Consult

luvboston · September 2013

At what point did you insist on a specialty consult when your baby was not getting better?

kck329 · September 2013

If you are concerned and are not satisfied with the answers you are getting from the neos, its always ok to ask for a second opinion.

What's going on with your little one?

luvboston · September 2013

At every meal she either chokes or sucks back rolls her eyes and then has a Brady. She always gets the hiccups after eating and yesterday started coughing after eating. She also just doesn't seem like the bright vibrant girl she was last week. Also she is sleeping for 4.5 hours at a time and the nurses don't like that but I rather she sleep if she's exhausted. Also after she has a Brady her color just doesn't look good for an hour or so. She was supposed to go home 2 x and got postponed. My famy has a huge history if stomach issues as babies including reflux,lactose intolerance etc. my sister had Brady's until her reflux was treated. She also is constantly trying to push out gas.

LaciJaxx · September 2013

Is she eating from a bottle yet? Did she just start on tye bottle? Maybe try a different nipple, like an orthodontic nipple. What are they doing for her? is she on any meds? Have they tried any cereal in the milk? Our nicu made our baby eat every three hours. They need that for brain development. We used rice cereal for awhile and it really helped the reflux. But they had to cut the nipple and if it weren't perfect, he'd choke and even had a Brady once. We ended up having the best luck (and still do) with the orthodontic nipple. They took his feeding tube out once and he got too tired with all the feedings and went downhill. They put it back in as a backup and it was back out in 3 days for good. It's a dance, one step forward, three steps back. But when your baby is ready, she will make great strides. Hope that helps!!

luvboston · September 2013

She ripped the tube out last week and has been exclusively bottle feeding we have tried 4 different nipples and bottles. She is only on vit d and iron.

LaciJaxx · September 2013

Everything you're saying sounds familiar. I think most of us experienced the same things in the nicu. Our neonatologist and pediatrician both told us all babies have reflux, just some worse than others. I guess I would try to have a chat with yours and see what their plans are and see if you can have any input. We had amazing luck in being able to talk with them anytime we needed and get answers. I really have to wonder if your LO is just super tired from eating from the bottle. It takes a lot out of them when they're so tiny. Our LO ripped it out numerous times but they'd just put another in until 2 days before discharge. Don't give up hope. It will get better. Keep the communication open.

LaciJaxx · September 2013

Oh I meant to add that the rice cereal ended up making him constipated after a few weeks. We tried the oatmeal too, same thing. He was super fussy so we stopped giving it about a week or so after discharge. But it worked and helped there for a few weeks while he was in the nicu. It served its purpose.

kck329 · September 2013

If you think its reflux, you can ask when/if they will do a swallow study or ph probe to see what is going on.

If you think its a dairy issue (for most babies the issue isn't lactose but casein, the dairy protein) then you can request she is put on elemental formula or if you are pumping, cut dairy from your diet and see how that goes. Cutting dairy can take a few weeks before you see results though.

It could also be that she has a weak suck-swallow-breath reflex. You can ask to have her evaluated by an OT for feeding issues to see if they can find some methods of helping her eat without bradies.

jbranden12 · September 2013

I would definitely ask for an evaluation from the speech therapist immediately. It's not a big deal, they should just come and give her a bottle and give a recommendation to the neo.

airsica · September 2013

I would totally ask for a consult. Our pedi came in and discussed the care of our twins from week one in their stay at the NICU. He would come in and talk to the neonatologists, and nurses them come talk to us. He would also help with the specialists. It was really nice to have everything phrased a little different, most of the time he agreed with the other dr.s but he had his own expertise that helped the other Drs.

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