Hi-
Sarah has delayed emptying and reflux. I seem to be have problems getting her to take solids. She never seems hungry enough to want to eat them. I have tried before the bottle but then she won't drink her bottle, right after her bottle but then she throws up. Now what I am trying is giving her the bottle which usually takes about 45 minutes for her to take because she will take about 80cc then I sleep feed the rest- about 4-5oz total. Then she continues to sleep for about 45 minutes and after the nap I give her some solids. So if I feed her at 1230 she gets solids at about 230 then her next bottle is at 430. But she never seems hungry enough to want to eat the solids between bottles. She barely gets hungry enough for her bottle. So I'm not sure what to do. I feel like I'm just shoving the food in which doesn't seem like the right thing to do. She hardly ever opens her mouth for the spoon. I have been trying solids for about 1 month now and she really doesn't seem interested or hungry enough to want to take any. Do you think this is her delayed emptying that is causing the problem? Any suggestions?
karie

Karie,

Sarah may just not be ready for solids. She's only 6 months old. My daughter would NOT open her mouth at all for solids until she was almost 7 months, and that was finally after three whole days of continuous positive reinforcement. Unless there's some pressing need to get solids into her, just wait a couple of weeks and try again. I know it's frustrating if a dr wants your child on solids; our GI wanted Catherine spoon fed cereal at 3 months and both peds concurred at 4 months. It just wasn't going to happen. At 11 months, she now eats willingly but in small quantities at a time.

We spent many months undiagnosed, opening Evan's mouth for him and forcing him to eat in order to keep him from starving. It worked for us, but it's certainly not something I'd suggest. Feeding therapy and the GERD/DGE diagnosis saved us.

I am sorry to hear that your dd is having troubles eating right now. I do also have to agree that she is still young my kids wouldnt really eat any soldids until they were almost 8months. I was wondering if she had any testing for the delayed gastric emptying and if so is she on any meds for it presently?



Melanie

She has delayed emptying. She has had two gastric emptying studies. One before meds where she emptied 35% at 90 minutes and the second on erythromycin and reglan where it improved to 52% emptying at 90 minutes. She also has reflux. Today I tried solids 1 1/2 hours before her bottle and she completely refused to take her bottle- only took 50mls. So I guess that was a mistake. Do you think the delayed emptying is still affecting her? I guess it sounds like I should give up on solids for now. I just thought it might be a way to get extra calories in her since she doesn't take much by the bottle.
karie

Yes, it certainly does sound like the DGE is still bothering her. Can you ask the doctor about trying another med.?

I was thinking of trying another med. Anyone have suggestions on a med that has worked well for them for delayed emtying? Sarah is currently on reglan and erythromycin but I really don't think the reglan is doing anything.
karie

You could always put solids in her bottle...I know they need to learn feeding skills but you have to get the calories in when you can. She may learn to like the taste better than formula and start taking them off a spoon.

we had great success with reglan (when mixed with high doses of losec 60 mg a day) but the dosage was very high. 40 mls a day. The only backlash was massive non stop hunger.

It took TWO FULL MONTHS of Noah showing no signs of understanding what a spoon was before we had one small bit of success. Now, he is a very good eater (only a few foods, but he's good at it). Noah never opened for cereal. I had to squeeze bites in, and then he spit them out. Then, I picked up a pack of YoBaby, and after squeezing in one bite of it, he immediately proved that he, in fact, knew exactly what a spoon was!

So, before you get to frustrated, keep in mind that it is a slow and sometimes uneventful process for some kids, but it should get better. You should clear it with her doctors, but maybe you can try something that tastes better? Maybe try mixing some fruit in with the cereal?

You can try other meds, I am not a big fan of any of the 3 we used as I never really hear of them helping much.... I wouldnt worry to much about getting her to eat "solids" just wait and try again, in the meantime, try and get her tummy working properly and then you many find some success. ((((hugs))) I know that is much much easier said than done.