I am at a loss. Her ph probe showed that she refluxed often, but that it shoudl not bother her. Why is she refusing the bottle this way?

If I am feeding her when she first wakes up, she will eat as long as her eyes are closed. As soon as she opens them and sees the bottle all bets are off. Now, she will only eat when she is sleeping. She loves her paci, so as soon as she falls asleep in my arms, I pull out the paci and insert bottle. She's only had 7 oz in 11 hours and never acts hungry. What is going on? Shouldn't she feel hungry? I am going to ask about DGE, but what can be done about it? I thought an upper GI could show this, (per the nurse at the GI's office) but you guys say otherwise.

Any help would be appreciated. I am supposed to go back to work next week and am wondering if this is possible or even a good idea.

Christyn

I am so sorry to hear that things have progressed like this. Our DD stopped eating, period, at an early age (around 7 months or so). No, unfortunately kiddos with reflux can have no appetite or no queue that they are hungry. It's like when you have a stomachache and have no appetite. Then they get so use to being hungry that they stop recognizing the queue. At this point you have to watch their weight to make sure they are gaining. The body is a strange thing. It will compensate for the small amount of food and they will gain even on very little. If she will dream feed continue that as much as you can. If she has some issue with the bottle, there could be many other reasons to consider. Is she coming down with something, did you change from breast to bottle, new formula.... was there any change in the last couple of weeks? I get the impression that your little one is quite little. Total food refusal very early on like that is definitely cause for a dr visit immediatly.

All an upper GI (aka barium study) will show is that she is refluxing, there is not twist or obstruction, if there is a possible delay gastric empty... the ph probe already told you that she is refluxing often. My DD's acid % was 22%. They also said that it shouldn't be bothering her but when we did the scope there was esophagus. There is a new probe called an impedance probe. this is done only at children's in our area but it will desirer what is coming up. "food, acid and it's level, bile" With my DD it was bile that was coming up and since it is sticky it was staying on her esophagus and doing damage and causing pain. So even though your DD's levels were low her symptoms are high so keep seeking.

As far as going back to work??? :shock: . I know some reflux mommies who did it and after a while it got easier for them. I hope your employer is flexible. From what it sounds like, you may have many dr appointments in your future. Is DD sleeping? that is another factor. Can you function on little sleep? Do you have family? if so ask for help!!! That is a hard one for a lot of us but you have too, especially if you go back to work. Is DH helpful? splitting feedings may help. But for sure if she has all the sudden refused all day feedings a serious conversation with your dr is in order. And if you don't like what the dr says... see someone else. There are some dr how don't know much about reflux and if you can get a refusal start with a ped. GI as soon as you can if you haven't already. She sounds like she is beyond a general ped at this point.

hoping you are having a better day
Sue

Thanks for responding. I spoke with her GI doc today. We are having a scope done on Weds. I hate to do it but it seems like she is just getting worse. She has been gaining weight (b/c I am struggling to feed her) but still in 25% for weight. She is 4 months on Tuesday and weighs 12 lbs 6 oz.

I stopped nursing her around Thanksgiving. She has always had problems eating and would pull off of me like it hurt. We put her on alimentum and now we are trying neocate (since last night). Boy is that stuff expensive.

What did they do for your daughter to help her? Allie's GI doc says she could have an ulcer. If so, what can be done?

I am going to try adding rice cereal to her formula to see if that helps a little. We haven't done that yet and maybe, just maybe it will help. The prevacid doesn't seem to help anymore (it did for a short time at first, but not now).

Thanks again,

Christyn

If you need to know anything about being a full time working refluxer mommy just ask away =-).

It is not easy but it can be done (with alot of caffine and time allowance).

Well good work keeping her weight up. That is half the battle. And very hard work I might add. What was her % at 3 month? It sounds like you have a very good doc that is proactive. And quick!!! Did they give you a run down on what will happen with the scope? The worse part for us was watching her get put to sleep. But you will no sooner sit in the waiting room and they will be done. We have had three of them so far.

Savannah was on neocate. Yes it is really really expensive. And the only thing our DD could stomach. Well, my DD is 5 years old now. She was not one of the lucky one and never grew out of it. We are a bit of a different story because my DD is med resistant. In that meds didn’t make her feel better but they did reduce the severity of the esophagitus. But if your DD has an ulcer they would treat it with carafate or something like that to treat the leasion. But if she does have one even after being on previcid, I am not sure what they would do to prevent another one if it is in the stomach,but there are other things they can do to protect the esophagus but get past the scope before you worry about that.

I look forward to hearing how the scope went.
Sue

Was her feeding any better before Alimentum? Maya was feeding around 20oz per day and went to Neocate and went down to 8-9 oz. I think she hated the taste of the hypoallergenic formula. When we went back to a milk based formula, her feeding rebounded to 16-20 oz although she still refuses several feeds a day.

Good luck with your return to work next week, Christyn. At this point, I'd seriously consider returning to work if Evan only had the GERD to deal with. He has too many appointments and therapies though, so I'm seriously considering handing in my resignation rather than returning to a stressful job part-time.