I actually spoke with Brandon's Occupational Therapist today  and she said
she has had several cardiac babies that have suck issues, even  though they
aren't presenting with anything else. Now, in Brandon's case, he has  a syndrome
that often carries with it a cranial nerve related swallowing  problem, he also
has an oral aversion issue that is now affecting his ability to  eat solids.
You said this baby doesn't have anything else, right? His suck  really did
improve once his heart was fixed, and I even noticed that his  "decent" pro-op
suck went down when his heart got bad before surgery. Yet he  never really
looked that ill.

 Perhaps this baby will have more desire to suck when his heart is  repaired?
It may be similar to an allergic baby delaying solids. Maybe this  little guy
knows he needs to conserve energy. Hopefully oral aversion won't be a
problem and they can get him to learn to nurse post-repair. Until then keeping  the
baby familiar with the breast and associating it with a sense of fullness  may
eventually make it easier for him to nurse at some point. Putting the nipple
in his mouth during feedings. But the fact that the baby won't suck might
mean  that the heart is causing more strain then the clinical data is showing. I
found  for us that getting the repair overwith really lifted a huge burden of
worry.  Good luck to this family!

Shannon
LLL Leader, mom to Alexander 4 and Brandon 1

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