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Thursday, May 10, 2007

Food Update, Etc.

No pictures tonight, I'm afraid! We're getting a nifty new camera and I think I may hold out until it arrives. Sharon did take some video of Hallie today on the grass, but I'm not sure how one uploads video to blogger.

Anyway, I just wanted to provide a brief update on how Hallie is doing. So, Sharon took her to the pediatrician on Monday for a sick visit after Hallie had thrown up around 10 times in 3 days. This was our ped's office but not the pediatrician whom we regularly see (he is on vacation but weighed in on email; I love it that he's electronically on top of things and that we don't need to go through the office and leave messages with nurses. Less gets lost in translation even though, as Sharon pointed out to me, I need to learn how to provide bullet pointed sound bites. That means losing my long winded style!

The pediatrician whom Hallie saw thought that the problem was not a stomach bug. She also thought that our dose of Prilosec is fine (as did the GI whom we cc'd on correspondence to our doc) . Besides, prilosec doesn't prevent vomiting, it just makes it less painful. So we're not really sure what is causing this vomiting (which is ongoing; it has slowed down some, but we are now hyper vigilant about providing Hallie with many many small meals, and not trying to cram 4 or 5 ounces into her at all sittings). Hence, it's four am nearly and I am up blogging waiting for our next two ounce feed.

If anyone out there experienced anything like this, please weigh in. Hallie has had reflux from the very beginning, but things seem to be getting worse. Or, alternatively, this is some other as yet undiagnosed issue.

The good news in all of this is twofold: first, despite the vomiting, Hallie keeps growing. She put on a whole pound in the past month and weighs what seems like a whopping 15 lbs. 8 ounces. She's still on her personal growth curve---80th percentile or so for height and 25th for weight for her corrected age. Not bad.

Second, we discovered something that Hallie LOVES to drink: pediasure. In desperation, we tried the vanilla flavor. To our noses, it's sickly sweet and it's certainly sticky to clean up, but this is the first thing we've ever put in her bottle (other than juice) that Hallie has sucked down eagerly while awake. This is very exciting. It means fewer attempts to put her to sleep so that she'll eat, a much more pleasant feeding experience generally, and less stress for the moms. We've also found that Hallie loves chicken (and especially chicken gravy). We put some into the mesh feeders but she prefered to suck on an actual piece. In any event, we can hold onto the idea that someday Hallie will eat pineapple chicken and wash it down with a super sweet vanilla milkshake.

So, to sum up: the kid is growing despite vomiting, the vomiting continues, but there is hope on the feeding aversion front.

I'm exhausted, so that's all for now!

5 comments:

Jennifer said...

I'm so sorry you're dealing with this. I wish she had relief. Our reflux adventure is ongoing too. We've been using Axid and its been a LIFESAVER. Its not cheap, but its been the only one that works.

Laura said...

anytime daniel's formula or tube feeding food was changed or tweaked the vomiting seemed to increase then taper off. could it be related to the end of the breast milk supply and finding the right formula combination?
the only thing i can offer is reflux with our babies seems to ebb and flow but they say most grow out of it by 18 mos and my little man did...18 mos adjusted age. we had our good times, our barfy times and our times of sheer exhaustion. it is draining all around but it doesn't last forever. of course that doesn't help when you are in the moment and i do know that.
hang in there.

Anonymous said...

Just wanted to say hello—our baby Henry was born on the same day, June 11--found you through the McCarthy micropreemies.

Hope all continues to go well with Hallie, sorry about these difficult setbacks!

Anna, mom to Henry

http://hankandwillie.wordpress.com

Jill said...

Hi there - we just went through this with our 5 month old (adj) son. He was on Neo Sure formula and 2.5ml Prevacid. We switched to Enfamil Enfa Care and Enfamil AR formulas and the problems have completely disappeared. No more pain/fussing and he isn't vomitting. During the office visit, the ped was thisclose to having us to to a GI doctor and get an ultrasound, etc. But this little formula switch did the trick. Good luck, I'm sure you'll find the answer!

3 good eggs said...

The dreaded refux still haunts our house. One of my boys still has it but not as bad as when he was first home. It seems to happen more when I push him into eating more than he wants. But sometimes it is just random. Yo Baby apple yogart is the worst after being refuxed so I stopped giving that to him. The other two rarely have any problems and seemed to have grown out of it. I hope one day Spencer outgrows it to!

Little Miss Hallie looks great. Keep up the great work Moms!!