I'm so exhausted I can't even think.
I'll try to make this all make sense.
Our pediatrician called back and her thoughts were as follows:
-doesn't think it's the reflux
-does think it's behaviorial- an oral aversion to the bottle
-suggested trying to start him on solids now. Make a thick paste
-suggested trying a sippy cup
-brought up putting a G tube back in
-promised we'll get through it.
She's always very positive, but I was still crying on the phone. He didn't take more than an ounce at any given time during the day. And that ounce was a fight.
I ended up getting him to gum at a Playtex Drop In bottle and pressed on the bag to squirt extra milk in his mouth.
There were a lot of tears today- both his and mine.
The OT called back this evening. Her thoughts were as follows:
-thinks solids is a bad idea
-he's obviously regressed but doesn't know why
-if we insist on trying the solids, thinks it should be runny
-thinks he'll hate the spoon
Tonight I went out and spent a small fortunate at Babies R Us buying every bottle I could find. I also got some rice cereal and some sippy cups.
I started the rice cereal very runny. He didn't seem to hate the spoon. Even swallowed a little. And smiled some. That was amazing since I'd been fighting for smiles all day.
He was still pretty fussy from hunger, so I thickened the cereal a bit and tried again. He did NOT appreciate that. He suddenly got hysterical.
I quickly made a bottle with a new bottle. I went with the Evenflow Comfi. The trouble was that they only had level 1 and level 3 nipples. He uses a level 2 Dr. Brown's when he'll eat.
So I tried the level 1. At first, he gummed.. and then he latched! And fell asleep almost immediately. He finally managed to very, very, very slowly suck down about 2 oz. I tried the level 3 nipple but it just ran out of his mouth. It's like a faucet.
It's hard to tell how much cereal he got because I started with an ounce of breastmilk and added cereal. Then more cereal, then a little more breastmilk, but I'd say he ate at least a half ounce of it. That's more volume than he'd had all day, so I was relieved.
He's still passed out cold in his swing.
The question now is if he ate from this bottle because he like the bottle or because he was falling asleep. He always eats better in his sleep. No fighting.
Time will tell.
Tomorrow I will call around and see if I can find some level 2 nipples and send David on the hunt. In the mean time, I'll pray he eats well through the night.
We have OT tomorrow. We'll see what she has to say.
Did I mention I'm tired?
--Trish
Monday, December 15, 2008
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9 comments:
Trish:
I'm so sorry you're going through all this.
I have a very strong sense you are dealing with behavioral stuff here. Everything you have said fits. Aidan didn't have feeding issues when he first came home either. They developed.
Btw, it is very very common for preemies to "dreamfeed". This is a term used in the preemie community that means that when your preemie is half asleep they will eat more. Some moms even resort to waking them up a little bit in the middle of the night and dreamfeeding them to get more calories in.
If you haven't done so, I would recommend joining the Micropreemie moms group I belong to. There are a LOT of moms on there who have been through what you are going through and can offer lots of good advice.
The url to join is:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PreemieBlogMoms/
Your baby must have been less than 2lbs at the time of birth. And Robbie definitely qualifies.
You will have to apply to join, and Liz should approve you rather quickly.
Hope to see you over there!
Lori
What a fight. I hope he ends up liking this new bottle. Good luck with your feedings tonight. Hope you can come up with a workable plan to get him to eat. Come on, Robbie! No more surgery.
Hugs, Trish. Hope the new bottle does the trick...
Trish, we started solids very early too because bottle feeding was such a nightmare. At least that way I knew he was getting something.
We also did a lot of feeding when Connor was nearing the end a nap. He would start stirring to wake up and I would shove a bottle in his mouth before he was really awake and his reflexes would just kind of take over and he would usually get a few ounces in...which meant when he finally woke up he wasn't starving and didn't really know that he drank from a bottle. Then after a bit I would do rice cereal to get a little extra food in him. I'm sorry this is so frustrating and exhausting for you. I remember those days and although they will pass eventually, in the moment it is so hard to see a light at the end of the tunnel.
I'm so nervous because on Sunday I'm being induced with our second child and just don't feel like I can go through all that again. I so desperately want a baby that can eat.
Trish, you are in my thoughts! i do hope it gets way less frustrating. if it would help any, i could send you new lvl 2 nipples of whatever you want
Trish - I'm so sorry about all of this. Hopefully between the OT and the dr., this can get figured out.
I'm off on Friday so if you need me to run any errands for you to get new bottles or anything, don't hesitate to email me. It's a quick drive from the city.
Could it be that he likes the Level 1 nipple? I have been known to sterilize a needle and then just widen the hole a little if I just want it a little bigger.
Good luck!
P.S. I do find it encouraging that he likes something in his mouth (his hands)... it is something to work with.
I can't even imagine how tired you are. Are the new bottles still helping?
Trish-Your a Awesome mommy...Ask Robbie's DR and OT therapist to look at his tongue and see if his ferenum(the thing under his tongue) is causing a condition called "TONGUE TIED"...which is very easy to correct! My son was "Tongue Tied", and it caused speech issues...but our dentist caught it! I hope this will help. My thoughts and prayers are with you.....GOOD LUCK to the World's best Mommy and little boy Robbie!
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