Since I've been dealing with Noah's lack of eating since birth, I'm to the point now that I am debating whether or not to continue to force feed/sleep feed him. I know its not good to force feed, but if I didnt he wouldnt hardly eat. He is already barely hanging on to his weight. I think the more that I force, the more he resists. I dont know what to do. Should I continue to do what I've been doing (and driving myself crazy with worry), or just let him eat what he wants. Then maybe the docs will pay attention and do something! Some days I really think that tube feeding would be the answer for now. I hate to say that, but I just dont know what to do to get him to eat.

You are right in that the more you force him the more he will resist. Force feeding is never a good idea. I would let him take what he wants but maybe try to offer feedings more frequently. Sleep feeding is not ideal but it sometimes needed to get the intake they need. Forcing him is just setting you guys up for further feeding problems which may take longer to overcome than effects of his reflux has on his feeding. I would definitely express the difficulty you are having feeding with his doctors as often as needed so they will listen. Sometimes logging the amounts and frequency of feeding and his behavior during feedings help the doctors understand when you say he is not eating. Also videotaping feeding sometimes is effective.

vidio tape his eating habits and document everything: Video what happens when you don't force, when you offer and he wont even pay attention and when you force. This way you don't have to let him become FFT

Change doc if they aren't listening to you. Some don't have experience with GERDlings that start to refuse. YOu might even hear. Just let him take control and when he gets hungry he will eat :smt119 . Roll your eyes at them if they say that.

Sue

Lisa

What do you mean by force feeding? I think we all have different definitions.

Also, sleep feeding is FINE. Don't worry about it. That's what I've relied on for 8 months, and you have to do what you have to do to keep him healthy.

Can you not force feed, but step up sleep feeds? Let him have control when he's awake, but YOU take control when he is asleep. That's how I try to do things.

Why is he only on Pepcid? Have you tried a PPI? Do you think its more of an aversion that simply pain while eating? AKA behavioral? I have a thousand tricks and tips I could give you if he's simply made a bad association. Let me know... I've been manipulating my little guy since 6 weeks.;)

Maggie
Basically by force feeding him, we offer the bottle, he purses his lips shut, flaps his arms, turns his head etc. So I continue to hold the bottle to his lips until I can stick it in his mouth. Sometimes I have to force it into the side of his mouth and then move it to the middle where he can suck. Then its distraction time. Walking, talking, looking at lights or the tv, etc etc. If he forces the nipple out, I force it back in. This sounds terrible huh?
If he wakes up during a sleep feed (which is happening a lot lately), he thrashes about until the nipple gets pushed out of his mouth. Then I resort to what I mentioned above. Or else I give up and syringe it in. However, he just lets most of it roll down his chin. I try to do as many sleep feeds as possilbe, but its tough to get him to sleep that much. I have to give him 6 bottles to get in 24 oz a day.
As for the pepcid, thats all I have to give him since I cant get into a GI doc. My ped did give me a 10 day supply of prevacid, but it didnt seem to make a difference. I dont know if he's really in discomfort or if its an aversion. My guess would be an aversion. He has never really cried or arched or acted like he's in pain. Just the ususall silent reflux stuff with the occassional huge spit up. Plus he's been a terrible eater since day 1. Just never interested.
If you have any other ideas, I'm all ears!

Hi
This is so difficult. Sarah also hates to eat. She never really seems that hungry and if you left it to her she would eat almost nothing. I do ALOT of sleep feedings. Sarah also thrashes around and tries to squirm away while I am holding her. I have recently started something new with her and I don't know if it would work with your little one since he is older and more mobile. I have started feeding her while she is lying flat on the floor. I hold various toys in front of her to distract her. It takes alot of distration but she ate 5 ounces completely awake for the first time! I don't know if this is a good thing to do with reflux but you could try it. I guess it only works if they can't roll over yet.
karie

Evan wouldn't sleep feed. We had to force feed him to help him survive. B/c we somehow managed to get him to drink little bits, we never ended up having to tube feed him. Sometimes I feel like tube feeding would have been easier for him, but not having gone that route, I really don't know. I don't think that force feeding caused him to have food aversions, as he's been diagnosed with a sensory disorder. It's a tough call, I think that you'll have to go with your gut instinct on this one.

Sorry...late posting. :oops:

I would definitely push to see a GI doctor. You may have to find another pediatrician that will look at this more seriously so you can get a referral.

Videotaping feeds is a great idea. Sometimes it really shows the doctor what's going on. If your current ped doesn't budge after seeing the video, I'd be looking for another ped to refer you to a GI.

Tube feeding should not be an option, (in my opinion), unless you've tried everything else...ie..PPI's.

As for sleep feeding, Emma feeds better before naps so I also offer a bottle at that time, as well. She isn't technically sleep feeding, but it's like she's relaxed enough to drink better.

I still feed Emma at night, and it's the one time I feel like I'm feeding a "normal" baby.

We never had to use forced feeding, but we do a LOT of distractions to get in what we do.

Just wanted to aree with what everyone else has said. That is such a touh situation. Hopefully a PPI will help things, but may not help the bottle aversion for a while. Can you continue to sleep feed, but not force feed during the day? I don't know if this is an option, but when Nathan was refusing to feed, we used a Monoject syringe to feed him. It took forever just to get a few oz down, but I think we avoided the ER SO many times by doing this. He would watch Baby Einstein, and we would squirt the formula in. Hope that things get better soon!

Lisa -- We also went the force feeding and sleep feeding route. Neither are good, but I just couldn't let Daniel go hungry. The force feeding causes aversions, of course, and the sleep feeding prevents the child from learning new feeding skills. And tube feeding can cause problems, too, such as more gagging and vomiting, oral aversion from having something down the back of their throat and continual negative experiences as you drop the tube and retape retape retape. (Yes, I hated retaping.)

I agree with everyone else that you need to find a doctor that will take you more seriously, try different meds, and send you to a GI. And videotaping is a great idea. The first time I complained to our ped and the GI that D didn't want to eat, I actually thought they'd watch me feed him to see the problem. HA! They don't have time for that, especially when they still think there's really not a problem.

I would try the PPI, and also try to see a different GI. The PPI should make the reflux less painful. Noah still has all the symptoms, but they do not make him scream if his PPI dose is accurate.

Force feeding is definitely not a good thing, but I agree that its necessary in many situations. Sometimes, I stick a bottle in Noah's mouth while he's in his highchair or Exersaucer, and he'll drink an ounce or so. He usually only does this with water, but it does get fluid into him.