Baby Ben's Case History

[Guest]

My son is 2 months old. Ever since he was born, he has had gastrointestinal problems. His symptoms include excessive spitting up and occasional vomiting, wattery stools, excessive gas and what appears to be abdominal cramping. He is also very fussy. <BR>At first, his pediatrician put him on a soy-based formula, thinking he might be lactose intolerant. This did not work. He then put him on a hydrolysed or predigested formula, thinking he might have a protien allergy. This did not work either. He also prescribed Zantac and Reglan, for acid reflux and delayed gastric emptying, neither of which seemed to have a great effect. We have been giving him the child's, not infant's, dossage of simethicone, with every feeding. It does not help much either. Finally his ped recommended we see a specialist. <BR>The Gastroenterologist was very thorough. She took blood, urine and stool specimins, and recommended we take him off the prescription meds. She suggested giving him Mylanta and wrote a prescrption for Prilosec. When the labs came back, she called and said his stool revealed he had a serious bacterial infection. It is Clostridium difficile. I asked how he could have gotten the infection and she said it can occur after taking antibitics or in some cases a baby can be born with it. She explained that it was contageous and how important is was to wash our hands after diaper changes, to prevent passing it around. She also said it was very important not to take meds containing alcohol with the antibiotic, Flagyl, she prescribed for treatnent. <BR>He will start taking it today so I will return and post how he is getting along, after finishing the med.

[Guest]

Ben took his last dose of Flagyl yesterday. He appears to be feeling much, much better. He quit having wattery stools, about 7 days after starting the antibiotic. He still has occasional reflux and gas, however, his abdomen is not swollen and he does not seem to be cramping, like before. He goes to his follow-up appointment with the Gastroenterologist Friday. Hopefully we will not have to deal with this mean little bug any more!