3rd Month of RSV season down!

 3 months down!  Hopefully only 3 months or less more to go!  Once it gets warm out my plan will be to take Warren outside for walks.  We still wont be able to go to the mall but going outside will be good for me and him.

Let's see what has happened this month.  This whole month has been spent on trying to figure out his feeding issues.  In the beginning of January we did a 2 week trial with a hypo allergenic formula, called Neocate.  After the 2 weeks were up we didn't notice any huge changes so the GI decided to put him back on breast milk.  At first he did awesome.  All of his feeds were getting easier, he was eating 4 1/2 ounces in under 20 minutes.  Than after about 5 days his feeds were becoming difficult again.  The GI thinks the reason why he had such a surge in extra milk intake that his stomach was starting to feel better.  So we are putting him on neocate and I am weaning from the pump!
Warren also started getting occupational therapy.  He is doing great with that.  We are working on solids and his OT's goal is to get him up to mashed table foods.

He is now 8.5 months old actual/6 months adjusted.  He goes up to his hands during tummy time.  He eats all of his toys and can transfer the toy back and forth between both of his hands.  He rolls over from belly  to back every so often and is trying to roll over from back to belly.  He is enjoying feeding himself.  He LOVES arrow root cookies, slowly starting to enjoy banana flavored puffs.  He also enjoys, apples, squash, sweet potatoes, cereal and carrots.  He also loves bath time, singing itsy bitsy spider and taking his socks off and eating them :-)  It is so much fun watching him grow!

Having fun in the bath!

#1 with the ladies :-)

I love eating my hands

my feet are also a lot of fun

Just hanging out

The swing always makes me sleepy

I love Arrow root cookies

yummy yummy!

My pumping journey

After 8.5 months my pumping journey is coming to an end.  For the past 8.5 months I have pumped, every 3-4 hours, 15-20 minutes each time.  259 days, 518 hours or 31,080 minutes or 22 solid days of pumping.

When I was pregnant I knew that I wanted to breastfeed, there are many benefits from it.  Warren was born at 29 weeks he wasn't able to breast or bottle feed at first.  Babies learn to suck, swallow, breath between 32-34 weeks gestation, 3-5 weeks after Warren was born.  So I decided as soon as he was born that pumping was going to be my only option.  It started a few hours after he was born, the nurse brought in a pump for me.  She literally wheeled it in and was like, "Here you go!"  I had no idea what to do, I made myself bleed at first because I had the setting way too high.  I also was only doing one side at a time so 30 minutes of just pumping.  I then asked for some help and was quickly getting the hang of it.

At first it was frustrating, I was pumping every 3 hours on the dot around the clock and nothing was coming out.  It took about 3 days for my milk to come.  I will never forget the morning I woke up and my milk came, I felt like there was a mac truck on my chest, but on the plus side finally milk for my baby!  I then would pump and either bring it to the NICU or freeze it at home.  He was only eating a few cc's at a time, equivalent to a teaspoon and I was making a few ounces every pump needless to say I had a lot extra so our freezer was getting full!  Looking back I wish I would have taken a picture to show how much milk I had.    For the first few weeks of his life Warren was fed through a NG tube, at first it was in his mouth but he pulled it out all the time so they had to put it down his nose.  He started eating expressed breast milk from a bottle around 4 weeks old.  And prior to that expressed milk in his NG tube.

Why am I stopping?  Well after some different trial and errors we have decided that he has a protein intolerance (just based on observations) and his GI feels that Neocate, a hypo allergenic formula will be best for him.  He told me that Warren received all of the benefits of breast milk since he was on it for 8.5 months. I feel weird stopping but at this point it's time.  Overall I am very happy about it but at the same time I feel a little guilty, but it's doctors orders to stop so I must listen.  I should also mention that on average Warren is eating about 650 cc's each day one day he ate 780 cc's, that is  21-26 ounces.  It's still crazy to think that when he came home he was eating 45 cc's (1.5 ounces) every 3 hours and now he is eating 135 cc's (4.5 ounces) every 4 hours.  Fingers crossed that the formula continues to work and he continues to grow.

