Warren's feeding woes

I decided to make a post about all of Warren's feeding issues. For the most part I try to keep the blog upbeat and happy but his feeding issues are a huge part of our daily life so I think I need to talk about it. I am trying to remember back to when it all started. He came home in July and ate awake every 3 hours, we eventually upped his feeds to 2 ounces every 3 hours and that is when the vomiting began. It typically was about one feed per day and overall he seemed to be fine with it. We mentioned it to his pediatrician and at the time we had Dr. B and she dismissed it, stating that all kids spit up. As time passed his vomiting became more projectile and more often. It typically was at least 2 feeds every day. After a very rough Friday evening, Bob and I decided to get into the pediatrician first thing Saturday morning because we were fearing that he was going to become dehydrated. We saw Dr. S and that is when he ordered an upper GI. He was looking for pyloric stenosis, a narrowing of the pylorus, the lower part of the stomach through which food and other stomach contents pass to enter the small intestine. Thankfully the upper GI came back completely normal but also didn't show any signs of reflux, so again his vomiting was dismissed. Even though the radiologist said that based on what we were describing it definitely sounded like reflux.

Then we went in for his 4 month check up at the end of September and he gained about 1.5 lbs in one month and his pediatrician wanted 2 lbs per month. We then went to the neonatologist who recommended adding a teaspoon of formula to every 3 ounces of breast milk to increase the calories. Looking back on it that seems to be when the refusal began. He was still throwing up, he hated the taste/texture of the formula addition and started refusing his bottles while being awake. It wasn't until the end of October that I finally got some reflux meds, Zantac. I thought that our problems would be solved...boy was I wrong. It took us some time to figure out that he would eat sleeping so that is what we resorted too. He still wasn't eating nearly enough but at least he was getting something. Then it was time for his 6 month check up at the end of November. Still having issues still refusing to eat awake. His pediatrician upped his Zantac and referred us to a pediatric GI. Fast forward to December we see the GI and now he is on Prevacid as well. We had to give prevacid a good 2 week trial to see if it would make any differences. After the two weeks, he still occasionally vomited, he still refused to eat awake and still wasn't eating enough and only gained 9 ounces in 1 month (about 1/2 pound) he should be gaining 1-2 pounds per month. I should also mention that I cut out all dairy from my diet to see if he has a possible food allergy. The only changes that we noticed were that he had less stinky gas and had more bowel movements, but still refused to eat awake and still showed signs of reflux.

Now his GI has us trying an elimination diet, with an elemental formula. An amino acid-based formula, also known as an elemental formula, is a type of hypoallergenic infant formula made from individual amino acids. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein and together they form the protein requirements in formula needed for growth and development. The amino acids are in the simplest form, making it easy for the body to process and digest.  We started that about 6 days ago and I think that we are slowly seeing some progress.  He is slowly increasing how much he eats per day but is still refusing to eat awake.  In October he was eating about 16 ounces per day and now we have him about 20-22 ounces per day.  Still not enough but we'll take what we can get.  I am currently waiting to get him in for a feeding evaluation.

That is where we stand today, I hope that soon enough I will be able to come back and say that Warren's feeding woes are over.  That he eats while awake and has gained a bunch of weight.  I am staying positive and I know that it will happen.  Things are bound to get better...right?  Thanks for reading such a long post but it has been quite the journey so far with his feeding issues.

I still have to add a picture.  Even though he doesn't like to eat he is still very happy!