Stephanie, I'm glad you are there to support this mom who must be exhausted and frazzled.
Several things came to mind:
Does the baby have tongue tie? Choking on solids with TT is common.
Is the reflux being adequately treated? (sounds like not)
Could the baby have an undiagnosed submucus cleft?
Has mom tried probiotics to see if it would affect the gassiness?
Could baby benefit from taking enzymes to help digest his food?
Does milk ever come out of his nose?
Does mom have oversupply, contributing to the gas? (Would lactase drops help this?)
Is mom pumping and saving or pumping and dumping?
Does she wear the baby upright during the day (moby-type wrap)?
Just thinking "out loud"....
Rowena Tucker IBCLC
WIC Bf Coordinator
Texas
You wrote:
Date: Wed, 25 May 2011 13:30:41 -0700
From: Star McGuire <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Perplexing situation
Hi, everyone. I need serious help.
P2P from the mother herself:
"Baby will be 7 months on the 28th. He slept well until 2 1/2 months, then he started teething, but
still slept fairly well. Then, at 3 months, he started waking up
every hour, and at the worst point, was every 45 minutes. We have tried
elimination diets of gluten (including all oatmeal, even traces, as in I
switched shampoo and toothpaste...), dairy, soy, nuts, seafood, corn,
and at one point ate nothing but chicken, brown rice, and honeydew for
an entire week.
He has always had signs of severe reflux. For
the first 4 months he spit up entire feedings. It was better for a
while, but now he is spitting up and vomiting several times per day. He
has also always been super gassy. Even now, incredibly gassy, and when
we get him out at night when he wakes up, he is usually passing loooots
of gas.
He was given a video food study and it showed he was
aspirating thin liquids, and we were ordered to stop nursing, and have
since been giving pumped breast milk in a bottle, thickened with brown
rice cereal.
He will only sleep swaddled, with one arm out,
sitting in a bouncy chair. Even then, he wakes up about every hour,
arching his back hard, and grunting and whining in discomfort. Nursing
gets him back to sleep within seconds. Otherwise it can take an hour or
more.
We have tried literally every possible sleep solution
imaginable, we have tried 4 or 5 different swaddlers, we have seen
numerous doctors and are now with a GI specialist.
He is not on solids. He seems incapable of
swallowing them. He can chew them, and wants badly to eat, but he
chokes on every bite. We offer every few days, but always the same
result, even with different foods. I have tried various consistencies
as I make the food myself."
/ Mother's summary
Mother has recently been ordered to stop nursing for a week. She has not been given a reason for this, other than that they want to try a formula with "partially digested proteins" (as per her doctor.) I am...really confused. Mother seriously wants to keep nursing, but is going along with the week off breastmilk. However, mother is skeptical because formula usage in the past has made the problems worse, and her doctor told her that "at this age, breastmilk has very few benefits anyways" and is notorious in the area for being unsupportive of breastfeeding.
Mother has also worked with a LC (uncertain of whether she is an IBCLC) in the area - LC deferred to doctor and mostly gave her the ideas of the elimination diets and helped her learn to pump. LC told her that use of a SNS with thickened milk was impossible.
Any help/thoughts/ideas appreciated!
-Stephanie, peer counselor
***********************************************
Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome
|
