did not know about her when my daughter had reflux, but I wish I had. She says prevacid is linked to allergies down the road; and my second daughter does have much worse allergies than my oldest. I would recommend contacting Dr. Bain for her opinion. She is an MD but does incorporate natural/alternative treatments to reduce medications and long term effects.

www.healthykidspediatrics.com

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G.H.

answers from Dallas on

we have used carafate with my son - he is now 19 months old and suffered from horrible reflux which ended with surgery when he was 11 months old. carafate pretty much just puts a coating on the inside of the stomach so the acid wont burn him. we never had any problem with it causing side effects..

definitely give it a try, you can always stop.

good luck with everything! i know how hard the reflux battle is!

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M.O.

answers from Dallas on

How much Prevacid is he taking? My daughter had reflux and she ended up going to a pediatric gastroenterologist and he just upped the meds and it worked great! She was on 15mg a day and then she went to 30 mg a day (so one 15mg pill in the morning and another before bed). She never had to go to any other meds or anything after that. And it went away completely at about 6 or 7 months of age!

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M.B.

answers from Dallas on

What all have you eliminated from your diet - it can take a while for the antibodies/proteins to get out of your system. Also, are you on any Rx meds. The biggest culprit for this problem is dairy. Soy can also contribute, as can wheat. The problem is worse if you also have hidden food allergies (or undiagnosed celiac which is clearly possible given that it's the most commonly undiagnosed disorder) because there are higher amounts of the allergenic proteins circulating in your system and thus in your breastmilk.

Also, more frequent feedings can help reduce the volume he consumes at a feeding and thus improve digestion. You don't mention his feeding schedule at all. Also, keeping him upright after feedings (holding him while he sleeps more upright) will also help alot. Get dad to help out here. Note, that it is also not unheard of for these kids to be born with the reaction to gluten (celiac) if the mother has not been diagnosed, since the fetus will also be exposed to the allergens (same with dairy).

My undiagnosed dairy allergy and celiac were the two things that caused my first child's reflux - the only thing we used were mylicon drops. Also, the problem will improve over time without drugs. The bad thing about those drugs is that inhibit digestion and thus your son may experience a slower weight gain/growth. It's the growth that will help his system mature.

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A.J.

answers from Dallas on

One thing that we found helpful was to use Infamil AR and the Prevacid 1/2 in AM and 1/2 in pm instead of taking it all in the morning...

Our GI used Bethanochol with the prevacid(works like regland with out any side effects) and it worked GREAT.

I will also say that the prevacid works best after you have been using it for a couple of weeks...

HTH
A. J

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