Does anyone know the best things to suppliment with that won't slow gastric emptying time. It seems like the oil has really slowed Sarah's emptying. Is there other things that are better to boost calories that won't slow things down too much?
karie

Hmmm...I am not sure about this one, but I know lots of other people probably know a lot about this. I'm going to check the DGE forum to see if there might be some info there, too.

:-)

I didn't find much...I'll step back and leave this to the DGE experts!

Here's some info I posted awhile back about boosting calories. However, I have no idea how any of this stuff would affect DGE.

http://www.infantrefluxdisease.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5152&highlight=calorie+boosters

The main things that we've used are protein powder, a calorie fortifier, and Carnation Instant Breakfast. They didn't seem to bother Evan's DGE any more than the other foods. Fats seemed slower to digest.

Tough one. Iain has DGE as well but we did use the oils. Initially we were restricted and unable to do the dairy as they were concerned about allergies. Once he was cleared on that we did butter, etc. One thing you may try is sugar in the purees. If the puree is sweet to begin with add a teaspoon or so to it and you are good for another 15 calories. Plus, you can put it into the bottle as well or into a drink. Making every bite or sip count is very important.

How bad is the DGE? Do you notice increased reflux when you try to supplement? My guy is a silent refluxer.

I'm not sure what is considered bad but Sarah's emptying is 40% at 90 minutes. She is also more of a silent refluxer although when she has a good day and takes more than usual the next day she usually vomits. I noticed that when we increased to 27cal/oz Sarah food refusal becames much worse and she pretty much refused to suck. She had no appetite. We backed down to 24 cal/oz and she seems better.

A "normal" child will be 50-70% emptied within one hour of the test. They scan each half hour and at the 2.5 hour mark I understand they give up. We were at 24% in one hour and at 2.5 hours it was 45%.

I have seen much worse here on the boards and really it does not matter what the % is, it is still DGE.

Funny what a difference 3 ounces can make. Are you able to increase it slowly, even by half ounces?

We use duocalto supplement solids, it is made of carbohydrates and fats, so could still slow down gastric emptying somewhat although I'm thinking it will be much more gentle than oil on the system as it is designed specificaly for this.

We used the oil and it did help with his weight but we waited seemingly forever for him to be interested in his bottle between feeds. Our saviour was the sleepy night feeds again as at least we could get food into him overnight as well.

I just moved this thread over to the DGE forum in case people there have any ideas.