AlishaMay

Mollymay39

I responded to your post about the swallow study, but had another question.

When you were told to thicken your formula, did you? With rice? It was recommended that we do that. Having some trouble figuring out the best nipple for this. Yesterday's attempt was a little crazy. The first bottle was fine, although it seemed really fast. When I tried it again that night, he sucked really hard (probably really hungry) and it choked him. It was a nightmare. I had to just prepare another bottle with the regular nipple and no rice cereal, just to get him to eat and calm down.

Do you remember what nipples you used with the bottle? How fast was the flow?

Thanks! 

AlishaMay

HI!

Nanette was in the hospital at 17 days old because she actually had a spell where she stopped breathing because of her reflux.  That's when they started us thickening her bottle to help weigh down the formula.  Finding the right bottle/nipple combination can be really hard, as well as the right amount of thickening.  So much of 'treating' reflux is trial and error.

 We use the Playtex Drop In's and we were told to try the Y cut cereal nipples and it was a mess!  They also told us to do 1 Tbsp per ounce.  In the end this was way too thick and too hard for her to digest.

What finally worked for us, was a medium flow nipple until she was about 3 months or so, when we switched to a fast flow nipple.  If one seems to be a little too slow and the other too fast, try heating up a sewing needle and pushing it though the hole in the nipple that is slower to make it just a little bit bigger.  

I found that the Beechnut Rice Cereal was the best.  It's a finer grain, so it dissolves much easier and seems to be more consistent .  It's also more 'pure' and isn't contaminated with milk or soy - both of which we later learned that she is allergic to.  As far as how much, it's hard to tell, don't be afraid to play with the amounts.  Formulas on their own are different thicknesses, and we've had to adjust our ratio of cereal to formula every time we switched to a new formula.

If you have any other questions, I'd be happy to help!  Good luck!

 

Mollymay39

Thank you so much! That info is so helpful. I have been to Babies R Us twice in the last 24 hours just trying to find the right nipples. I ended up buying just about every Dr. Brown level. We tried the Y cut last night. WAY too fast. Today I tried Level 2...just a tad slow. Level 3 worked well at the last feeding. He ate slow and steady, and didn't seem to struggle or deal with it coming out too quickly. Let's keep our fingers crossed.  I did 5 ounces of formula and about 5tsp rice. We were also told to stay away from Gerber. I only could find Earth's Best (had to go two places to find it). I will get Beechnut next.

I am hoping the thickening will help. Doctor feels that with the changes (med change, new formula, thickening etc) that I'll have a happier baby in 10 days. Let's hope! 

Thanks again! 

AlishaMay

Mollymay39:

Thank you so much! That info is so helpful. I have been to Babies R Us twice in the last 24 hours just trying to find the right nipples. I ended up buying just about every Dr. Brown level. We tried the Y cut last night. WAY too fast. Today I tried Level 2...just a tad slow. Level 3 worked well at the last feeding. He ate slow and steady, and didn't seem to struggle or deal with it coming out too quickly. Let's keep our fingers crossed.  I did 5 ounces of formula and about 5tsp rice. We were also told to stay away from Gerber. I only could find Earth's Best (had to go two places to find it). I will get Beechnut next.

I am hoping the thickening will help. Doctor feels that with the changes (med change, new formula, thickening etc) that I'll have a happier baby in 10 days. Let's hope! 

Thanks again! 

Happy to help!  I hope all goes well for you and your LO - at least it's something they'll grow out of right?!