Saturday, July 5, 2008

Weight woes

We knew it had been a rough eating month for Noah.  

I didn't know how rough until I took him to the pediatrician on Thursday.

He weighed in at only 15.4 lbs after cracking the 16 lb mark in May.  While I had expected some weight loss, I had not expected it to be so much.  

So we are back into weight recovery mode... trying to push as many calories as possible in a form that Noah is most likely to keep down.  

This is complicated by his finicky eating habits... he had been eating great from the spoon last week but this week doesn't bite down or swallow.  He continues to be unwilling to suck on his bottle.  His stomach tolerates thick food much better than liquids, which poses a challenge if we have to feed him by g-tube and not by mouth.  

Our most recent strategy involves making a thick rice cereal and formula mix that we push though his g-tube using a syringe and then add a little high-calorie yogurt drink for good measure.  It is quite the process but it has yielded good results so far.  

I'm planning on calling our pediatric GI on Monday to fill him in and pick his brain.  There is another type of feeding tube that goes directly into the small intestine ... this would allow us to bypass Noah's highly unpredictable stomach and hopefully guarantee a higher calorie intake.  We are anxious to find out if this is an option.  

The bottom line is that Noah is a happier kid when he isn't vomiting and is getting a decent amount of calories... we will do whatever we need to do to make that happen!

3 comments:

The Wagners said...

Wish we were there...always praying for you.

erin said...

We'll be praying for Noah's eating. I hope he keeps sleeping for you at night. Oh friend, those must have been some long long nights. Love ya!

thewalseths said...

We've been thinking about you and praying for guys.

Guestbook

The Lauer Family