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kelclay724
member
#2 and Antibiotics
kelclay724
member
Like I mentioned a few days ago, Rowan has a bad ear infection and has been on 3 different antibiotics now. First amoxicillin, then augmentin, then he got the rocephin shots and now he's finishing the augmentin.
He has been pooping like crazy. I realize this happens with antibiotics but it has me concerned that he's not getting any calories. Today he has pooped 4 times, a couple were huge ones, some were small. We keep stuffing food in him but I'm wondering if there's something else we should be doing. Obviously I'm calling his pediatrician tomorrow but anyone have any advice until then?
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Re: #2 and Antibiotics
Probiotics, probiotics, probiotics. If Ben's on antibiotics, I give him probiotics. When he's on augmentin, I give him huge doses of probiotics, because he gets absolutely terrible diarrhea that causes horrid diaper rash otherwise. The antibiotics kill off all of the good gut bacteria along with the "bad guys," and that causes diarrhea, and probiotics are just those good gut bacteria in pill form.
The trick is to get a good-quality one, and to give it at least two hours away from a dose of antibiotics. I take one every day to help manage my ulcerative colitis, and it has 12 billion live active cultures per pill. When Ben is on augmentin, he gets two pills/day. So that we were sure to get it spaced out far enough from the augmentin, we'd give him that at breakfast and supper, and the probiotic at lunch and bedtime snack (or bottle, when he was younger).
There are kids' probiotics out there, but they have very small doses of probiotics, and I honestly don't think they are enough to do the trick when you're dealing with an antibiotic gut. I also prefer a probiotic that has more than one type of bacteria in it, but those can be hard to find. Culturelle has a pretty high number of live active cultures/pill, and it's pretty easy to find.
Have you tried foods like cheese that stop things up a little.
I think I would worry about dehydration more then anything so maybe more liquids.
I live in WA state, well, until the end of the month when we move to NY, so I'm not too familiar with what's all around you. (I'm on here b/c I got married in IN--we were living in MI at the time--and got to know a lot of these girls on the knot.)
Anyway, I get mine at a supplement store. I know GNC carries probiotics, and I imagine that most health food stores would as well. I think that a lot of pharmacies carry Culturelle.
Some yogurts do have a ton of probiotics (they're specially labeled), but in general, they aren't going to have enough to overcome augmentin!
Luke's going through something similar (amoxyciling and now augmentin) and I agree - probiotics! For us the Culturelle for Kids has worked wonders - I got it at Target. It's in a powder form and you can mix it in with food. Luke has having 8-10 awful diapers/day and we started that and he's down to about 2 more normal poopy ones, which has also saved his poor little tushy.
If you get that, they don't give the best instructions on it, but like Chrislyn said, we give it away from the antibiotic. Also, I asked the pediatrician and she said you can do it up to twice a day (we just do it once.)
The only other thing I can think of to suggest, is that if they are more on side of diarrhea type diapers, make sure he's getting plenty of fluid too.
I don't want to sound like a know-it-all, nor bash anyone else's suggestion, but I'd be really cautious about using Activia. The probiotic in it is designed to stimulate the digestive system, something you don't want to do in a diarrhea situation!
Oh, and make sure that if you mix it in food (we'd just split the capsules open and sprinkle the powder in something), give it in a cool/cold food, like applesauce, yogurt, etc. Anything hot will kill the probiotic.
I didn't know that. The pediatrician that prescribed the Augmentin (not our regular one) suggested it. It did help Isabella, but it sounds like it could make things worse for some people.
I'm pretty sure that the probiotic in Activia is protected by a patent (or something else...not sure what would be appropriate in this case), so only Dannon can use it. You have to look pretty hard on the Activia website to find the info about it being more for constipation. And it is also rare that a probiotic would stimulate the digestive system like that.
We get my DD's probiotics at Whole Foods. They have quite a few different brands to choose from. We go to the Whole Foods at Clay Terrace the people that I've talked to have been fairly knowledgeable about probiotics and helped me pick one out that really works for us. We try to double up on the dose when the girls are on antibiotics.