Eliza and I spent the past few days off on a nice mini-vacation with my old roommate visiting our college, William and Mary, and seeing some old friends. Eliza did pretty well with the change of environment, except for the mini-hunger strike she went on. Despite getting only about 600 calories a day she had boundless energy. Of course the people on the return flight wished she had no energy as we sat on the runway for an hour while Eliza screamed non-stop. Did I mention she hates being confined in a car seat, stroller, baby sling, etc?
Despite hardly eating, we had a vomit-free vacation. Of course the return home is another story. Since getting back we have had a nightly vomit-fest. It usually occurs about an hour after her nine p.m. bottle once she has been asleep. Despite Eliza's GI insisting that her reflux is under control with her current dose of Prevacid, I suspect this vomit-fest is reflux related. She does not vomit this particular formula during the day and the vomiting starts about 3 to 4 hours after her last yogurt which is supplemented by Benecalories. I am doubtful it is the Benecalories causing this since the vomiting doesn't start until several hours later. So tomorrow the GI shall be getting yet another phone call from me.
Photo: Eliza Grace September 2007, Future Somalier
Hi Anne,
ReplyDeletePush, push, push the GI. Ours told us the same thing: that the dose was fine, that she couldn't possibly be refluxing, that she probably did not even need that high of a dose, yadda yadda yadda. Then we went to our beloved feeding clinic, the (excellent) doctor there said 'it's clear her reflux is out of control,' changed the dose, and voila. We have not gotten rid of reflux totally and vomit still is part of our life (alas), but whenever Hallie's not congested, the number of vomiting/retching/gagging episodes is FAR reduced and she gained weight much more easily. So push them on this, and if they are not willing, get a second opinion.
Thanks Abby. Given that I have gotten a total of two hours sleep last night, since Eliza kept waking up terribly uncomfortable and/or vomiting, I do not envy Dr. GI when I call him today. Oye. Will keep you posted!
ReplyDeleteHi Anne,
ReplyDeleteJust read your posts and enjoyed the adorable pics of Eliza! What a cutie. I wanted to tell you that I can so relate to the feeding/eating wars! I understand how all those obnoxious comments can get under your skin. My little girl truly doesn't eat anything... she is completely tube fed. It makes me sad, but it could be worse. We still try to get her to eat, but to no avail.
I'll be rooting Eliza on in her quest to overcome her aversions!
Patty
You went to W & M? We are just 45 minutes away. Next time you come, we'll have to introduce Eliza and Cooper!
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about the vomiting. I agree with Abby. Whenever Coop's dose of Prevacid isn't right, it's vomit city! Luckily, we've had it controlled for a while (I probably just jinxed us).
How much prevacid is she on? I had to push and push and push but the doctor wouldn't up it and after about a month of Ashton vomiting 15-20times a day I did it myself. SOOOO much better!!!
ReplyDeleteAnd by the way, what is Miss.Eliza doing with the wine bottle? haha
Eliza's prevacid is 15mg compounded, so she gets 7.5 mg in the morning and 7.5 at night. She's really not vomiting during the day, just the night time puke like clockwork after her 9 pm bottle. Go figure. I'm going to try cutting the volume of her nighttime bottle before asking the GI for a increased dosage. I'd rather not her increase meds if simply adjusting the volume can solve the problem. I'll give it a couple of weeks and see what happens. Luckily I have a seemingly endless supply of paper towels to clean the puke up with. One other reason for this night time pukefest maybe that the Benecalories and/or Resource is a bit too rich for her. We shall see.
ReplyDeleteI know that the compounded prevacid doesn't work as well as the solutabs or capsules. I bet you could hide the capsules in the infamous yougurt, or we do the solutabs just dissolved in a syringe of water. They're strawberry flavored, and Amelia just seems to love the taste of it. It may remind Miss Eliza of strawberry pediasure! Yum.
ReplyDeleteAmelia is on 7.5 mg in the am, but 15 mg at night because she was having the worst of her reflux at night, and the increased dose then really, really helped. Good luck, puke clean-up duty sucks!
Inspector Clouseau here can find the itty, bitty capsule granules in the yogurt and she spits out the strawberry flavored stuff ... apparently it is not nearly as tasty as pediasure! Blech! The two GI's I've now talked to seem to think that 20 pounds is the magic weight to increase the prevacid. But then again they also think it's a good idea to feed her every two hours, two ounces at a time!
ReplyDeleteI still can't figure why it is this one bottle that comes back up. I can give her another bottle an hour after she pukes and she is just fine. Hmmmmm. The mystery deepens.
On a calorie note ... adding one 300 calorie container to a 260 calorie container of Liberte yogurt means so long as I get two of those in a day along with 10 to 16 ounces of formuala I can get Eliza well over the 1200 calorie goal with no trouble. She gets weighed next Friday so I'll know if she is well on her way to being just another obese kid in America! LOL
Hmmm...If perhaps Eliza would lay off the wine in the evening (as conveyed in your lovely photo), she might keep that feed down. Just a suggestion. But hey, what do I know? :)
ReplyDeleteWait a second, when the doctor said a glass of wine would be relaxing, he meant for me to have the wine???? Oooops.
ReplyDeleteHi Anne,
ReplyDeleteJust another thought on a subject near and dear to me these days: pooping. Is Eliza pooping well (Hallie IS NOT). Our Feeding Clinic Guru (Dr. Eicher) suggests that this is a big part of the issue with Hallie, whose sole issue from her perspective is the reflux business. That's the only reason she does not eat well. I am thinking that she is right. Anyway, the goal is to stimulate Hallie's gut to clear the food faster (either by using suppositories, or if we need to, bethanecol or low dose erythromycin). This, plus proper dosage of the meds (and Eicher has been much more liberal on that dose than our GI docs are) should really do the trick. Anyway, getting Eliza to poop more may be worth the hassle because it does seem like there's a vicious cycle between reflux and delayed gastric emptying.
Hi Abby,
ReplyDeleteEliza's poops pretty OK. One giant poop a day. When she doesn't poop then the reflux gets worse and it's really miserable... well you know all about that cycle!
So I tried the 2 ounces at 9 pm last night. We did have some puke, not the whole 2 ounces, so perhaps there is a volume issue ... what, she's "filled up" from a day of drinking formula? She drank another 3 ounces at 10:30 and was fine. Maybe she's just toying with me?
Should I retitled this post poop and vomit?
I am assuming it IS the benecalories sincethat is the only feed she vomits with...and it could still be in her tummy several hours later....
ReplyDeleteI've thought about it possibly being the Benecalorie, but I've adjusted the time she eats and the last yogurt with Benecalories is about 7 to 8 hours before she vomits. She only gets yogurt with Benecalorie at 10 in the morning and 2 or so in the afternoon. She doesn't vomit until almost 10 at night. Also she does not vomit after her morning yogurt with Benecalorie..... the mystery deepens.
ReplyDelete