Home › Forums › Infant Reflux Support › HELP!!! › Not Feeding
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November 30, 2007 at 11:28 am #45939
Anonymous
InactiveMy five month old son just doesn’t want to feed anymore during the day. His weight gain is slow and is in the 10th percentile. His feeding has never been great but over the last week has gotten worse. He’ll feed fine overnight 2x (last night it was 3x) but during the day, nothing…perhaps 2-3 mins on the breast and that’s it. He was put on Prevacid and today is day 10. He has been worse on prevacid with respect to the eating and really, if he’s not eating this drug doesn’t have much effect. We have been moving back and forth from trying the breast to trying the bottle. Do you think this could be causing confusion. Should we try to just bottle feed for 24-48hrs to see if his feeding improves? My wife doesn’t want to stop breastfeeding for the benefits of reflux but if he won’t eat, can moving to bottles with either EBM or forumla be bad??
Our pediatriction but him on domperidone yesterday to help with possible DGE (not sure if he has this but he never seems hungry). I am really worried that this is going to get worse to the point where he won’t even take enough to stay hydrated (not an issue right now). His development has been fine and is meeting all milestones (if not ahead) but we know that he can’t be getting enough.We were on solids for a two week period which went ok but his bm’s went from once every one or two days to once every three days and he seemed really uncomfortable because of it. We didn’t see any reactions however. We have been off cereal for the last two weeks.We are really at a loss and just want things to improve at least a little.Thanks for listening.AdamNovember 30, 2007 at 2:51 pm #45948InactiveHi Adam. I guess you guys are in Canada if your ped is prescribing domperidone. Whereabouts are you?
I hate to say this, but your situation sounds a lot like Hailey. She stopped feeding during the day, and the only way I could get her to feed at all was by feeding her when asleep, and even then it was iffy. It was also a very bad pattern. It sounds like your son may have developed a feeding aversion. I don’t really know what to tell you about where to go with the feeding- you can try the bottle, but as I said for us, it made no difference. But that was just my child, your son may be different. You need to do whatever you think is right, and if that’s the route that you want to go then it’s not “bad”. Feeding a baby with a feeding aversion is hard work.
My daughter also got prescribed domperidone, and it did nothing for her. The reason she wasn’t eating was because she learned that eating hurt. What I would probably suggest is to call your local community care access centre and ask for a referral for a feeding evaluation. Tell them the problem that you’re having and they’ll probably send you a feeding therapist to your home to see if there’s anything that can be done. Also, you can try giving mylanta before feeding and see if that helps. I can’t remember if your wife has tried the elimination diet or not, but that might be another route to go. You can also have an swallowing study done to make sure that he is feeding correctly. When we reached the point that the feeding was going that badly that’s the route we went. We also asked to have an endoscopy done. Goodl uck.
November 30, 2007 at 3:06 pm #45950InactiveHi Lori
Did you have all the things mentioned done? Feeding evaluation, swallowing study, endoscopy? What were your results?November 30, 2007 at 3:37 pm #45953InactiveIncidently I am in Whitby. Is it safe to give mylanta to babies? How much can you give?
November 30, 2007 at 4:48 pm #45954hellbennt
Keymastermylanta cherry supreme is safe- it doesn’t contain aluminum-
it’s the adult kindyou can’t overdose- you know you’ve given too much if the stools become looseso you can give up to 1/2 a teaspoon spread out over the course of a daymaybe even up to a teaspoon- you’ll have to see?also: carafate?maybe this will help?it’s not a long-term solution-it’s meant to be used for short-term help; it’s like a super duper mylanta- like a teflon coating for the stomach/esophogas (it’s not actually teflon!)also how about trying to breastfeed in the bathtub? seriously sounds ‘funny’ but the relaxing warm water- maybe dim the lights, etc…or just trying to breastfeed in the dark & quiet w/o distractions?easy for me to say as I’ve never dealt w/ a feeding aversion!there’s a breast feeding support group at yahoo that might help as well :http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/breastfeedingreflux/and The La Leche League Breastfeeding Helpline – US began on June 1, 2007. Everyone in the U.S.A. will have access to toll free breastfeeding help 24 hours a day. Just call 1-877-4-LALECHE (1-877-452-5324).and great resources for moms breastfeeding allergy babies on the LLLI website:
http://forums.llli.org/forumdisplay.php?f=37November 30, 2007 at 5:01 pm #45956InactiveIt’s safe to give to babies, but you can’t get it in Canada b/c it’s the cherry supreme. (Sorry, I forgot)… They have other antacids here but I don’t know which one people have used, maalox maybe, but I can’t remember for use.
