RE: Re: I'm devastated (to Jerri, long)

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 10/5/2006 10:26:13 AM Central Standard Time,

krnardini@... writes:

<<had I not taken the same elective twice, I would not be having this

conversation with my prof., and she would not have told me that here own dd had

been

through the same thing and what I needed to do to help her.>>

Wow, Kristy, what a moment! So often, we're led to just what we need if we

just pay attention. So... please share what this prof. told you to do to help

your sweet daugther. Those of us with ultra skinny kids want to know.

Gaylen

[Guest guest]

Hi,

Well, my daughter (and son) developed reflux right around her due date. She

was put on meds for the reflux, but she also had a very difficult time with

sucking-breathing, and it was very difficult for her to grow (b/c she burned

lots of calories eating & breathing, plus she couldn't consume very many).

At 14 months (and 11 pounds), her GI insisted on switching her from infant

formula (dairy based) to another dairy based formula, nasty ol' Pediasure,

and a g-tube. Her vomiting got substantially worse. We tried using the

g-tube for 5 months, even switching to another, hypoallergenic formula, but

it was only making things worse, so we had it removed. She got a new GI, who

recommended rice milk, but then wanted her on another hypoallergenic formula

b/c she needed the calories, fats and nutrients not in rice milk. Looooooong

story shorter: my professor told me she probably had outgrown the reflux,

but that the constant vomiting had damaged her already immature digestive

system (b/c she was born 14 weeks early) and it needed to be healed with a

food elimination diet. We put her on lamb and rice (products) only for 3.5

weeks, then very, very slowly reintroduced new foods, waiting up to 1 month

between intros (because it took her that long to show intolerance). Within 3

days on the diet, she stopped gagging all the time and vomiting, and

consuming A LOT of food (went from a few nibbles - she always LIKED food -

to eating 1+ cup of rice or rice pasta at a sitting). It still took her a

very long time to catch up on her growth, although she's been on a growth

spurt since last March, when I finally took her bottle away on her 4th

birthday, which meant she no longer drinks any kind of 'milk' (she was

getting fortified soy), but she gets calcium from other sources. She looks

and feels great, and has put on a whopping 5 pounds since the end of March

(she weighs almost 27 pounds). Fortunately, her development never suffered

from her ordeal, and she has always met or exceeded her milestones, and she

has always remained hydrated, happy, alert, etc. Just before the elim. diet,

she was getting sick A LOT, b/c when the body is getting foods that don't

agree with it, it defends itself by producing mucous, which in turn causes

illness, and that was when I was so fearful we were losing her.

The biggest offender in her diet, which was a complete shock to me, was

corn, which is in virtually EVERY infant/toddler formula. Her GI docs were

pumping her full of formula (by g-tube!), which was making her sicker and

sicker, all the while insisting that she could not possibly be

allergic/sensitive to the formulas. Unbelievable.

The other miracle is that I learned SOOOOO much from all of it, and it has

been very beneficial to my son. I wish I had put him on the same elimination

diet back then when they were 2, and he was eating everything we put in

front of him.

Kristy

Re: Re: I'm devastated (to Jerri, long)

In a message dated 10/5/2006 10:26:13 AM Central Standard Time,

krnardini@... writes:

<<had I not taken the same elective twice, I would not be having this

conversation with my prof., and she would not have told me that here own

dd had been

through the same thing and what I needed to do to help her.>>

Wow, Kristy, what a moment! So often, we're led to just what we need if we

just pay attention. So... please share what this prof. told you to do to

help

your sweet daugther. Those of us with ultra skinny kids want to know.

Gaylen