A Simply Simple Answer...

So I've mentioned in previous posts about our little man Zachary and how he has eating issues. Well even after visiting the pediatrician at his four-month appointment, she said he just needs to grow out of the reflux and to continue on with his medication. Well that advice does me no good considering I'm the one at home feeding him! Ironically, the week following his appointment, the symptoms progressively got worse.

It was apparent he was hungry and would gulp down 1-2 ounces. Then he would arch his back, cry, scream, squirm, etc... It was a chore just to get another ounce down. He really wasn't eating that much to begin with so of course this stressed me out big time that he refused to eat. The most frustrating thing is not knowing how to help or what to do. I wished he could just TELL me! So after a week of his behavior worsening and him projectile vomiting an ENTIRE night feeding, I was feeling so defeated. On top of that, stress makes me break out. Although my acne has worsened since having babies, these past couple weeks it has really gotten bad. Just having ONE baby with eating issues is enough to make a mom go crazy. On a side note, I've started using anti-wrinkle cream. Didn't know wrinkles came with babies too. :)

SO, I tried thickening his bottle with rice cereal. I was really excited and thought he might like it. However, it was such a calorie boost that he wasn't hungry the next feeding. Also, the rice gets thicker as it sits in liquid so by the end of one of his bottles, I had cut through three nipples just trying to keep the flow good for him. Mind you there are still two other babies eating at the same time and needing attention. I started asking around my multiples group to see if other mothers had experienced this. Some had and surprisingly a couple moms brought up milk aspiration and a product called Simply Thick. I've heard of the product before and hoped I wouldn't need to use it because of it's non-caloric value and price. However, when I heard other babies acting JUST like Zachary, I figured he was probably having the same issues. Simply Thick is a clear, tasteless, liquid thickener that you add to 4 oz of any liquid. It is supposed to help people with swallowing problems but in babies with reflux, it helps make the milk heavier, helps it go down the correct tube, and helps it stay in the stomach. I think what was happening with Zachary was when his stomach would fill up a little, because of the reflux, the milk would start coming back up and irritate his esophagus. I called my pedi and asked about changing to a gentler formula, maybe with less lactose because his stools were so hard, and possibly starting on the Simply Thick. She gave the go ahead for the Simply Thick and said we'd wait on the formula so see if things changed. With trying to solve an issue like this you can only change one thing at a time to know what worked.

You would think that typical pharmacies sell the Simply Thick. Nope. Of course not. So I spent all morning calling around trying to find where I could pick it up. I FINALLY looked on the Simply Thick website to see where they distribute it and much to my surprise, there is a specialty pharmacy right on the corner!! I ran and got a few packs to try out with Zachary before committing to a whole box.

Oh. My. Gosh.

He's a different boy.

He drank his bottle and didn't cry ONCE! I probably cried with how happy I was. The following three feedings that day were the same and I couldn't believe a difference it made!! The thickener makes it hard to get the milk flowing so I cut some bigger holes in the nipples just like with the cereal. However, I could never get a perfect size and decided to just use a level 3 Dr. Brown nipple even though I felt like it took much longer for him. I think he gets tired of sucking so hard by the end of the bottle but he doesn't seem to mind that much anymore. He still does protest his bottle sometimes but I believe it's because he is actually full and not in pain. I've come to that conclusion because he is not screaming. Now we are just having to deal with how distracted he gets during eating. He would rather look around at anything instead of drink. Here's our solution...



I've heard that the thickener can slow the babies stools down even more so we've started giving him 1/2 oz prune juice at night with his vitamins. Seems to do the trick! The Simply Thick adds more volume to the bottle but he still drinks the same amount of milk as before. He is now drinking around 21 oz/day. Almost 3-4 oz more than when he was at his worst. Still not a lot but let's face it, he's just not a big eater. Anyone ever met his Dad? :)

I'm just so relieved that we could find a temporary solution until he hopefully grows out of this reflux thing. I know it will help when we start adding solid foods but I don't really want to go there for a while yet.

In other news that isn't so serious, here are some highlights from this past week:

• Caleb no longer fits into six-month onesies after they have been washed.
• Leah and Caleb now share a room since they are both sleeping through the night (however, this morning Caleb woke up at 5am subsequently waking Leah. Although I didn't go get them until six, their nap schedule has totally been thrown off).
• We took the babies mall walking, covered up of course, but it was nice to get out of the house. The mall we went to is NEVER busy so I wasn't too worried about germs. Plus, we didn't stop to talk to anyone. We have a double and single stroller and someone asked if we had quads. Funny. Like we had stuffed two babies into one carseat.
• We rescanned our television converter box and it finally picked up ABC! Now I can enjoy the Bachelor and Modern Family. Yes!
  
• The biggest highlight of all.......two babies rolled over multiple times on their own!!!

Caleb will hopefully get there soon!