Daddy has finally reached his boiling point with this whole ordeal. Up to this point, he's been the positive one who tried to keep mommy from jumping off the cliff. But the past couple days, the roles have reversed. Hopefully the end is in sight...
About a week ago, the nurses finally convinced the doctors to order a suck / swallow study. The test is to check how the milk is swallowed to ensure it's going down the right pipes. They also did an upper GI to ensure everything was fine there. Both tests came back and they were negative. That's when things went downhill. The next day, they changed to formula. They wanted to rule out the possibility of cow's milk protein allergy. Neither one of us really understood why they thought mommy was a cow, but we decided to go along with it (since they had already started it by the time we got there). The formula smelled very bad and according to Austin's reactions, it must of tasted really bad too. He no longer enjoyed eating and would scream at the top of his lungs everytime you laid him down for more. Daddy noticed on the bottle that it said to use within one hour or discard. He mentioned it to the nurses who just came up with some story that it only related to formula that had spit in it. Daddy not knowing anything believed her and just dropped it. The next day, daddy read the back of the box and it said very clearly that any unused portions should be refrigerated or used within 2 hours as it spoils quickly. The problem with all of this is he was eating every 4 hours. So we are convinced the formula was spoiled which gave him an upset stomach (screaming) and tasted bad (no longer liked to eat).
Mommy and daddy also read up on the cow's milk protein. What we read even pissed us off more. The articles we found on it said that breastmilk fed babies are at low risk of developing the allergy. If it did start to develop, the best thing was to keep the baby on breastmilk and keep mom away from dairy, which she had started to do on her own about a week before all of this. Not to mention the fact that they had stopped adding additional calories with a formula fortifier, which was based on cow's milk protein. So we had already reduced or eliminated the cow's milk protein the previous week.
About a week ago, the nurses finally convinced the doctors to order a suck / swallow study. The test is to check how the milk is swallowed to ensure it's going down the right pipes. They also did an upper GI to ensure everything was fine there. Both tests came back and they were negative. That's when things went downhill. The next day, they changed to formula. They wanted to rule out the possibility of cow's milk protein allergy. Neither one of us really understood why they thought mommy was a cow, but we decided to go along with it (since they had already started it by the time we got there). The formula smelled very bad and according to Austin's reactions, it must of tasted really bad too. He no longer enjoyed eating and would scream at the top of his lungs everytime you laid him down for more. Daddy noticed on the bottle that it said to use within one hour or discard. He mentioned it to the nurses who just came up with some story that it only related to formula that had spit in it. Daddy not knowing anything believed her and just dropped it. The next day, daddy read the back of the box and it said very clearly that any unused portions should be refrigerated or used within 2 hours as it spoils quickly. The problem with all of this is he was eating every 4 hours. So we are convinced the formula was spoiled which gave him an upset stomach (screaming) and tasted bad (no longer liked to eat).
Mommy and daddy also read up on the cow's milk protein. What we read even pissed us off more. The articles we found on it said that breastmilk fed babies are at low risk of developing the allergy. If it did start to develop, the best thing was to keep the baby on breastmilk and keep mom away from dairy, which she had started to do on her own about a week before all of this. Not to mention the fact that they had stopped adding additional calories with a formula fortifier, which was based on cow's milk protein. So we had already reduced or eliminated the cow's milk protein the previous week.
Now to the really frustrating point. The week before starting this new formula when they stopped adding the formula fortifier to the breastmilk and mommy stopped eating dairy, his averages started climbing. His averages went from mid 30s, to 40s, to 50s and the last day, he jumped up to the 60s. He finished 2 of his bottles and did really well on all the others. Best day he had by far. A couple more days like that, he would of been coming home. So why did they decide to change everything when he was doing so well and the day before was his best day? Good question, one we still do not understand.
So after the couple days of the new formula, Dr. Green came in and changed everything up. He took out the feeding tube that went from his nose to his stomach because he thought it may be irritating things. They also placed a wedge in his bed so he sleeps at about a 45 degree angle and ordered Prilosec twice a day to help with any reflux. They changed his feeding amount to a minimum of 75cc. They changed him to a new formula that has rice cereal added to help with spit ups. And finally, they had us get Dr. Browns bottles. These bottles reduce the amount of air they swallow when feeding, and they seem to work. Again, not a plan that they ran across us before starting, but we liked this plan much more. He's been on this new plan since Saturday and he has been doing really well. He is completing bottles left and right and enjoys eating again. He's been finishing 80 and yesterday even finished 85. He's finally making progress on his last action item!
Austin had his car seat study last night. They put his pulsox back on then placed him in his car seat. They left him in there for an hour and a half and monitored his oxygen levels, heart rate and respritory rate to ensure he has no problems sitting upright for that long. He had no apneas, bradycardias and slept most of the time. From what we understand, he passed the test but we will find out for sure when we go in today.
He also had his circumcision a week on the 6th. He didn't seem to be bothered one bit by it.
He weighs 8 pounds, 4.1 ounces.
Hopefully the next posting will be about Austin breaking free of the NICU :-)
So after the couple days of the new formula, Dr. Green came in and changed everything up. He took out the feeding tube that went from his nose to his stomach because he thought it may be irritating things. They also placed a wedge in his bed so he sleeps at about a 45 degree angle and ordered Prilosec twice a day to help with any reflux. They changed his feeding amount to a minimum of 75cc. They changed him to a new formula that has rice cereal added to help with spit ups. And finally, they had us get Dr. Browns bottles. These bottles reduce the amount of air they swallow when feeding, and they seem to work. Again, not a plan that they ran across us before starting, but we liked this plan much more. He's been on this new plan since Saturday and he has been doing really well. He is completing bottles left and right and enjoys eating again. He's been finishing 80 and yesterday even finished 85. He's finally making progress on his last action item!
Austin had his car seat study last night. They put his pulsox back on then placed him in his car seat. They left him in there for an hour and a half and monitored his oxygen levels, heart rate and respritory rate to ensure he has no problems sitting upright for that long. He had no apneas, bradycardias and slept most of the time. From what we understand, he passed the test but we will find out for sure when we go in today.
He also had his circumcision a week on the 6th. He didn't seem to be bothered one bit by it.
He weighs 8 pounds, 4.1 ounces.
Hopefully the next posting will be about Austin breaking free of the NICU :-)
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