Prevacid Experience?

jennbent

Any mommas whose babies have been on prevacid for reflux?  DS has been on Zantac for several months now, but I never did notice much of a difference.  He still seems to be in pain while throwing up.  But he was still gaining weight so the pedi didn't want to go any further with medicating him.  

However, the past couple of weeks, feeding has become a nightmare.  He's writhing around, smacking the bottle away, crying, screaming, whining, gagging, vomiting, and swinging his head from side to side.  I posted on here asking if it sounds like teething and several of you responded (thank you!) and said it could be.  However, his pedi ruled that out ... also he's not sick... soooo we're stuck with either a sudden onset of an oral aversion.... or a flare up in his reflux.  We're going to give prevacid a try starting today just to see if it helps.  Pedi said, based on the symptoms I described above that it does sound like reflux.  I am hoping and praying that this helps.

If your baby has been on prevacid, how long until you noticed a difference?  Also, we are having to do the solutabs and then give it to him through a syringe.  I'm worried he will throw it up - he seems to throw up everything that we give him in a syringe, so we give him all his meds with a little bit of milk mixed in.  Any reason we can't do that with the solutabs once it's dissolved? 

Missa_g

One of my boys was on Prevacid from 1w adjusted until 5.5m adjusted.  It was a miracle drug for us.  It must be given at least 30 minutes before a meal so giving it with milk is not recommended.  It's supposed to be given on an empty stomach.  In the beginning I would gently hold the solutab in his mouth and use a syringe to squirt a tiny amount of water on it.  He absolutely loved the taste of it.  Towards the end I just held it in his mouth and he sucked on my finger.  They dissolve very quickly.  Don't worry if he throws up, our GI doctor said it only takes a few minutes to be effective.  We would hold our boy elevated for 10 minutes afterwards to help him keep it down.

DrRx

The reason that the drug is given 30 minutes before a meal is because it works on actively secreting acid pumps.  You need that much time for the drug to be absorbed and work its way into the bloodstream.  You eat 30 minutes later since the act of eating triggers the body to start the acid secretions.  That way, the drug is in the system and can work most effectively. 

You also want to give it at breakfast, since this is usually the longest time span that the baby hasn't eaten.  Presence of food in the stomach and reduce the bioavailability of the drug by as much as 50% (ie, not as much of the drug will be absorbed).  

The tablet will dissolve rapidly on the tongue (less than 1 minute).  I would try what PP said about putting it in there and squirting some drops of water with an oral syringe.  Another thing we did with Adalyn was just use the nipple from a bottle and squirt the stuff in there (with her laying back).  She would suck from the nipple as if it was the bottle and would get most, if not all,of her dose.  

GL! I hope that this works for you and your LO!

mamatotwins0812

My little guy was put on Zantac also. It seemed to work for about 2 days then he was back to being clearly uncomfortable. They put him on Prevacid and he's been on that for about 3 months now and is doing great. They told us that a lot if babies grow used to the Zantac and it loses its effectiveness. I'd definitely suggest trying to switch. 

  ETA: he is on the compounded liquid kind which can't be mixed with anything so I would assume the same for the tabs. But the goodness is thathe loves the taste. The Zantac is putrid compared to they're acid. Night and day. All of your lo's symptoms totally sound like reflux. Exactly what my little guy used to do. Good luck!

jennbent

Thanks so much for your responses!  We started it yesterday.  I ended up putting it on his tongue and squirted a little bit of water onto it.  The tab seemed to dissolve pretty quickly and I think DS actually liked the taste of it!  Hopefully this works for him.  He's been pretty miserable, and the more I've been reading about reflux, the more I think I might have let this go on too long without recognizing the symptoms.  Even though he's been vomiting less, doesn't necessarily mean the problem went away, poor thing.  I pray this helps!

jennbent

DrRx:

The reason that the drug is given 30 minutes before a meal is because it works on actively secreting acid pumps.  You need that much time for the drug to be absorbed and work its way into the bloodstream.  You eat 30 minutes later since the act of eating triggers the body to start the acid secretions.  That way, the drug is in the system and can work most effectively. 

You also want to give it at breakfast, since this is usually the longest time span that the baby hasn't eaten.  Presence of food in the stomach and reduce the bioavailability of the drug by as much as 50% (ie, not as much of the drug will be absorbed).  

The tablet will dissolve rapidly on the tongue (less than 1 minute).  I would try what PP said about putting it in there and squirting some drops of water with an oral syringe.  Another thing we did with Adalyn was just use the nipple from a bottle and squirt the stuff in there (with her laying back).  She would suck from the nipple as if it was the bottle and would get most, if not all,of her dose.  

GL! I hope that this works for you and your LO!

 I always thought maybe you were a pharmacist IRL based on your screen name...now I'm guessing you really are!!!  haha  Thanks for the info!  I really appreciate it!!!