The summary of our story is that Hailey was always screaming and hard to feed. They told me it was colic and BF problems like OAL. I stuck it out with the feedings getting progressively worse- her pulling off, coming back on frantically, screaming, arching, kicking, milk coming out of her nose. Finally, out of desperation I tried pumping and bottle feeding, but that was only worse for her- the milk was thin and it came out of the nipple too fast causing a lot of choking. At 2 months old, she just stopped feeding. I couldn’t get her to feed. She never showed hunger cues and screamed at the sight of the breast/bottle. We went to our ped and he prescribed zantac, then compounded losec (prevacid wasn’t available at that time in Canada). She got worse and we went to a ped GI. She added domperidone and told me that Hailey had a very severe feeding aversion. I couldn’t get her to eat, only a few ounces from a bottle when she was asleep. She wouldn’t eat awake altogether. Things went on like that until she was 4 months old with her refusing to eat, me not being able to leave the house b/c I was always trying to feed her. We’d see the GI every month and they’d up her meds with no change. At 4 months our ped GI felt that Hailey needed a feeding tube and I refused to do this unless she had testing done. So we were transferred to Sick Kids but there was a 6 to 8 month wait to see our GI. In the meantime I was still trying to sleep feed Hailey. We had a feeding evaluation done at Sick Kids by an OT there. They felt that she didn’t need the modified barium swallow done b/c they felt she wasn’t aspirating. We did have an upper GI which was pretty useless, just to rule out any structural abnormalities. At the recommendation of our ped we saw an infant psychiatrist about the feeding problems, which was an absolute waste of time: he blamed the feeding problems on us force feeding her, which we never did. We waited to see the GI, and finally saw him when Hailey was 10 months old. He told me to keep doing what we were doing, which was depressing, but did book us in for an endoscopy, which we had to wait 5 months for. In the meantime I saw several other doctors and specialists who didn’t have too much else to offer. What helped me the most was a self-referral I made to our local CCAC. You can do this too- CCAC is the home care program. I called them and told them that I was having a lot of trouble feeding Hailey and that she had reflux and a feeding aversion, but that she didn’t qualify for the feeding program at sick kids b/c she didn’t have a feeding tube. Within a week we had a feeding therapist (SLP) coming to our home to work on the feeding with us, we also had a pediatric dietician, an OT and a physio to deal with the sensory issues she had and the physical delays. She was 8 months old when all this started. Our SLP was amazing and she really helped us to move forward. At the same time prevacid came to Canada and I started giving Hailey a 30mg dose in CaraCream. I think when her pain started to be better controlled, things really started to improve, though it was a slow road. Prevacid in caracream has been her saviour, though she didn’t like to take it, it worked well for her. Feeding therapy was a long process starting at 8 months, going on to 15 months. From then, things have improved a lot and she does eat, if that offers you any hope. I hope that you find an answer for you soon. Good luck.November 30, 2007 at 7:10 pm #45959InactiveI bought my Mylanta Cherry Supreme online and had it shipped to me in Canada. medichest dot com
Came by UPS in about 4 days.
November 30, 2007 at 8:23 pm #45964InactiveWOW Lori..you are a true survivor for making it through off of that. I am glad to see you are on a better road now. I did call the CCAC in our end and was told that since Cole wasn’t on a feeding tube, they won’t send someone. I explained the situation but they simply refferred me to public health. Maybe I should try again.
How often are you ordering CaraCream and in how many kits? They told me it was 6, 12, etc but I have no idea what that means.Thanks for sharing your story.AdamDecember 1, 2007 at 3:24 pm #45990InactiveHey Adam.. sorry to hear that your ds is refusing feeds. We did go through this for a bit ourselves and ended up doing sleep feeds for awhile, but I still tried to feed him awake whenever I could. I would shake toys to distract him, sing songs, whatever I could to keep him on the breast. Sometimes, holding him straight up and standing and walking around the house would work… KILLED my back, but, hey, whatever you can do, right?
