Hello-
I am new here. My son is 9 months old and I've been scouring the internet looking for answers about why he's not eating. I am literally almost crying b/c I am so worried about him and b/c I am so happy to have found this website. My son was diagnosed with GERD early on . . . probably when he was about 6 weeks old. He is currently on 7.5 mg of Prevacid 1x per day. We went to the pedi for his 9 month check up last week and discovered that he has not gained any weight since his last checkup three months ago.
To me, his GERD appears to be better, but after spending a lot of time on this site tonight, I'm not sure. He is not spitting up/vomiting nearly as often as he used to and he does not seem uncomfortable or like he's in pain. However, he has ALWAYS had rattle-y/phlegmy breathing. He has also always had very loose/runny/mucously poop. He used to go multiple times a day, but recently he has spaced out to anywhere from once every 5-6 days to every other day. (But, I don't know if that is b/c he's not getting enough to eat)

He is almost exclusively breastfed because he has gotten rash and/or diarrhea from all solids we've tried (sweet potato, green beans, avocado, barley cereal) except rice cereal. He recently tested positive for wheat and avocado allergy. He is intollerant of milk in my diet.

He has always been a very quick nurser, but I just assumed he was like a vacuum cleaner . . . quick with lots of suction. :)
Last week, as I was freaking out about the lack of weight gain, I rented a scale and I've been weighing before and after nursing sessions. Since Friday, he is only averaging about 2-3 oz per feeding session every 2-4 daytime hours. The most he's eaten at a session has been one huge meal of 4 oz. We co-sleep and he snacks throughout the night, but I haven't weighed him during night feedings b/c I don't want to disturb his sleeping/eating. It is not unusual for him to spit up HOURS after eating and I always wonder, "Now, where did that come from?" That spit up is often sour and curdled. He also still has some spitting shortly after eating that is sometimes curdled and sometimes not.

My question is this . . . could he have developed DGE within the past few months? He has always been on the small side, but was gaining weight appropriately. I've never measured his nursing intake before, so I don't know if his consumption has decreased or if he's just not able to keep up with his caloric requirements now that he's crawling.

We are scheduled to see the gastrointerologist and nutritionist in about a week and a half. Via telephone consult, the nutritionist advised me to do 2 oz of cereal with nutrimagen and canola oil each day, as well as 2 oz of pear or applesauce with nutrimagen and canola oil and work up to 4 oz solid feedings. Getting him to take just the 2 oz feedings is a huge challenge. Based on what I've read here, the cereal might actually make him worse if he does indeed have DGE, correct? I'm wondering if I should just hold off on encouraging the cereal until I have our appt with the gastro.

Any thoughts? Based on your experience, does DGE sound like a possibility, or am I just grasping at straws?

If you've gotten this far, thanks so much for reading.
:)
Alicia

I don't have much experience in the area you are asking. I do wonder if the Prevacid dose should be upped. Mason is on 15 mg and is 4 months old. Then again, if yours is not in pain.....I'm sure someone will cime in though ;)

I just wanted to welcome you to the site!! ((((HUGS)))

Glad you have found us, Alicia! This is a great place and I know some others who have more experience with DGE will chime in soon.

I can see why you are concerned and am glad you have an GI appt coming up. Might be good to keep a food/diaper log for that appt so they can see what is going on.

Keep us posted on how it goes! :)

Alicia,
Hi and welcome! I totally disagree with the nutritionist. Often times they are not very informed and give very general advice that will not work for all babies. I guess what I am trying to say is that the advice is not very personal to each person they talk to--its the advice they give over and over.

First of all, the first thought that came to my mind is that he is intolerant to more in your milk. Do you eat anything with wheat in it? If you are completely gluten free and completely milk free (even as an ingredient in processed foods)...and not eating sweet potatoes, green beans, and the other foods you mentioned--I dont know what you are eating! If you are eating any of these things, he may be reacting to it. There may also be more that he is intolerant to that you havent given him directly yet, but he gets from you. The mucousy, runny poop and the possible delay in emptying can be a result of more intolerances and allergies. A delay in emptying can be secondary to a food intolerance and/or allergy. In otherwords, you remove the trigger and you improve the emptying time.

