infant son with C Diff

[cdiffdad]

hello, like many of you I am not happy to be posting on this site, but I need some support. My 7 wk old son has been diagnosed with c diff. Early exposure to antibiotics seems to be the cause. Regadless, my wife and I are doing are best to treat him. He is taking Flagyl and has been for 7 days now. Initially, the drug really seemed to help and gas was not smelly and he was very constipated. Feeding has been poor but better than before the meds. Now the smelly gas and stooles are back. No blood in several weeks, but I suspect my son had c diff for several weeks before my pediatrician finally referred us to a Pedi GI doctor. Obviously my wife and I are scared since or boy is so young. Anyone else had a infant in this situation. Support and advise much appreciated. What can we expect?

[Bobbie]

Standard intro:

Welcome to the site. Read the first forum ALL USERS READ THIS FIRST & its subtopics – especially the announcements: PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU POST and GUIDELINES FOR POSTING TO OUR DISCUSSION BOARDS. They will guide you in using the site & answer some of the most frequent questions. Read Dr. Borody’s & Dr. McDonald’s articles and some of the topics in [i]FAQ – especially Hygiene, Nutrition, & Testing.

Most people (about 80%) recover with one to two rounds of Flagyl or Vanco. If antibiotics contributed to C. diff., be careful about taking them again. (See FAQ-Antibiotics.) Some people can tolerate them without a problem; some develop C. diff. again. (See Dr. Borody’s article.)

To anwer your questions (& I am not in the medical field) some infants are born with C. diff. Often, they are not treated unless they show symptoms & they outgrow" this later.

Your ped. sounds very informed. See the ped. GI & see what he/she says. Sometimes, Vancocin will work when Flagyl doesn't -- & often has less side effects.

As the mother of a child who had C. diff. at a young age (4 yrs. old), I "feel for you. This was "way back" in l976 when few had heard of C. diff. My son was the youngest & one of the first people ever put on Vancocin -- previously it was strictly an IV drug. (He had C. diff. 6 yrs. later; I had it twice many year later.) C. diff. can be a "minor" illness -- or in a few cases very serious.)

BUT, pls. believe me -- your baby will eventually recover. Hang in there, Dad & Mom.

We have several other posters with similar situations. Amy is one. You might PM her or do a search on "Membership" & see if she has an Email listed.

Pls. keep us informed.

[cdiffdad]

thanks for the intro and kind words; it means a lot. I am sort of in the dark on this and your insightfulness was very useful for me and my wife.

[Bobbie]

Glad it helped. Keep us posted, & if your baby's symptoms become worse, contact the ped. or ped/GI -- probably won't but always good to have Plan B.

[oilsgirl]

Hi -- I'm so sorry you're going through this. I had c.diff. following my baby's birth and I was so worried that she'd get it. It's awful when your baby's sick.

Check with your doctor, but I believe probiotics (good bacteria) are safe for infants. My Culturelle (one of the best studied) box says right on it that it's safe for infants and children. It says you can open the capsule and sprinkle it directly into milk or on applesauce or something. I don't know if your child is breastfed (that has probiotics in it already!), but if you're bottle feeding, it might be something to ask your doctor about. The good bacteria in the probiotics help control and 'outcompete' the bad bacteria. We gave it to our daughter for about 10 days in applesauce when she had antibiotics at about 7 months.

Again, though, check with your pediatrician!!!

[cdiffdad]

I haven't posted in a while because we thought that our 10 wk old son had beat C Diff. He took 14 days of Flagyl and 10 days of Vicomycin. He has been off the meds about 10 days and yesterday the symptoms started showing up again. We called the doctor today and they have put him on 10 more days of vicomycin.

This is a real downer. I hope none of you have had to experience seeing an infant with this awful sickness.

Any words of support are much appreciated.
thanks!!

[Jodie]

Hi!!! I just wanted to add a little to this conversation. I had C-diff the whole second half of my pregnancy and did not get diagnosed until my son was about a month or so old (can' remember the exact details now). Well at about 2 month old he also showed the signs of c-diff (bloody stools, major "D", pain and cramping totally different than colic. Tested positive, of course. He did a 2 week round of flagyl and everyday I put one Culturelle (opened the capsule) and put it in his milk. Did this for about a month and all went well. Thank God.........Now me, still fighting!!!

But just to let you know, it is much better to get over for babies than for adults....

Jodie

[cdiffdad]

Well our son has been off vanco (21 day treatment) for 2 wks and there is no doubt that the c diff is back. We have tried flagyl, 3 rounds of vanco and it keeps coming back. We have also been putting probiotics in his bottle. The poor little guys is miserable. Wife and I are becoming very frustrated with the Pedi GI doctor, b/c we continually talk to the PA and not her, then she just writes another persciption. Not sure what is next or if our son will ever beat this thing and what the long term effects might be.

[Nancy1]

I am so sorry that your baby is still battling cdiff. And that your doc is not very helpful. I had better luck with an ID doc than with a GI doc, so you might try changing docs. I don't know if there are any ped IDs, though.

Has your doc talked at all about tapering or pulsing vanco? Pulsing was what finally worked for me, after 8 months of cdiff. They tell me that everyone eventually beats it. I don't know about long-term effects in babies. Some of us end up with IBS. Or lactose intolerance, although most of us can tolerate yogurt with active cultures. Let us know how it goes. I have my fingers all crossed for you.

[cdiffdad]

spoke to the doctor this morning. We are going to try Alinia for 10 days to see if this helps. We are also going to do another stool sample. Anyone taken Alinia?
What is next if this doesn't work? Child is presently still eating and no blood in stools but severe cramping and fussiness along with watery, stools.

[Jenny]

Hi cdiffdad,

Sorry your little one is still struggling with this. You can search the site with the word alinia and it brings up lots of posts. Unhappystomach has posted they have used alinia and appear to be over c diff but IBS problems remain.

If this doesn't work maybe your dr will try pulsing or tapering. There is still so much to try. You will get there eventually. The recovery is never fast enough for anyone, it just takes time. I do hope your son feels better soon.

Take Care

Jenny

[nsewell]

I took Xifaxan which finally kicked my cdiff in the butt. I dont know if its safe for kids though. might want to check into it. good luck. hang in there it will eventually give up.