Reflux

Since Jackson was about 2 months old he has struggled with Reflux issues, it has come and gone over time and through this we have learned some information that I thought might be useful to others that have to go through this journey. 

We started Jackson on Zantac at about 2 months seemed to work pretty well and we actually thought he was/had out grown the reflux so we were actually weening him on our own. At around 5.5 months ago it flared up big time so we went back to the doctor and they upped his dosage. We did that for a week and then went back for the 6 month well check and decided he was still having some pain and switched to Prevacid.

Zantac is a liquid he gets 3 times and day and Prevacid is a pill that is dissolved in liquid and he gets once a day. Well after this switch he has been worse than ever. Crying all the time and not taking his bottles well at all. My husband started doing some research and we found out that the two medications work completely different and the Prevacid needed time to really start working. Zantac ultimately makes the acid less acidic so when they do reflux it is not painful. Prevacid actually causes the stomach to produce less acid so hopefully they do not reflux. Since they are different we were able to determine that you can take both at the same time. So now we are giving him the Prevacid and hoping that is the long term solution but also giving him Zantac in the short term until his body adjusts to the medication. In about a week or two we will try and ween the Zantac. We talked to his pediatrician and he said this was a good plan.

A few other things we learned in my husband's research. They build up a tolerance to Zantac pretty quickly also the dose is figured by weight so as they grow their dosage will need to increase. Prevacid is best taken on an empty stomach and not eating right after-so in the middle of 2 feedings. It is broken down by the acid so if there is a lot of milk it will not be as effective.

Once we got J on both meds he was a completely different baby. Smiling and laughing and being completely adorable unlike the little boy who has been crying for the week prior. Please note we did not make any changes to his medications without consulting his pediatrician. We just acted as his advocate by educating ourselves on the medications he was taking and how they worked. Always consult your doctor first.