Has he ever had a biopsy done via an endoscopy? He seems to have a lot of intolerances and allergies for being a breastfed baby. The runny mucousy poop and wheat allergy especially would make me wonder if he actually has celiac disease. That would make him not gain well, not eat well, it can cause reflux and diarrhea, etc. It basically is an intolerance to gluten. It damages the small villi in the small bowel so that they cannot absorb nutrients. It sounds scary but if all the wheat (gluten) is completely removed from the diet, they are in a sense cured.

The most reliable way to know is through a biopsy done through an endoscopy. But there is a blood screen they can do, and if it is positive in the blood they do not have to do the biopsy. Has he ever had blood taken before to do a full screen? I would think that would be a great idea considering his symptoms. I would also ask for a stool test to see what may be causing the runny poop.

I hope this isnt overloading or scaring you. This is all fixable once you know what the problem is!

My kids have lots of issues...see my sig! My son was breastfed until 7 months, not in pain, on prevacid, doing great (75th for weight and 90th for height) then stopped nursing anough to grow and I lost my milk. He was intolerant to milk, soy, and peanuts in my milk and I think there were more than I knew of. He has a severe delay in emptying due to low muscle tone in his gi tract, but it was much worse when I had foods he didnt tolerate. He is on a prescription formula called neocate now and doing much better. His weight fell off the chart originally from the 75th and now he is back at the 10th since starting the neocate. Feel free to pm me if you have more questions.

Thanks so much for your input! I so appreciate your thoughts and comments.
:)
In response to some of the points mentioned . . .

1- I am keeping a food/diaper log. I just started it this weekend and think it will be a very useful tool.

2- I am currently not eating eggs or nuts at all (my older son is allergic so I'm excluding to hopefully avoid the allergy in younger son). I was planning to completely exclude wheat, but the GI's office told me to continue eating it so that we can effectively check for celiac disease. Apparently if you remove it, then the testing in ineffective. I have been *mostly* dairy free. I'd been having a splash of milk over my cereal in the morning and mostly avoiding it in processed/prepared foods. Since I thought the reflux was improved, I had slightly relaxed my milk restriction. However, now that I know about silent reflux, I'm wondering if that was a huge mistake. As of last night, I'm completely off milk.

3- We have not had any endoscopy or biopsies done. The reflux was diagnosed solely by symptoms: fussing after eating and lots of spitting up. Although I hate to put him through tests, I feel like it is probably now needed (or maybe was needed months ago). I will be addressing this with the GI when we have our appt next week.

Funny (not really) story - - I called the GI's office today to see if they'd had any cancellations/beg for a sooner appt. The nurse, who has been a complete B both times I've spoken to her, completely fussed at me and said "You have got to make that child eat" and "You have to get him to take Nutramagin in a bottle or a sippy. You have to keep at it. You can't let him think he can keep fighting you and get away with it." I felt like I was banging my head against a wall. I wanted to scream . . . Don't you think I want him to eat more????? She also said his eating problems could be b/c I'm anxious about his weight loss, thereby causing him stress, and making my milk dry up. Thanks lady.

:)
Alicia

Hi alicia,

I agree with carla about looking into intolerance and other things. Our son had major DGE that was corrected with surgery but for some reason for me what you are saying sounds like it could be something else. You can definitely get an emptying scan if you are concerned about this but somehow I am not sure that is the case. I would go with Carlas suggestions and definitely keep us updated,we wonder!!

I definitely suspect that foods in my diet are affecting him. I am highly suspect of wheat, especially since he has already tested positive for a wheat allergy.

I will certainly post back when I have some answers.
:)
Alicia

"You have got to make that child eat"

OMG, why the **** do peopel say stuff like this? As if ya'll just sit there and go...."Nope, he's not allowed to eat anymore." GOD those comments real;ly tick me off! I know, let's just cramit down their throats so we can also add a phsychological food aversion to the mix. :( I'd complain to the GI about her.

(((HUGS)))