The Infamous pump

It's Official!

Today we went for a 2nd follow up appointment with the GI and we have a plan.  We are going to switch Warren to Neocate, a hypoallergenic formula.  In the beginning of January we did a 2 week trial of feeding him only Neocate.  After the 2 week trial I wasn't sure if I noticed any huge changes with Warren so we decided to switch him back to breast milk.  The first few days were awesome, he was eating the most that he has ever eaten.  Then it has gotten progressively worse and worse.  We also tried Neocate and breast milk and his amounts are still decreasing.  The GI wants us to do 100% Neocate.  We are thinking that his belly was starting to feel better but then we put him back on breast milk which made his belly upset again.  Warren was on breast milk for 8.5 months/ 6 months adjusted which I am very happy about.

Here are some new weights and measurements from today's appointment.  Every scale is a little different but thankfully the GI showed me his growth curves based on his measurements.  Overall his GI is very happy.  His head circumference and length jumped up since last time which is good.  His weight is still maintaining his previous curve.  He weighed 12 lbs 4 ounces up from 11 lbs 2 ounces, length is 24 3/4 inches up from 22 3/4 inches and his head is 17 3/4 inches up from 16 1/2 inches.  All in all good growth since his last measurements were taken on December 13.

He also had an upper GI yesterday February 1st and anatomically everything looks great.

Another awesome feature of Neocate is that it is delivered to our house monthly.  Thankfully we have great insurance..the formula costs $1200 per month, which is for 15 cans.  Eventually he will be eating more than that.

Look how big Warren is getting :-)

 Warren just turned 8 months old and is 5 1/2 months adjusted.  He is growing and I thought it was a good time to show some comparisons to how much he has grown.  He was born at 2 lbs 8 ounces, 15 3/4 inches long.  He is now 12 lbs 6 ounces and based on my measurements 24 1/2 inches long.  We go in February for his 9 month well baby check up so I will update after that appointment.

He started in diapers that they don't even sell in stores and now he is in size 2

His very first diaper..smaller than a dollar bill.  At the time it was big on him!

preemie size sleeper next to 3 month..he is also starting to get into 6 month size sleeper's

preemie onesie next to 3-6 months size onesie

Warren at about 2 weeks still with a feeding tube

Warren at 8 months...he is now eating 22-24 ounces a day!

We started OT

Warren had his evaluation today for Occupational Therapy to help with his feeds.  Overall he did great, he refused the bottle right in front of her, which is needed so that people can experience what I go through every single day.  She did a few things during the evaluation and said that his oral/motor skills are fine.  His cheeks are a little tight but it is because he sleep feeds and isn't actively using his muscles.  She also feels that he is still having belly issues.  And recommended that I call his GI again.  She does think that she can help him once we get his belly issues figured out.  For now we are going to work with solids.  Her goal is to get him up to mashed table foods (once he has teeth of course)...very exciting.  I am hoping that we wont have a life long battle of feeding issues!  So far he really only likes, apples and arrowroot cookies, green beans and sweet potatoes haven't gone over to well but we'll keep trying.  His OT is super sweet and I know with her help that we'll get Warren where he needs to get with food.

We also changed nipple sizes he is eating with stage 3 and doing great with those.  He can get about 4 ounces down in 15 minutes or less.  I am also going to start increasing that as well to 5 ounces each feed...I am trying to fatten this little man up!  I also want him to enjoy eating.  We have him sitting with us every night during dinner in his high chair.  I think we are making some progress...slowly we will get somewhere.

We have an upper GI scheduled for February 1st and then a follow up appointment with his GI on February 2nd.

not quite sure what to do

apples are tasty

I am a big boy..I can feed myself

not sure if I want those

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!

2nd month of RSV Season Down

Another month of lock down over :-)  Thankfully with the holidays and Bobby being off the last week of December this month flew by.  I wish Bob could have a week's vacation every month with us.  This month we stayed busy as I made all of the holiday candy for family and friends.  During his shot this month he weighed 11 lbs 11 ounces, he is getting bigger and bigger

Hanging out on Daddy

close up

rocking it out during tummy time