Feeding Schedule

[Anonymous]

Thanks Sharon. Hailey hates when I make her homemade purees. But now she won’t even go near it when she sees the spoon coming. As for the sleep deprivation, I think you just get used to it. I’ve gotten up with hailey at least several times a night for the past year. And she doesn’t nap either. She’ll rest on me, but not in the crib or bed. I think your body just adjusts, as awful as it is.

[Anonymous]

Thais and Lori – When my oldest was a toddler, he had major sleeping issues. The child psychologist and naturopathic doc recommended that we try Melatonin for him. I think we gave him 1/4 tablet or something like that. We used it for a short time, and eventually he did start taking naps again and had more restful sleep at night. I’m not sure if the melatonin did it, or the fact that he was outgrowing his sleeping issues. Anyway, I’m not sure what youngest age its appropriate for, but I thought I would mention it.

[Anonymous]

We dont really get around to snack time but Tyler has 3 meals and 4 bottles a day. He has about 14oz of solids and 24oz of formula, but it goes up and down on a daily basis. My daughter used to have her milk and solids together, but Tyler is just not hungry enough to do that so we usually have an hour between milk and food. He still cant drink out of a cup, he takes a mouthful and lets it dribble out down the front of him, so we will be having bottles for a while I think.

[Anonymous]

Sharon

Fortunately, i think i spent the worse months in Spain with my mom… so i did take one nap at day with Matthew and that saved me. I just could not sleep while he was on continous feeds at night.

Here, there is a friend staying with me for a couple of weeks, so she has been taking Matthew out on a walk and i have had time to take long showers, watch a show and rest… but she is leaving soon. We are trying to get some help during the day but the people we have seen have not worked out.

Thanks for asking… i think i have been sleep deprived for so long that i am used to it by now….!

[Anonymous]

Lisa and those of you with babies with feeding issues:

I HIGHLY recommend those of you with babies/kids with feeding issues to see a speech pathologist. Speech pathologists are highly trained in oral motor and feeding difficulties. Sometimes you can find an OT as well, but usually a speech pathologist is more trained.

Kristen Pearce(speech therapist)

[Anonymous]

Thais – I hope you can find the help soon. Brian’s social worker told me about a state program called “EAD Waver”, if you qualify for the program, state will send you a licence nurse to your home 1-2 per week to help out, maybe you can check it out.

Lori – Will Hailey allow you to feed her in front of the TV?

[Anonymous]

Nope. She won’t let you feed her. Thr TV doesn’t distract her enough. We do 2 meals a day in front of the TV (feeding therapy).

[Anonymous]

So, we are back from St Josephs…. took us 40min to get there but 2 hours to get back so it was tough on Matthew, who only slept 30min on the way back. Dave was with me, so i could entertain matthew but i am going to have to do all this on my own with a crying baby on the back seat…. but here it goes:

We were seen by the nurse practitioner, the speech pathologist and the occupational therapist, at different times and also while Matthew was feeding (he did horrible, by the way, so they got the picture!).

First on the speech pathologist – matthew has age appropriate skills… she saw nothing to be concerned about, he knows what food is, what to do with it, how to move it and swallows just fine. Only recommendation, and she said only if we can, is we need to try and make sure the spoon goes it straight and pushes down the tongue, but with a baby who does not want to eat, she said not to worry. So we have nothing to do on that front.

The nurse and the OT both thought that Matthew is still in some kind of pain. We had done a food diary and a poop diary and they thought that Matthew is getting too red faced adn pushing too hard to get really soft poops out (he tried to go in front of them and they were surprised at how much he had to push). Also, they said that it is true that some babies will not crawl, but when a baby who is not feeding well does not want to crawl or sit on his knees or is comfortable on his stomach or back, then they think from experience that there is an issue with the digestive system/reflux. They tried different positions and he would scream his head off… his walking is amazing but only because they think it is the most comfortable position for him. Also, he always limist his solids at 2ounces (he has done 3 a couple of times only) and they think that is also a sign of something…. finally, they said that if he used to take things like yogurt and fish and fruit and he is no longer taking it, then that is usually also a sign for them that something is off in their stomach. It seems to mean that they were eating fine and then something hurt and they start associating foods with pain again and they end up taking only a couple of foods and they see that a lot. Oh yes, and that Duocal can really hurt their stomachs and slow down digestion… so we will have to talk about that some other time.

Recommendations:

– so, we are to give Prevacid 22.5mg in the morning. They said that the only way to know that their stomach is really empty is then and they want to try it at 6.30am

– we are to give 1/2 tps of mylanta once a day to help him poop. We need to get him to poop with no effort and this is the first step towards it

– we have to limit his feedings to 200ml per feeding.. before we were also doing 1 or 2 ounces of solids… if he eats solids then decrease the amount of liquid into him

– forget about table foods… we will concentrate on him taking even one puree and formula for now. The OT said it is fine and she thinks we are perfectly fine with puree (home made, since usually it is gentler on their stomachs)

– continue with the same feeding plan

– we will discuss the Duocal at a different appointment. They change one thing at a time

– get OT once a week… we can either go there or go through EI but because we are moving in a few weeks and if we go there, they said they will also chat with me everytime about feedings, we are going to go all the way there (SIGH). They will do exercises etc and they will make him crawl… again, although not a milestone they think that babies who do not eat well and are in painn don’t crawl and that in turn makes them have weaker upper bodies adn then that can make it more difficutl for them to get over their digestive issues

– call them in a week; we have an appointment in 3 weeks and will take it from there

I asked about day programs. They said that they will let us know if they think Matthew needs it. She said some parents cannot take it anymore and ask for ti and they get in but sometimes it is tough… ie Matthew would have to be alone with a feeding therapist from 9am to 4pm every week day and so it is really not the best thing for a baby that young and so it is better to do everything as outpatient.

