Antibiotics for newborn

[1NuDad]

Hi all.

My son is 12-days old and he has been given a course of antibiotics (flucloxacillin) to take until his infection in his finger gets better.

Wondered if anyone else has had to give newborn this young antibiotics? We have to administer them orally, by squirting a syringe into his mouth. It's a horrible thing to do and it's the first time he's had anything other than breast milk.

3.3ml too which seems like a huge amount for him to take. He threw some up and didn't swallow some.

Any tips? When's best? How best with such large amounts? Any side effects? Should we worry about giving glucose/penicillin to such a young person?!

Thanks.

Its very common, I'm assuming its pyronychia, sometimes you get cream instead of oral AB's but perhaps the dr felt that it warranted them as sometimes a watch and wait approach is preferred. It is safe don't worry. Large amounts of liquid can be given via a syringe teat (google if unsure of technique), the sucking action tends to easily ensure its swallowed. Side effects are usually minor if any at all and can include tummy upsets. Im sure your little one will be absolutely fine x

My son was on a course of prophylactic antibiotics since birth for about three months for potential kidney issues. We had to syringe them into him eveynight. We got pretty good at just going slowly, and getting the little syringe right into his cheek, rubbing his chin seemed to encourage him to swallow too.

The antibiotics he had seems to have no effect on his digestion. He was breastfed, and I didn’t give probiotics (it was a pretty small dose per day though - and now they’re more available in baby versions, I probably would have done if it were now).

Thanks SIB.

It's flucloxacillin. It's squirted with a syringe. It's a very sticky pink liquid. It just seems an awful lot for a newborn to swallow in one go. And he threw some up.

Should I administer small amounts of it? And do it before a feed rather than after?

Many thanks.

Thanks Callamia.

Did you do them before or after feeds? It's a 3.3ml dose which seems like a lot. Was that the same with yours? And how did you hold the mouth open? Sorry for basic questions, just don't want to upset our little dude needlessly. He looked so trusting when he took it, bless him.

My dd had to have a low dose antibiotic daily from birth until age 5... when she was a baby I used one of these dummies

www.mothercare.com/medicine/mothercare-soother-medicine-dispenser/558820.html

Wow, five years! Sorry, my worries must seem so trivial! Great you had the dummy.

Both mine had IV antibiotics for 5 and 10 days, respectively, at birth. Eldest was then followed up with a further 7 days of oral ABs.

Yes to squirting it right into his cheeks.

I believe there is some evidence that certain health issues are more likely if a child has had ABs within the first 12 months of their life. Well, my first would most likely have died without them, so I'll take any 'side effects' thank you. My second, it turned out afterwards that there was in fact no infection, so no ABs needed. Still, it would have been a big risk, given what was known/not known at the time. You can only work with what you know!

Yes, antibiotics are over-prescribed. But unless you know your stuff, you must really go by the doctors' advice. You can ask questions though. I find BRAIN useful: Regarding any proposed course of action, ask: What are the Benefits? What are the Risks? What are the Alternatives? What does your Intuition say? (or you could refer to the doctors' intuition)? What if we did Nothing? (as in, wait and see/maybe it will get better by itself/does it really need 'fixing')
Any good doc should be happy to discuss these points with you.

It was a preventative measure so no biggie

We did it last thing at night, so probably before a feed. He was on a small dose, but I can’t remember what - maybe 1ml, I’m sure it was a small syringe.

Beilliotic, thanks. What are the certain health issues please? It's only a finger infection but can obviously spread.

You can easily google - I'm hesitant to point you in any direction, I'm no expert and it has been a while since I researched this. Don't want to needlessly scare you or anything.

Best to discuss with the docs! Though having started, you'll have to finish the course of ABs anyway I presume.

My baby had IV and oral antibiotics from 7 days old for a recurrent eye infection. We found a dropper more effective to administer them than a syringe, mainly due to the syringes sticking and then firing loads into her mouth when trying to unstick it. She hated the taste of flucloxacillin so would try to spit it out & we had a lot of pink stains! She was on 3.4 ml which seems loads but they work it out based on weight. It looks loads in a syringe but looks like nothing if you put it in a teaspoon.

