Upper GI on a 3 month old???

[floridamommy]

Hi….this is basically a WWYD question to see if anyone has any prior similar experience. Our 3 month DD has had major tummy problems/allergies/colic etc., from day one. Doctors put her on Alimentum hypoallergenic formula after about a month of unsuccessful breastfeeding (they had me on a diet of nothing but brown rice, water, chicken and apples and that did not seem to help our DD). In the past two weeks she has started spitting up her formula in large quantities (I would estimate about >50% of each feeding). This comes after she has been burped and sometimes 30 or more minutes after the feeding. We took her to her ped last Friday and her doctor commented that she could not get over how much gas she felt in DD’s tummy even after being on Alimentum for almost 2 months. Ped was concerned that continued spitting up may upset her esophagus/ make it hard for her to swallow formula, etc. Ped put our DD on both Zantac (1 ml twice a day in dropper form) and Reglan (.5 ml 4 times a day in dropper form). For the past week we have been administering these medicines…but our DD is still spitting up a lot and now has incredibly long crying sessions (more than 3 hours, etc) which we have not seen her do since they made the switch from breastfeeding to Alimentum. I called the ped’s office today to see if the medicines may be upsetting her stomach even more and they said they believed it was time to order an “Upper GI.� I just got off the phone with the peds so I have not had time to research it myself, but that sounds pretty severe for a 3 month old. Does anyone have any similar experience or know if the “Upper GI� procedure is something that is safe/helpful for a baby of this age? I desperately want to do anything to help our DD who is clearly in much pain, but am getting confused as to whether to stick with the Zantac & Reglan (which seemingly has made her way more fussy and irritable) and also whether the upper GI is an appropriate procedure for her age. Clearly, I am not a doctor and I do put a lot of faith in her peds…but am interested to know if anyone has any commentary. Thank you in advance for reading through this long post. Best regards, Heather

[BeachBaby]

Heather, I don't have any advice for you, but just wanted to offer some virtual support. I hope your little girl is feeling better very soon.

[mommyoftwo]

Heather,

I responded to your post in feeding a couple days ago as we have had a very similar situation with both girls. Please email or PM me if you want all the details. It would take forever to type it all out. If the medicine seems to be making things worse, please have your pediatrician switch meds. Reglan can be very helpful but it can also make things much, much worse and your pediatrician should be aware of that. My dd was put on Reglan and got substantially worse. She didn't gain any weight at all and started to become dehydrated during the time she was on it. She couldn't keep anything down. The vomiting as bad as it was already, got much worse with the Reglan. It sounds like you need to try prevacid. If your pediatrician isn't comfortable prescribing it (mine isn't) then you need to see a pediatric gastroenterologist. I would recommend that anyway. Prevacid is not normally prescribed to children under the age of 1, but in cases like ours and it sounds like yours, it is used often with excellent results. I don't know what you mean by "upper GI", but normally what is done is upper endoscopy (inserting a small camera through the mouth into the esophagus to look for damage etc). My daughter was going to have to get one because the prevacid wasn't helping enough, but finally after more than a month on it, she is doing better. We got the news today that as long as she contintues to do well, we are going to be able to avoid have the endoscopy done. Two weeks ago it seemed certain. Based on what you have stated, it sounds like further study may be necessary. The good news is that while no one wants to have to put their child through testing, this one is relatively painless and non-invasive. I feel like you could be describing my daughters, nursing problems and all, so please let me know if I can answer any questions for you.

[bcky2]

i only have a sec and will post more later if you would like more info but my second ds had an upper gi when he was around 2 months. what they do is you cant feed them for so many hours(that is the hardest part) and then when you get there they have to drink a bottle of barium and they lay them on a table and watch their insides. they were great with my ds and it was done with no tears at all. let me know what other info you may like and i can see if i can answer it :)

[Rachels]

Get her off the Reglan! Add me to the list of mamas whose baby had a terrible reaction to it. The three-hour screaming fit is classic. It can be really horrible and agitating as well as uncomfortable, so if she's reacting that way I really wouldn't continue to give it. It may be that her reflux is just more severe than Zantac can manage. Abby wound up on Nexium ultimately, and tried Prilosec and Prevacid also. FWIW, Prilosec sometimes causes reactions in milk-sensitive children, so if your DD is dairy-allergic, don't let them give you that one.

I also agree that the upper GI is not as terrible as you might be expecting. Hang in there, mama. I know how hard it is to see your baby suffer like that.

-Rachel
Mama to Abigail Rose
5/18/02
http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_amethyst_36m.gif
Nursed for three years!

and Ethan James
10/19/05
http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/bf.jpg


"When you know better, you do better."
Maya

[mommyoftwo]

Huh, that's interesting. I didn't know that about prevacid. The funny thing is that she does have a milk sensitivity, but it doing much better on the prevacid. Who knows!

[Rachels]

No, it's Prilosec that causes the problem. My daughter and a friend's severely milk-allergic son both reacted badly to it, which is when I learned that there's a milk derivative in Prilosec.

-Rachel
Mama to Abigail Rose
5/18/02
http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_amethyst_36m.gif
Nursed for three years!

and Ethan James
10/19/05
http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/bf.jpg


"When you know better, you do better."
Maya

[mommyoftwo]

oop, must have read that wrong. thanks for the clarification.

[nov04]

dd had an upper GI at just under 3m for suspected reflux which was later ruled out. It was a completely easy and painless procedure. There are more specialized procedures as pp mentioned, it might be worth while to speak to ped. gastro. I also agree from reading other posts that reglan might not be the best treatment.

If dd does go on prevacid, a friend's doctor made a serious error in prescribing it. he instructed it to be added to formula. In that form, it was completely ineffective. It had to be mixed into a suspension by a specialized pharmacy. Not sure if things have changed by now, just wanted to mention it.

Although we have zero experience with reflux, dd had severe gas from 4-12w. We made dietary changes but the thing we did that might help your dd is massage. We did it every night for months, we missed it once and never again. It helped her work the gas out.

GL, hope everything improves quickly

[floridamommy]

I really want to thank each of you for your posts. They were quite helpful and I greatly appreciate you taking the time to share your experiences. I'll let you know how things turn out. Many thanks, Heather