So, not a lot to change right now…. but they like to change one thing at a time to understand how it affects them. I think they will take good care of matthew, so i am really happy….

OH and Matthew is still at the 80% for height (don’t know how tall that is) and above 25% for weight… he was 19lbs and 10 ounces WHOA! So cutting some of his calories should not hurt him much and he is growing well

[Anonymous]

Oh yes… i forgot. She saw another 2 teeth almost out, and 2 or 3 that should come out in 2 to 3 weeks max… so he has to be in pain! And he opened his mouth and i saw the tip of one of them!! It seems they are all coming at once. No wonder the little one is not sleeping at all

[Anonymous]

Thais,

May I ask you a question about all of this? I’ve been worried for quite some time about Myles because he also strains considerably to pass very soft stools. He is not constipated, his stools are not hard, and he goes almost every day, but he really works at it. Does that sound like Matthew?

Also, I am convinced Myles has some kind of problem with his degestion; DGE or something. He also only eats tiny portions. He’s usually full on three ounces of fluid or solids. Did they give you any idea of what limiting his solids and the straining when pooping was a sign of? I keep saying I think he has some kind of motility disorder, but I really don’t know of any, or if there is such a thing.

Thanks, and I’m glad you found some good people to help with Matthew.

[Anonymous]

Sharon – i just saw your post… we could go through the state program but we are lucky enough that the feeding clinic at St Joe’s is in network for us… so we have decided to go with them. Because the head doctor is in network, she can refer us to all the OT, OC, SLP etc that we need… so we are so lucky.

Christine, yes sounds like Matthew. He strains to pass really soft stools adn eats very liltte but will eat. They want him to have 2 stools a day adn no straining, which is why we are starting with mylanta and if that does not work we will go to something else. She said that when babies start to not eat and fall off the curve or lose weight, it is one of the first things they look at.

They did not say what could cause it – just discomfort. Some babies just cannot hold large volumes all of the time, even if they do sometimes. They did not mention motility but they talked about pressure on his lower abs that would cause discomfort and aggravate reflux. She said that just because prevacid is not working and there is no erosion it does not mean that it is not bothering the child to have the (now not so) acid come up and move around teh stomach.

I never thought that Matthew could still be in pain. He is such a happy guy… but hey, i am willing ot go by their advice. They were wonderful and there were kids in the day program there with the feeding therapists and they looked so happy (or crying when doing the OT!)

[Anonymous]

Thanks Thais,

So, do they expect him to outgrow this? If he needs help now (like Mylanta) to poop without straining, do they expect that he will eventually outgrow it?

Do they think the OT will eventually help with his feeding issues? (It’s hard for me to understand the connection).

I hope Matthew improves greatly with their help. Thanks for answering my questions.

[Anonymous]

I have not asked those questions yet… i think that they want to see if they can get him comfortable enough that he will eat again or there is an improvement to his feedings. Remember, this is in connection with him loving yogurt and then hating it and same with other foods so it all indicates that something is bothering him and he is still creating food aversions…

the Occupational therapist – they say that the back of teh tongue is connected to the muscles used for crawling and that the obliques?? or something like that help digestion and that he needs really strong muscles to support his belly and babies develop those by crawling. If a baby that eats is not crawling they don’t care i do not think but if he is not eating they try to make him comfortable + strengthen anything connected to his digestive system. I hope this makes sense.

We know that this is going to be a LONG journey, but at least there is someone telling me what i have to do, how to give meds, how much to feed, the type of food etc! And eventually, they will start feeding him and getting him to accept textures etc…

[Anonymous]

Oh…that does make sense. I hope it all works for your little charmer!

[Anonymous]

Lisaanne, regarding not being able to get Noah to drink his bottle.

Elijah does not have a feeding adversion that I know of but his mom
told me that last week she and Elijah’s dad both tried to get him to
take his bottle but he refused.

She finally put him in his bouncy seat in the crib with the bottle next to him and he picked it up and drank it all himself.

He uses small bottles because they are easier for him to hold and he
can only take 4-6 ounces at a feeding so as to not fill his belly up
too much thereby increasing intra-abdominal pressure ( the pressure of
the stomach increasing and then causing avid to reflux more.

He is 8 months old weighs 21 lbs and has put on weight consistantly.

Mom started to feed him solids but has stopped because he doesn’t like
some of them. I have told her to try what he doesn’t like another day
but she hasn’t.

I hope it is not my fault, when she was anxious about he “spitting”
pureed food out, I told her not to worry, that formula provides enough
nutrition for him, but they start babies on food so that they can get
use to the texture and taste and learn how to swallow solids.

I just wanted to ease her fears, not stop her from trying to feed him any solids (except rice cereal in the formula)

He hates the pureed meat so I told her to hide it under apple sauce or a sweet vegetable.

I bought Elijah a 2 ounce baby bottle that he can pick up with one
hand and mom gives it to him with water in it when he is in his
walker so he can grab a sip whenever he wants to.

[Author]

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