Nate arrived in March of 07. When we brought him home, he had already been on 2 different formulas. He was switched to soy in the hospital due to "fussiness". He actually slept really well for the first few nights. I just had this gut feeling that something wasn't right.
I took Nate to his 2 week check up and asked the ped why he wanted to eat so often. He would also arch and squirn during feeds, this was so upsetting to me. The ped said to "trick" him. She said mix up a bottle and then switch it out for the paci. Well, I did it in her office so she could see what would happen. She was shocked that he actually drank the entire 6oz at such a young age and didn't vomit it up. That was the thing...he NEVER spit it up so I thought he wanted it.
I decided when he was 2 months old it was time to find a new ped. I was not satisfied with how she handled the situation. She kept telling me I was over feeding him but I knew in my heart that there was something wrong...this was not my first rodeo :)
When I took Nate to his new ped in May of 07, she diagnosed him in the first 10 minutes...SILENT REFLUX!! I had never heard of such a thing. I thought AR was when they would vomit all day...had no idea they could have the "silent" kind and have such discomfort. She immediately prescribed prevacid and had us switch to Alimentum.
I could see immediate results with the changes. As a month or so went by, we needed to tweak the dose of prevacid. He ended up needing a pretty high dose...30mg per day. After we saw little change with that, it was time to switch formulas yet again. We ended up putting him on Neocate (amino acid based formula). After about 1 week, he was a NEW BOY. It was very expensive...about $35 a can and he went thru 3 cans a week...YIKES :)
When Nate was about 8 months, we started weaning the prevacid. He was down to about 15mg in the morning and we intro'd 5ml of pepcid at night. Contrary to most babies, Nate had a lot of tummy issues while being on prevacid. Our GI did confirm that some babies will become very gassy while on prevacid.
We had an upper GI and a swallow study done at about 7 months. The UGI confirmed reflux...guess that was no surprise, lol. The swallow study showed NO aspiration (YAY) but the food/liquid did "pool" in the back of his throat. We thickened with simply thick for awhile and switched to using rice cereal. By 10 months, he didn't need the thickened liquids.
On top of all the AR symptoms, Nate got ear infection after ear infection (just like Adam). If he gets one more, we are going to do tubes in the fall. I recently took him to Adam's allergist to get evaluated. We had him on singulair for about a month but has been off of it for about a month now.
I am happy to report that Nate was drinking cow's milk (2%) by 13 months. He is drinking out of a sippy cup and eating most all table foods. He is med free and so far so good. We have to work on night time wakings but that is getting better...he wakes up 1 time and STILL wants to drink some milk before going back to sleep.
I am awaiting his 15 month check up...I have lot's of questions to ask. I think he has some sensory issues. He has at least 3 major meltdowns per day and it breaks my heart. I don't know how to calm him down yet.
Thank GOD for the PAGER forum I found when he was 4 months old. I have made some friends for life. I get more info from the moms there than anywhere else. If it weren't for them, Nate would not have got the care he deserved...they gave me the strength to PUSH for the answers and settle for NOTHING less. I love him with all my heart. Despite all the set backs he has had, he is such a little character. He is always the life of the party :)~
Thanks for making it thru all this. I am sure it is all scattered, lol. I plan on updating weekly so check back often. It should be easier now that I got everyone up to speed :)
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