Also, I would guess that the switching to bottle and breast and back and forth MAY? be causing some confusion. As many moms have found that going to bottle didn’t really help in the end, I think (again, just my opinion) I would try to stick with the breast. Laura listed some great ideas too. I did the nursing in the bath thing and even put him in his bouncy and hung my breast over him. It was quite a sight, but it worked!I’ll be praying for him and for you all. Hang in there!!!December 2, 2007 at 7:58 am #46016InactivePublic health is for breastfeeding help. I assume it’s all in how you frame it. Call back the CCAC and tell them (even if it’s not entirely true):
“My son has reflux and a feeding aversion. He won’t breastfeed or bottle feed. He won’t drink from a cup and he won’t eat solids. He is borderline FTT. We can barely get enough in him in a day to prevent dehydration and he’s going to need a feeding tube if we can’t get help to feed him. We need a feeding therapist to come to our home as soon as possible. Public health does not deal with babies with feeding aversions. Our doctor will write a referral if needed. If they say no, say you’d like to speak with someome higher up.”I really feel for you. Another way to go, and this is what I did initially, was to start cold calling. I’m an OT and I called “OSOT” and asked for a list of all OTs who do feeding therapy in my area. Then I called them all, and they each referred me to another person, and eventually I had about 20 people who I was talking to. Let me know if you need more help on this, but I’d try the first method first. Good luck.December 2, 2007 at 8:28 am #46017InactiveThanks for the advice. I will try it.
Any advice on how to order CaraCream and how many “kits”? I am not sure of how much or how many.ThanksDecember 2, 2007 at 9:29 am #46018Keymastertalk to marci-kids or better yet, dr philips himself as to the caracream and, well, everything else…
hellbennt2007-12-02 09:30:05
December 2, 2007 at 9:30 am #46019InactiveAbout the CaraCream- You can order as many kits as you want. They’re probably trying to tell you this to get you to order more. Ever since Joel, the person we used to deal with who was the most upstanding guy you’ll meet left, they’ve been a little more pushy, I’ve found.
Each kit is $13.50 USD a kit, so a bit less now with our dollar doing so well(I probably shouldn’t have mass ordered b/c I paid higher per kit). They say that there’s a new shipping fee that there didn’t used to be, I think it’s 10 dollars or something like that. I would call them and ask them to send you a sample. I don’t know the name of the person who’s in the office now. I know that they didn’t have anyone for a few months. Joel used to send free samples and this is what we did initially. They sent us 2 kits I believe. Once I was able to get her to take it and saw that it helped her, I mass ordered enough to last us 6 months, and then a year, and then another 6 months. Each kit lasts about 10-14 days depending on the child’s dose. Also, Joel would put a low value on the package for us, and when it was a sample, he’d say that it had no value, so that I didn’t have to pay duty at the border. I have to remind them to do this now, otherwise I get stuck with brokerage fees of about 50 dollars.s&h’s mum2007-12-02 09:32:34
December 18, 2007 at 11:44 am #46476InactiveWell I thought I would provide an update since it has been a while. I thought we had turned a corner. After having tried the Prevacid for 10 days (with no Zantac) and things getting worse, we went back to the Zantac. We also went to a breastfeeding doctor – Dr. Newman. This was about two weeks ago. Dr. Newman noticed that Cole had a tongue tie so they cut it. This was also now at day five of being back on the zantac. Well the next day, the feeding improved dramatically..it was like he was now a breastfeeding pro. He would stay on for 10-20 minutes. This stayed pretty constant till about last Friday. We went to our pediatriction appointment and Cole had gained about 16 ounces in two weeks – amazing. Well, it was too good to be true. Our peditriction did adjust the Zantac to 1.8 2x a day (from 1.6). Although he had gained weight, he had stopped sleeping well at night – waking every hour. My wife thought he might have had an ear infection so took him to a walk in clinic three days prior to our pedi appointment. The walk in doc thought that an infection was starting and put him on amoxicllian. However, at the pedi appointment she saw it was clear and told us to stop using it. Well, ever since Friday, the feeding has gone downhill again. He was back to the old pattern of only staying on the breast a short time and then pulling off crying. He just won’t feed during the day – breast or bottle. His intake is now on the decline again. He seems to be taking oatmeal and some solids well but not interested in breast or bottle. I wonder if he as plateaued on the Zantac even though his dosage had increased to account for the weight?? We are starting to feel so helpless and worried again about his lack of eating..especially since he seems hungry. How could it all get bad again so quickly?? I am running out of answers.
Thanks for listening.AdamDecember 18, 2007 at 5:14 pm #46495InactiveReflux really has ups and downs… hence the name the reflux rollercoaster. We would usually have a couple of okay weeks followed by a period that was bad again. Often the meds needed to be adjusted at that time. We’ve also seen Dr. Newman, and he’s great. But really, if it’s the reflux, then Dr. Newman can only help so much. I’d guess that he needs a higher dose or a different med. Also, if your wife hasn’t tried it already, you might want to consider the elimination diet. I never did it personally, but others have if you need more info. Sorry you’re having a rough time again. Hope things improve soon.
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