InfantReflux.Org Forums: Baby won't drink

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   My son has never been a good eater from birth. At 6 months he completely stopped eating. Took to a childrens hospital ER. Saw a pediatric GI. Did no tests told me my son had severe acid reflux and milk/soy protein allergies. Put us on half a pill of 15mg solutab in am and neocate formula with one tap per ounce kneed nut rice cereal. Worked hard with him for weeks and finally started to drink again. Were holding our own for a few months started to intro stage one green beans...peas....prunes. would only eat for one meal sometimes only one bite. But we did it. Then worked on getting him to a feeding clinc when he hit 9 months for help with textures. Got appointment when he was 11 months. No help. Dietician told me to start supplementing with pediasure. I said that it was milked based and he could not have that. SLP was super young and literally only put a stethescope to his neck aswe fed him some baby food to make sure no aspiration. OT told me to challenge him with new textures a few times a day such as crackers and pizza crust. Again against his allergies. So I did no follow up with them and thought we could do things slow on our own. Introduced watered down juice a 12 months and he liked it. Then tried. A food with purred chicken in it seemed ok. Then added in crackers that I found that were hypoalergenic. Well we stoppped drinking again. Won't take neo ate anyway screams at bottle. Desperately tried getting GI doctor help....no help. So tried to switch liquid to a prduct called rice dream. No soy. No milk. And no gluten. Getting more fluids in him but he is getting crankier. More symptomatic. Called doctor again.....no help. Please anyone please give me some ideas. Already at point of making second opinion appointment at CHOP a cbildrens hospital in Philadelphia PA. Should get in in two weeks. Any ideas would be welcomed.

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Maximus'Mom Newbie Joined: 30 September 2010 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 3	Topic: Baby won't drink Posted: 01 October 2010 at 9:42pm
	My son has never been a good eater from birth. At 6 months he completely stopped eating. Took to a childrens hospital ER. Saw a pediatric GI. Did no tests told me my son had severe acid reflux and milk/soy protein allergies. Put us on half a pill of 15mg solutab in am and neocate formula with one tap per ounce kneed nut rice cereal. Worked hard with him for weeks and finally started to drink again. Were holding our own for a few months started to intro stage one green beans...peas....prunes. would only eat for one meal sometimes only one bite. But we did it. Then worked on getting him to a feeding clinc when he hit 9 months for help with textures. Got appointment when he was 11 months. No help. Dietician told me to start supplementing with pediasure. I said that it was milked based and he could not have that. SLP was super young and literally only put a stethescope to his neck aswe fed him some baby food to make sure no aspiration. OT told me to challenge him with new textures a few times a day such as crackers and pizza crust. Again against his allergies. So I did no follow up with them and thought we could do things slow on our own. Introduced watered down juice a 12 months and he liked it. Then tried. A food with purred chicken in it seemed ok. Then added in crackers that I found that were hypoalergenic. Well we stoppped drinking again. Won't take neo ate anyway screams at bottle. Desperately tried getting GI doctor help....no help. So tried to switch liquid to a prduct called rice dream. No soy. No milk. And no gluten. Getting more fluids in him but he is getting crankier. More symptomatic. Called doctor again.....no help. Please anyone please give me some ideas. Already at point of making second opinion appointment at CHOP a cbildrens hospital in Philadelphia PA. Should get in in two weeks. Any ideas would be welcomed.
	Heather

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s&h's mum Senior Member Joined: 30 October 2005 Location: Canada Online Status: Offline Posts: 5798	Posted: 02 October 2010 at 4:06pm
	Hi Heather. So sorry to hear what you're going through. My dd had a feeding aversion, and there were basically ups and downs until 2-3 years of age. My first question is whetehr or not he still takes prevacid? If so, if he's still on the 15mg, then my guess would be that he's outgrown his dose and needs more. At one point we were at 30-42mg of prevacid in caracream (which is like the old version of buffer babies). I'd check out www.marci-kids.com try this link for more details. The other thing is that make sure that you're giving the solutab correctly- on an empty stomach and followed up with a meal 30-60 minutes later. This form can be hard to give with a feeding aversion. I really think that you need to see a new GI to get another opinion, and try a new feeding clinic. Once the feeding aversion is this deep rooted, like it was for my dd as well, you need to get testing like an endoscopy to make sure that there's no damage, and then get them on a good dose of PPI so the esophagus can heal. They really need to feel better before the feeding therapy will work, and it's more of a long-term solution, there's no quick fix. we were in feeding therapy from aroun 8-16 months, starting more frequently, then going down to once weekly until discharge. We ended with a very fussy eater who was difficult to get to eat, but who had things that she would eat and drink in small amounts. She still hated her bottle at that point and screamed when she saw it. It's so hard. I really believe that these kids need to be well medicated so that they can feel better, then have good feeding therapy to create positive feeding experiences, and eventually they will turn around. We were always struggling on the edge of a feeding tube, but managed to get enough liquids in on a daily basis (not lots but enough) to avoid that. HUGS. I still feel the desperation at how hard it was and how alone I felt every time someone told me that she's eat if she's hungry and compared their normal fussy eater to my food hater! I'd also check out www.parent-2-parent.com/forums and look at the feeding aversion forum. Edited by hellbennt - 06 November 2012 at 1:35pm
	LORI, mom to: Sarah-09/03-My sweet princess. Hailey-05/05- My funny little girl. 4 years old, but still my baby. Past feeding aversion. Now typical eater, off prevacid for 1.5 years!
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Rachel_Neocate Newbie Joined: 21 January 2010 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 132	Posted: 04 October 2010 at 9:44pm
	Lori gave some great advice. I agree, you might want to get a new GI doctor or feeding therapist if you can. You might also want to read these tips from feeding specialist Angela Haas on feeding difficulties, you may find them helpful. http://bit.ly/9YViMq. Hang in there and keep us posted on your progress
	Rachel Mom to 3 boys! Augustboy02 - Sensational Sensory Kid Decemberboy04 - former reflux baby Augustboy10 - MSPI baby
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Maximus'Mom Newbie Joined: 30 September 2010 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 3	Posted: 05 October 2010 at 10:11am
	We are drinking better. Having an upper GI, finally, to see if his GI system is functioning properly. Then go from there. I also increased his prevacid dose....he seems more comfortable. I am also getting a second opinion at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia. Should be in next two weeks. But, for now so glad I have been doing research on my own and getting advice from many Mom's going through the same thing. Because as far as I can tell, I honestly think he's doing better from the changes I made on my own with no help from GI specialist.
	Heather
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hellbennt Admin Group Joined: 28 August 2003 Location: United States Online Status: Online Posts: 13402	Posted: 05 October 2010 at 5:30pm
	please post in the 'Looking for ped GI' the doctor you did NOT like, so that you may help others when they are looking! Looking for a ped GI: http://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=660 (everyone else, please post ped GIs, if you haven't already: the Good, Bad and the Mediocre, lol!)
	~laura~ Jonah 7/03:GERDfree@12mos! Silent Reflux@birth(apnea episodes/NICU);Past Sandifer Symptoms, breastfed->15mos Ari 7/06 REFLUX FREE, so miracles do happen!
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