Hi All,
I am confused here:  Linda writes:

The mother of an 8 week old totally breastfed baby who called because her
 baby has been gaining 3-4 oz a week up until about 3 weeks ago when the
infant was put on bethanechol for reflux. the baby has been gaining 1-2
oz for those last 3 weeks.  The mother is reluectant to discontinue the
medication to see what would happen because they put the baby on
bethanachol for the crying the baby did: the vomiting was minimal and the
parents were not bothered by that.  Anyone else know of a drop in weight
due to bethanochol?  Mom is at home nurse totally, no other identifiable
changes in nursing or behavior.  I did search Lactnet and found tons of
helpful info but nothing specific to this.

First:  Why was the baby put on this med for reflux?  Tom Hale (1997, pg 65)
says it is used for urinary retention not reflux.  Hale also says that it
can cause GI ditress, discomfort and diarrhea , and to use cautiously in
nursing infants, so I am wondering why it would be given to an infant orally.
Secondly:  If this baby does indeed have reflux, why are they not using
Reglan? This is the med they usually use, but only if the reflux is bad
enough to warrant it.
Third:  Is mom reluctant to discontinue med bc the baby cried a lot before
taking it, or after baby was on it?
My thoughts are:  Take baby off this med bc it doesn't sound to me as if it
is the right med in the first place!  If parents were not bothered by the
vomitting (or was it really just a lot of spitting up, there is a
difference), then why are they treating the baby for reflux (with a med that
is NOT for reflux)?  If the baby was vomiting a lot (or spitting a lot) then
I would have mom start with taking dairy out of her diet.
Something is not adding up here...can you offer any more info as to why the
ped chose this med, why are they concerned about relfux (when the weight
gain was OK), and why they are using an apparantly inappropriate medication?
Jay
Jay Simpson, CLE
Sacramento, CA
"No Miracles performed here, just a lot of love and hard work."