Back to the Drawing Board

We met with Clare's GI this week as well. I didn't post this earlier because I was savoring the good news from Clare's cardiologist. Her GI appointment was before the cardiology appointment, so I was still on my cardiology high earlier!

Unfortunately Clare's GI follow-up did not go as well as her cardiology one. She has not gained any weight in a couple weeks, so even though she was tracking along her weight curve previously, now she has stalled again. So it's back to the drawing board to come up with ways to beef Clare up! We were excited about the dietician's assessment of Clare, but the GI does not agree 100% with the dietician. The dietician said there was no need to increase the fortification of Clare's solids. The GI wants us to fortify them with 6 times the amount of formula powder as before! This means that for every tablespoon of pureed food Clare eats, we add one tablespoon of formula powder. I hate when you get conflicting opinions from the specialists because who do you listen to? We are following the GI's advice because he has seen Clare multiple times and knows her medical history as opposed to the dietician who saw Clare once.

When we made Clare's dinner the first night following the GI's new menu, it was so much powder and so much food. Shawn and I agreed that Clare would never eat all that especially with the amount of powder in it. I thought about cutting down on the amount of powder because it seemed like an extreme amount, but went ahead with it because I wanted to give it a real try. And you know what? Clare liked it! She polished off her entire dinner and has done so every night since. The powder is supposed to be tasteless, so I don't think it's the taste. Maybe Clare has an easier time with the consistency now? It just goes to show that you never know what will work. And you can't admit defeat before you even try.

Clare is going to follow-up with the GI in two weeks when she has her one year pediatric visit. In the meantime, we are doing our best to bulk her up. We've started giving her three meals a day (although she is not crazy about eating at breakfast or lunch yet) and are going to try her on whole milk soon. Her feeding technique has gotten so much better, and she barely dribbles any out now. She can pick up Cheerios and rice puffs and feed herself. She still has a very sensitive gag reflex, and we have had some cases of vomiting, but hopefully that will improve with time as well. Although getting her to consume more calories is a struggle right now, we are pleased with her progress in her technique so far.