Stomach upsets are a pretty common side effect of antibiotics, the info is available on the NHS website.

My daughter has had constant stomach upsets since taking them. I've no idea if the antibiotics are the cause but I've continued breastfeeding and am giving her probiotics just incase, but also exploring other reasons as this hasn't stopped long after she finished the antibiotics. Like others have said, you have to weigh it up yourself but I'd take the stomach upset versus her losing her sight.

I know the instructions with ours said to be taken on an empty stomach, so two hours after a feed or one hour before. Not easy with a newborn who constantly wants to feed!

We had the same thing for the same reason when DD was 1 wk old - she’s now 5 weeks.

I went On the basis she’s so small that so long as she ingests most of the medicine on a mostly empty stomach she’d get the benefit, and her fingers did clear up completely quite quickly.

The instructions said 2 hrs after & 1 before food, but this is impossible with a bf newborn!

I ‘dream fed’ her the dose about an hour after a feed, trying not to wake her too much, and then (if she didn’t just go back to sleep) hand her to OH to distract for at least half an hour before feeding again.

Definitely aim right into his cheeks, and do it in 3 or 4 shots, my LG hated the teat so we just used the syringe, then rinsed it through after each dose with boiling water.

Lots of cloths/muslins as the stuff gets everywhere!

Midwife was happy with me doing it this way and said it was a good compromise.

I also bathed her hands every night in salt water (when she was asleep) and trimmed her nails at the same time.

Hope that helps

Oh we did notice she was very grizzly & had a constantly dirty nappy - but within a couple of days of ending the course she calmed down a lot & pooing less

Thanks so much.

I've ordered the Dreambaby medicine dropper, so hopefully that makes life easier and less messy! That stuff does get everywhere.

Thanks too ScarlettInSpice. Yes, trying to administer it a few drops at a time but the stuff squirts out so quickly when it's jammed and seems really unpleasant for him! We've actually been doing it during a feed so will move onto doing it in between. So you did it when she was asleep? Did you find that much easier?

You can get baby probiotics (eg BioGaia brand) which should help offset any negative tummy and gut effects from the antibiotics. They're a powder I think and you can administer via clean finger or your nipple if bf!

And, did she sleep less as she was extra grizzly? Can't wait for it to be over already!

Fantastic, thanks Minipie.

We don't know anything about probiotics and no health official has said anything about it, so could you explain a little more about them please? Which should we be looking at, or are they all the same/different flavours etc?

Any idea where you can get a medicine dropper from in a hurry? Ordered one but after the latest syringe episode we'd like it now!

Pharmacies will sell medicine droppers I'd have thought.

Probiotics are the "good bacteria" that live in your gut and help digestion, food absorption and various other things. The trouble with antibiotics is they kill the good bacteria as well as the bad bacteria. Probiotics are literally a supplement of the good bacteria - a bit like you get in Yakult or live yoghut but more so.

I have to admit I'm not an expert on brands - my mum did lots of research and recommended BioGaia to me.

Thank you!

Tried 7 pharmacies - none had baby medicine droppers!

Hi. My DS has antibiotics a few times when little, and we found he had a few digestive system issues from it, mainly struggling with pooing, and neon quite sick when crying lots - when we spoke to HV re sick when crying she asked if he'd had sntibiotics and said it'd take his tummy a while to settle down. Doctors just prescribed movicol and lactulose. It was actually an Osteopath that recommended probiotics and they were amazing, went from lactulose several times a day and still distressed shampooing to normal within a few weeks. We only ever did one bottle but never had problems since. I'd never really knew much about them before but have now said that anytime any of my kids have antibiotics I'd give them probiotics too just to ensure that they are getting the good back into their gut that that antibiotics are killing off.

We used the BioGacia baby drops, bought them on amazon, if that helps.

*when pooing, not shampooing!

Sorry for not replying sooner, yes her sleep did seem more erratic & she was super clingy but that may have been normal as she was only 1-2 weeks old.

We tried as much as possible to feed the medicine to her when she was sleeping, often she’d had almost the whole dose before she’d realised!

Hope all is going well