Dr Wants Us to Try AXID

My daughter has been nursing for the past 6 months and she has been on Axid because she has GERD. Has your doctor said she may have gerd? Our family is big for genetically having pyloric stenosis and my first had to have surgery because of the pyloric stenosis. Is your little one spitting up or projectile vomiting? If its spitting up it may be GERD and I would take the axid. we usually put it in a nipple and she takes the dose that way. Otherwise if your little one is projectile vomiting then I would ask about pyloric stenosis.

Is your son on formula? If so, check out the following website. Hope this helps.

http://www.enfamil.com/ARsample/

I don't know a lot about Axid, I think I remember hearing that it's kinda the lowest-dose type RX you can get and some insurances want you to try it before the more expensive Zantac. If it's the same thing a friend tried with her daughter and what I'm remembering, it didn't work for them and they spent 2 weeks trying it while their daughter kept suffering and then were given the Zantac. However, since your son is (I'm assuming) smaller due to his prematurity, maybe it will work very well for him!
Premies are extra prone to reflux because things aren't quite developed. I don't now if you are bottle-feeding formula or breast milk, but either can be part of the trouble, so don't let people tell you either choice is what's causing it. Breast milk is thinner and comes up more easily BUT it has been proven to encourage small holes in the stomach to close up more quickly than formula which means no matter which you are feeding with, there are down sides and both can create some problems when it comes to reflux. It also happens way more than they realized and it's what most cases of colic can be attributed to (too bad they didn't realize it 20 years ago!). I would suggest going ahead and trying it. I don't like the idea of pumping kids full of meds and I have not followed the traditional immunization calender. That said, my son seemed SO uncomfortable and would just scream for hours each night unless we put him in the car seat and swung him until our arms fell off and our backs broke. With in days of starting Zantac, we saw an improvement. Not only can it help the comfort level, but having that acid come up (and go back down if he's swallowing any of it like Eli was) is pretty harmful to their little throats.
Most babies do grow out of it within the first year. We tried to take him off it at 6 months and he showed signs of needing it still, but then when we tried at 8 months, he did just fine.
I hope some of this is helpful in making your choice. I don't have any idea if there are herbal remedies, but with a premie I would be careful of putting too many unstudied things in to his body.
Good Luck!

Both my kids had reflux as babies. My daughter was given Axid, we were told it's the same as Zantac (which my son took) but without the alcohol content. Well, it didn't work. She was also given prevacid, but it works completely different than Axid/Zantac. We pretty much demanded she be put back on Zantac (dr didn't think it would make a difference) and it worked.

In my experience, they are given an acid neutralizing medicine first (Zantac/Axid) before an acid production reducing medicine (prevacid).

If you try the Axid and it doesn't work, request Zantac before trying another med.

As for side effects, I know they sound scary but we never had a problem with anything, and I've never heard of anyone experiencing any. The only side-effects from a reflux med I've heard of is from Reglan, which I refused for both my children.

I don't know any herbal meds, but I do know some give I believe it's Mylanta? instead of prescribed meds. Maybe someone here can help with that.

Good luck, it takes patience to find the right med and right dosage sometimes.

i have not tried axid, nor have i ever heard of it! but, we did try zantac, prevacid and reglan - all with horrible side effects and they didnt even help the reflux! im sure that some kids it helps, but i understand your dilemma with weighing the risks. for us, it was not worth it! we switched formulas to an organic formula, which helped. also, i realized she was not able to take the quantity that we were trying to give her, so we switched to more frequent feeding in less quantity and that really helped. some people have found that gripe water has worked for them, but it didnt work for us ( i think mostly b/c it made her stomach too full!) if you have a good health food store in your town, go and ask to speak to someone who could help you with something for a baby with reflux. they are very cautious to give anything to babies, so the stuff they do give is very mild and safe. they recommended to us that we get probiotics and digestive enzymes. ( we never got a chance to try them b/c my baby got a g-tube b/c of other health issues and her reflux went away! ) you are your babies best advocate. you need to feel comfortable with whatever you decide on. the doctor will not seek out natural remedies for you - you will have to do that! good luck to you!

My cousin went through a couple of different meds with her son - then found Prevacid. The baby was like a different kid overnight! I understand your concern about meds...there were no side effects (at least, my cousin couldn't see any) and I've suggested this medication to other friends who have gone through similar problems with their infants. I hope this is helpful and that you find something that works for you very soon. Good luck! -D.

Our daughter who is now 17 months old had reflux from day 1 but went undiagnosed until she was 2 months old. We had such a great response with the Axid and she only took it until she was 9 months old and then we stopped it to see if she would be ok and she was. We also had her sleeping in either her bouncy seat inside her crib so she could get used to her room or the car seat. We did not experience any side effects from the axid and she took it with these little nipple dispensers that you can get at walmart for like 96cents. Hope this helps. J.

My little guy was on axid for a small time and it helped a little and then the Dr put him on Prevacid and that worked much better. A lot of pepole think that children just have colic when in reality it is Acid reflux. Acid reflux in babies is pretty common. As soon as we would feed my little guy he would cry for like an hour or more straight. So we knew there was a problem. When we switched his meds to Prevacid we also gave him enfamil AR liquid-you know the premixed stuff in the cans. I know it is more expensive but it is thicker and sits lower in their stomachs so they do no spit up as much. Actally after all of the changes he was doing fine. He did not spit up at all. Our little guy is now 16 mo. old and grew out of needing it. So it does get better just give it some time.

This was just my personal experience, but we took the Axid as recommended by our doctor and it really didn't seem to do much. She was still having the same symptoms and just eventually grew out of it.

Oh my heart goes out to you! I have experience with reflux from my son and I don't have time to write much right now but you can do chiropractic care on babies that young. I did a combination of meds and chiro care. I know a great chiro for babies if you are in this area.

My dad's acid reflux was cured by taking organic apple cider vinegar. I don't know if it's safe for babies though. I would think that if there's something that simple and effective for adults, there should be something out there for babies too. It's worth looking into. Also, if your baby has reflux while sleeping I've heard it may be a good idea to have them sleep at an incline. Good luck.

I would try infant massage first.I teach it and know if alot of people that it works great for.If you have any questions please just ask.
Kris

Before you try AXID, have you tried a Lactose Free Formula. Both my kids were terrible spitter uppers, projectile vomiters, and very, very crabby as infants. Apparently I was like this as well as my Father. ANyhow, once we tried that it seemed to make life much easier and more enjoyable. Soy formula also made them throw up. If you are breast feeding, try changing to a very bland diet La Leche has some great advice. It did not help my kids, but for some I guess it works great.