Re: gtube am feeding trouble

September 10, 2004

Bethany --

I'm probably not much help to you, because my experience with mito is very

new/limited. I just thought I would say that I know several people (who are

" normal " ) who can't tolerate food in the morning. Maybe if you only feed her a

little water at first, then wait an hour or two before you start her feed that

will

help? My daughter, conversly, doesn't tolerate food as well at night, so we

are sure to cut things/slow things down on her last feed.

I don't think the zantac dose would cause the problem. Zantac neutralizes

acid, so it wouldn't prevent vomiting. The only possibility, from what I have

read, might be that blocking stomach acid, in some cases, may make reflux

worse. Stomach acid is needed in order to digest food, therefore the theory is

zantac may slow stomach emptying and actually make matters worse. You

could try not giving it to her for a week or so, and see if it makes things

better

or worse. Of course if she seems like she's in pain from reflux, that may be

very hard to do!

Good luck. I hope things do get better for your daughter. I have been in the

situation where my daughter is consistently vomitting meals, and I know how

hard that can be... especially when you can't figure out why.

--

> hi...my 4 year old daughter has been having difficulty lately with

> her first gtube feeding of the day. she receives 4-5 cans of

> peptamen jr. each day. most feedings are bolus. and she can

> tolerate a full can with an additional 1-2 oz. of water at each

> feeding. however, she has lately been vomiting after her first

> morning feeding. i have tried giving only a half of the can and

> then waiting a while to give her more....but she starts gagging and

> will throw up after the smallest amount.

> she is on zantac and we have been very careful to make sure she

> receives it every 12 hrs. not sure if this has anything to do with

> it?

> i can't figure out why she tolerates the rest of her feedings and is

> now having trouble with her morning?

>

> any help/ideas/advice would be greatly appreciated.

>

> thanks,

> bethany

> mom to brennan 7, palmer & anna grace (leighs) 4

September 10, 2004

Our is 6 and has always had GERD. She has also had a button since

she was about 15 months old. She is now six. We used to have problems

feeding at certaintimes. I would just skip the first feeding if it makes her

sick.

Try a little water. Then add another feeding later--even if it is after she

goes

to bed. Our could never handle bolus feedings of a can. Also, as time

went on, our DD could no longer tolerate the pediasure. We eventually had to

go to a predigested formula (cost about $900/mo).

Our used to take Zantac. She had a Nissen and now takes Nexium.

While adult dosing for Nexium is once daily, her gastric pH was way too low.

Could you buy some pH paper online and test your daughter's? You can buy

it from a school supply place. It costs about $10 with shipping. The pH should

be more than 4 so you need paper that goes from 1 to 7 (at least). You need

paper that goes down to 1. Anyway, take some of the gastric contents and put

it on the paper at a time other than feeding or zantac time.

I would guess that your zantac is not working well. It will not do a thing for

reflux. Its only purpose is to raise the pH of the stomach contents so that

when you reflux it does not cause so much damage.

When my daughter took zantac, she needed it 4 times a day. At one time, she

also took one dose of 150 mg along with 15 mg Previcid in the morn and 15

mg of previcid at night. She was 5 when she took this. She now takes 10 mg

of Nexium in the morn and 10 mg Nexium at night.