Well, we're home from Apollo's big appointment down at Seattle Children's Hospital. He was thoroughly examined by an Ear, Nose, Throat doctor.
The good news: his anatomy is all in order. No tumors, deformities, or structural issues.
The findings: his voice box and adenoids are red and inflamed, he's recovering from an ear infection and the ENT believes he is suffering from reflux.
A little research showed me these are the symptoms of reflux:
- Spitting up
- Irritability during or after feedings
- Coughing
- Wheezing
- Refusing to eat
- Crying when placed on his or her back, especially after a feeding
Aside from spitting up, it sounds just like him. Most reflux is apparently mild, but if this is Apollo's problem, he obviously needs medication for it, since is still isn't gaining weight (his weight today was down to 16 pounds 6 ounces). Apollo has a follow up appointment with our family doctor on Monday, which will hopefully end in a prescription for some medicine to give him relief.
The ENT also believes Apollo has allergies and wants him (and by extension me) off of all dairy. He wants me to try milk first, since he said it is the most common allergen.
Right now we feel relieved that everything looked good, and very hopeful that we can give our baby some relief.
{Whew, I am exhausted…aside from hosting Hezekiah's seventh birthday party yesterday, I photographed a birth last night, we headed to Seattle first thing this morning, and now it looks like I'll be photographing another birth tonight….don't worry, photos will follow, but it's going to take me a bit of time to get caught up!}
Soy latte’s are pretty good. 🙂 Glad to hear you have a lead in figuring things out with your sweet little guy.
So glad you are getting some answers for Apollo!! I hope the medicine will help and he can get back to being a happy boy once again!!
My oldest son had severe reflux as an infant. He was on meds until after his first birthday. He, too, was a waif of a guy. But he didn’t spit up. So … take that symptom for what it’s worth. 🙂
I’m so glad you’re getting some answers. I hope you get some sleep soon, too! Poor little guy. Relieved that there’s no other abnormalities, though.
My second child had reflux and the medicine really helped. I was hesitant to put her on daily meds at first, but after just a couple of days it made a huge difference. It was such a relief to see her eating happily again. And we were able to take her off the meds in about 6 months.
Praying the meds help!
I guessed reflux. I have suffered from reflux all my life. Also, I have some life threatening food allergies. I couldn’t take dairy during childhood either (and can’t now), but it is not life threatening. My advice is to take him off breast milk and put him on Nutramigen. That stuff is liquid gold. My youngest thrived on it. I put him on it early because I learned my lesson from his sister. I only wish I did it for my second one instead of using the process of elimination. She suffered needlessly. My grandson is around the same age as Apollo and he is thriving on Nutramigen. He is also on reflux medicine. But the reflux medicine alone did not help him. The Nutramigen did.
We had similar issues and went to childrens with one of our kids… we found a medicine (can’t remember what!) that helped a lot and we also used Simply Thick to thicken the fluids so that they would be “weighed down” so to speak. This was mostly because they were aspirating liquids, but it still helped with reflux, as well!
Renee,
I know how stressful these tests can be. I’m glad that you were able to get some answers:) My son also had pretty severe reflux. We didn’t end up needing medicine because once I went off all dairy and it was out of his system (can take 2 weeks) his reflux cleared up and he was a much happier baby..he was gaining weight and sleeping like crazy. I pray that it will be a positive change for you both! Giving up dairy can be a challenge for mom but it really made a huge difference for us! Hugs and Good Luck!
warmly,
Taryn
My son had reflux from birth and weight gain issues – he dropped off the charts between 4 and 6 months. Got prescribed a fair amount of medicine but the two that wound up working were domperidone and omeprazole. Don’t know if the domperidone is used in the US (I’m in the UK) but I’m pretty sure omeprazole is. Both of them helped my son quite a bit – his weight gain wasn’t instant and he was a skinny guy until past his 1st birthday… but now he is nearly 3 and around the 75th percentile for his height and weight, which is where he was at birth.
I breastfed him until 23 months and he was on meds until 18+ months. My pediatrician said we wouldn’t look into anything drastic (like a fundiplication (?) op) unless the weight loss was severe. For what it’s worth she told me she only rarely saw cases of acid reflux persist after the age of 4 and said most tended to clear up around the age of 2.
Sorry to write a novel! I am usually kind of shy about commenting, but I love your blog. I hope Apollo feels better soon.
My first son had horrible reflux as well with no spitting up. He would just buck his body back over and over again when drinking and meal times were a nightmare. It was so horrible not knowing what was going on with him. After two tries with different meds we found one that worked! I’m glad you found out some good information and are on your way to better days ahead!
I went dairy (and soy) free when my youngest was diagnosed with failure to thrive, and it fixed his problems in a snap. Good luck!
My daughter had several birth defects that caused a lot of issues, but she also had severe reflux and ended up having to have surgery (nissen fundoplication) AND put on 2 meds for a couple of years.
Here’s my 2 cents of advice that I learned from it all: If he will, let him sleep in a bouncy seat. OR on one of those big huge triange shaped pillows that are meant for adults. Anything to keep him from ever being flat. 🙂
I agree with the posts above, giving up dairy can be a challenge, but if that is part of Apollo’s problem, it is well worth the effort to change your diet so you can continue to breastfeed.
With my youngest child, we discovered he was sensitive to casein (milk protein) and gluten, but 3-4 weeks after I went gluten and dairy free, he was practically a different child. I was able to successfully breastfeed him until he weaned himself at age 2-1/2. As a bonus, I discovered that I too felt MUCH better on a gluten and dairy free diet, and still limit these items in my diet 9+ years later.
If you do decide to go dairy free, you may want to consider rotating the type of “milk” you are using every few days to help prevent new sensitivities from arising in you or your child – some milk sensitive babies also have problems with Soy as the protein structures of casein and soy are similar to each other. I switched between Rice milk, Almond milk, Soy milk and Potato milk (called Vance’s DariFree.)
Since other foods may be causing problems too, I would recommend keeping a food/behavior journal…it will help you see connections between the types of food you eat and your child’s behavior.
The following two links are a good place to start your research into Dairy/Casein sensitivities.
http://www.nomilk.com/
http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/food-sensitivity.html
Best wishes!