Gabriel

by Jessica Chiarizio
(Dallas, TX)

I recognized that our baby, Gabriel, had silent reflux within a week of his birth. We have two older children and our first dealt with the same issue but on a much more minor scale and didn't need medicine more than a few weeks to get over the hump. With Gabriel, he'd constantly get this sour look on his face and then scream.

I brought it up to the pediatrician very early and she suggested waiting it out. By the 2 week appointment, I insisted on medication because he seemed miserable and in pain all the time. The worst symptom seemed to be his constant back arching. It's almost hard to describe what it looked like but his back was parallel to the floor. I struggled to hold him and absolutely wouldn't let others hold him because I was afraid they would drop him.

Everyone would comment "his neck is SO STRONG!" or "aww he wants to look at the sky" and all I was thinking was that he was in pain. At the 2 week appointment we started him on Axid which didn't seem to help at all. By one month old, we saw a GI Specialist who agreed that Gabriel had silent reflux and started him on Nexium 2.5mg 2x/day.

I was getting frustrated because the medicine wasn't working. I found some Facebook pages that lead me to believe that he could have a milk protein allergy so I started eliminating milk from my diet as I was breastfeeding. My gut told me this wasn't the issue and his symptoms didn't improve.

We went up to 5mg 2x/day of Nexium and same issue. At around 3 months, I talked to a lactation consultant and we decided to get his tongue tie clipped hoping that it was a bad latch which caused the gas pains and made the reflux worse. Although it helped a little, the main symptoms were still present.

At that point I decided to try formula because I didn't want to be the cause of my baby's pain. We switched to Gerber Soothe formula and that seemed to help a lot. I was so sad that breastfeeding didn't seem to work for him but wanted his comfort more. A few weeks went by and the symptoms were better but I knew that the root of the problem was still there.

I stumbled across the TummyCare Max Facebook page and started talking to other moms about their story. After doing so and reading through all the materials, I decided that trying the Marci dosing schedule on this page along with TummyCare Max was was worth a shot. The biggest reasons were that I couldn't fathom paying the incredibly high prices of Nexium, especially at Marci dosing which was significantly higher than his current dose, and because everything on here made so much sense after what we'd been through and the research I'd done on my own.

The first few days on Marci dosing was definitely hard and I almost quit but after about a week, his symptoms much improved!!! He's taking 1.5 hr naps now where previously he'd lay down for 30 min at a time all day, and he's sleeping well at night. Only 1 wake up instead of 3-4. Also, it's so much easier to give him the medicine now that I don't have to time it around food because it's almost impossible to do that right 3 times a day.

I'm so thankful for the support page on Facebook and the friendships I've made there and of course for the relief of my son's symptoms.

Our family is very thankful!