Oh what fun we had with Eliana tonight! She has tried to laugh - and done maybe a small chuckle a couple of times - but tonight she laughed! Over and over. She started it as I was holding her and looking at her. (Not sure what she found so funny!) She laughed and then I laughed back. She repeated. We did this over and over until my cheeks were starting to get sore. (Yes, I need to laugh more!) It was so much fun. What sweet sounds to my ears.
We met with a feeding therapist today. She was able to get her to eat the whole bottle! I think it helped that it had been 4 hours since her last feeding. I was not able to replicate this again today. The therapist thought she looked good - and that we would be able to get her off the feeding tube fairly quickly. She wants to talk with Eliana's pediatrician to make a plan for her. All of this will be run by her cardiologist on Monday. Some of the things to figure out include how much fluid she needs per day (something important to consider as she is a cardiac baby) in addition to how many calories. She is wanting to let hunger drive her in hopes that she will learn to eat for this reason - instead of letting the clock dictate when she eats.
I do want to get her off the tube. I think it will be a tough transition for her as she has pretty much not had hunger-driven feedings. I know that it will work out though - it just may be a challenge getting there. ;-) Currently she eats maybe 6 oz per day - that's about 1/4 of her total intake. Sometimes she is sleepy, others she just won't eat. Lately she has started blowing bubbles which while cute, really doesn't help the food to go in!
Some of the options she talked about are things I'm not sure I'm comfortable with (because it is just counter to what I've done with my other children) and will want to do more research before agreeing to anything. (Things like adding things - cereal or corn syrup - to her bottle feedings and enlarging the hole in the bottle.) It's hard to know what is best. I want to trust others to tell me, but I know that sometimes I need to do my research too.
It's late and I'm heading to bed. Morning always comes faster than I want it too. Just wanted to share our news. Oh, and one last thing. The last stitches from Eliana's surgery fell out on Sat. She is healing so very nicely.
Sorry this is short.
Love,
Leslie
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11 hours ago
It's so good to hear about Eliana laughing. Are you doing anything currently to increase the calories in her formula? Connor was on 30 calorie formula forever. Originally we just added more powder (this is what we were told to do by cardiologist and ped) when we were in Boston they told us we shouldn't do that because it was hard on his organs (liver?? kidneys?? I can't remember now.) Anyway, we ended up buying a special kind of powder to add to his formula which was mainly sugar I believe. I can't remember right now what it is called. Hopefully, it will come to me sometime today. :) I was just googling for it and came up with Polycose. I am not sure that that is exactly what we used but it may have been. (I thought corn syrup was like honey and you weren't supposed to give it to children under 1 year. I could be wrong though. I know I was fed formula made with evaporated milk and corn syrup....ewwww...LOL!)
ReplyDeleteLove, Karen
Just wanted to send you a hug this morning and tell you that my heart is rejoicing with yours upon the sound of Eliana's laughter! :)
ReplyDeleteKeeping you in our prayers, dear one...
Oh...this post made me happy! Praying she eats from that bottle more and more!!
ReplyDeleteHi Leslie,
ReplyDeleteWhat great news to hear about that sweet laughter. This morning I was reading in Psalms and thinking about you, and Psalm 126 is SO appropriate for you today!
...Then our mouth was filled with LAUGHTER, and our tounge with singing.
Then they said among the nations,
"The Lord has done great things for them."
The Lord has done great things for us,
And we are GLAD.
...Those who sow in tears shall reap in JOY.
He who continually goes forth weeping,
Bearing seed for sowing,
Shall doutless come again with REJOICING,
Bringing sheaves with him.
Psalm 126
I pray that you continue to reap a harvest of JOY and LAUGHTER!
Love, Cyndi
How sweet music to your ears! Now that she's learned, she'll probably do it alot!
ReplyDeleteAll of our feeding issues were different from my other kids! I had never bottle fed any of my other kids. Have you experimented with different nipples? We tried several different ones before we found one that Neil would drink from. We also had to add calories to the breast milk/formula simply by adding more formula.
Good luck!
Pat T (Neil's mom)