Weathering a New Storm

Mar 10, 2012 -So yesterday Jacob had an awesome eating day!  He took all his goal feeds by mouth and did so in a reasonable amount of time. The solution: New bottle nipples that are a size up. I think that after being sick, Jacob just didn't have it in him to bottle feed effectively with his thickened milk. Because of aspiration problems we couldn't thin the milk out, so I just thought we would try a larger size nipple. He did soooo much better. Besides that, he had a much greater appetite as well and was waking right on time for all of his feedings. Now the question is: Was that just to prepare him for the stomach flu??

Yes, that's right. We have had a 24 hour stomach flu in our house. We were hoping Jacob would be spared but with Hazel infecting everything in site and putting his paci in her mouth then his, Jacob didn't have much of a chance. About 4:30 this morning Jacob starting throwing up. He threw up about 4 times in thirty minutes so I knew it was not just the normal thing.

I called his pediatrician's office (who always has one of their doctors answering any and all calls-no answering service or nurse to go through first!) The doctor suggested to start Pedialyte right away in small doses and breastmilk. Another miraculous feature of breastmilk is it doesn't upset the stomach like formula or anything else for that matter. The doctor stressed breastmilk was okay but not formula. It was the first time I have been truly thankful for the NG tube. If Jacob didn't have the tube we would have to thicken any liquids he was to swallow, thus increasing his chances of an upset stomach and more throwing up. We have been able to keep Jacob hydrated and content. He has thrown up a few more times, but for the most part, he has been able to keep down his fluids. Now I expect a fever to follow for about 12-24 hours like Landon and Hazel had, but that is easily managed. It's always scary when an infant gets the throw-ups and/or diarrhea. It is especially scary when a baby like Jacob gets sick. Hopefully, we are weathering this storm and won't have to go to the hospital as Jacob seems to be in good (however sleepy) spirits!