This is kind of an update.

DH and I got to thinking about Allie's PH probe results and scope results back in early january (when she was only 4 months old). She'll be 10 months old this weekend. Anyway, the PH probe showed 248 refluxes (a lot) but apparently the severity of them and duration were not bad at all - not acidic and longest reflux was 4 minutes, which apparently isn't that bad. A scope afterwards confirmed no damage to her stomach or esophagus. So, DH and I decided that now, since Allie is much older and obviously feeling better (although still not crazy about eating) we would lower her dose of prevacid. aFter all, if prevacid is decreasing her stomach acid, how in the heck is she digesting anything at all if she has little or no stomach acid? So, we decreased her dose by 25% and low and behold, she started eating more. She went from 18 oz per day to around 22 oz per day (concentrated to 27 cals/oz). This has been going on for over a week now.

The only thing we wonder about is at night - she goes to sleep and then wakes up so upset a few times after that. Around midnight or so, she eats again and then sleeps until about 7 am. I wonder if we are just reading too much into her waking before midnight and should keep this up or if we should up her prevacid again.

She really is taking her bottle better during the day and at night, but still pretty much refuses all solids. We are going back to the doc on July 12 and I think he is going to order another emptying scan at that time. We'll see how she does.

Anyway, sorry for the long update, but I wondered what you ladies thought about our cutting down her prevacid? I wonder if she really needs it anymore since her reflux was never that bad to begin with? Also, we would love to get rid of the reglan b/c of its side effects, but I need to talk to the doc about weaning her off that too. Is it a bad idea to get rid of meds if she still is not eating solid food? We really think it's a behavioral issue at this point.

Thanks,
Christyn

Hi Christyn! If there's no pain and you feel she's ready, then I'd run it past the doctor first. I'd just hate to see her eating worsen b/c she's in pain again.

I totally agree with Janette on this, thanks for the update!

I guess that's the problem - our doctors never really have anything to suggest for us. They never really have anything "new" to tell us to do - he always just asks what the OT is doing and refers to her judgment. Also, he says he defers to the ped w/ regard to her growth (her length has really slowed - she is only 26.5 inches at 10 months old).

Hi- I am so glad she is eating better. I always wondered about the prevacid and digesting. Maybe I should try it with Sarah. Is Allie still on NG feeds? Sarah doesn't eat any solids either. SHe doesn't do very well with the bottle. I don't know what to tell you - I think if she is eating better than continue with the lower dose. I am curious what is her weight now- at 10 months Sarah was 15 pounds 8oz and length was 26 and 3/4 inches.

Hi- I am so glad she is eating better. I always wondered about the prevacid and digesting. Maybe I should try it with Sarah. Is Allie still on NG feeds? Sarah doesn't eat any solids either. SHe doesn't do very well with the bottle. I don't know what to tell you - I think if she is eating better than continue with the lower dose. I am curious what is her weight now- at 10 months Sarah was 15 pounds 8oz and length was 26 and 3/4 inches.

Hi Karie,

It is so hard to tell what is bothering these kiddos. The past 5 or so nights, Allie is waking about 4-5 times, when she was sleeping through the night about a month ago. Other than that, she's happy and even takes a 5 oz bottle during the day awake (this is huge as 3 oz were her max about a month ago). I broke down and gave her the normal dose of prevacid this morning and then had a difficult time getting her to eat a bottle before her nap - she only did 3 oz. So, who knows? We'll see how today goes, but she has had two days of 22.5 ounces this week, which she has never done.

To answer your question, Allie will be 10 months on Sunday and weighs about 17 lbs, 5 oz. Her lengh is pretty darn short. Her weight is decent, seeing as she was only 6lbs 8 oz at birth, but I'm worried as to her length. She was 20 inches at birth, so she really hasn't grown since then. Do Sarah's docs say anything about her length? Has Sarah ever been sent to endocrinology? Allie's ped is talking about sending us there, as well as neurology, although I think she is developing just fine.

Oh and Allie has not had an NG tube feed in quite a long time - at least 2 1/2 months. That darn tube just made her oral aversion so much worse that we stopped doing it (remember we scheduled a G tube surgery but then cancelled it b/c she started eating again with no NG tube).


Thanks,
Christyn

Hi-
I am glad to hear she is eating better. Sarah was very tiny when she was born- she was 3 pounds 14 ounces at 36 1/2 weeks. So she is still tiny now. Most kids who were SGA- small for gestational age at birth catch up to the expected height but it doesn't look like Sarah is going to do that. FOr the kids who don't catch up they are usually seen by endocrine for possible growth hormone. So I thik we will be seeing endocrine in a few months.

Karie,

We are seeing endocrine on the 20th of July. I'll let you know what they do and how it goes. Allie's ped recommended it. We are also going to neuro on 9/11 and are on a cancellation list if they have any. I am trying to rule out all possible causes of the non-eating. I don't think neuro is going to tell us anything - she really is a normal baby but for her eating problems. However, endocrine may pan out and tell us something we don't know.

Oh and I struggled with Allie all day yesterday after giving her the full dose of prevacid. Today, I gave her 75% of the dose and we will see how it goes. I am wondering if there is a connection there.

Have a great holiday weekend.

C