As of Wednesday he now weighs 9 lbs 11 oz! He's gained 3 pounds in 4 weeks! As you can probably tell he's having no trouble at all gaining weight! However, he does have trouble when he eats. I first noticed in the hospital that when he ate from his bottle ( yes, he's formula fed...please save the lecture on nursing...it hasn't worked for my babies or me and frankly I'm tired of the lectures- most recently from a complete stranger) he seemed to have trouble breathing, sucking, and swallowing at the same time. First I chalked it up to being brand new...I learned today that it is one of the most complex functions that our bodies do. After we ran out of the nurser 2 oz bottles from the hospital, we started using our own bottles. He continued to have trouble and started choking and coughing when he ate. Well, they are different bottles and the flow is more than he's used to. He'll outgrow it right? Then, last week, while in the car he started choking and scared the daylights out of me. Now, I'm not a doctor, but that is not normal. It is one of the scariest sounds I've ever heard, coughing, sharp intake of breath, and then silence that lasts a few seconds that seem more like minutes or hours! I made up my mind that if he did it again, I was calling the pediatrician. So, of course, he didn't do it again for several days. I began to think I was overreacting. According to Mike, I tend to do that. Ha!
A few nights ago he did it in his sleep. Time to call! It made me scared to go to sleep. So after a trip to see our favorite pediatrician, we were given a referral for a modified barium swallow study. I felt a little sick thinking that I was going to put my itty bitty baby through that. I had an Upper GI test a couple of years ago and YUCK, it was awful. But, I just had this nagging feeling that something wasn't right.
And you know what, I'm glad I trusted those mommy instincts. Turns out, he has frequent laryngeal penetration (liquid going above the airway) and a delay in swallow initiation (lets the formula pool in the back of his throat). Both of these things put him at a very high risk for aspiration, which can lead to lots of problems including pneumonia.
Lesson learned...I KNOW my babies and I KNOW when something isn't right. So, mommies...trust your instincts!
On a side note, we got to visit Brody in the hospital (even though he slept the whole time)...boy is he going to be ticked when he realizes "Baby Drew" and Jess was there and he missed it!
A few nights ago he did it in his sleep. Time to call! It made me scared to go to sleep. So after a trip to see our favorite pediatrician, we were given a referral for a modified barium swallow study. I felt a little sick thinking that I was going to put my itty bitty baby through that. I had an Upper GI test a couple of years ago and YUCK, it was awful. But, I just had this nagging feeling that something wasn't right.
And you know what, I'm glad I trusted those mommy instincts. Turns out, he has frequent laryngeal penetration (liquid going above the airway) and a delay in swallow initiation (lets the formula pool in the back of his throat). Both of these things put him at a very high risk for aspiration, which can lead to lots of problems including pneumonia.
Lesson learned...I KNOW my babies and I KNOW when something isn't right. So, mommies...trust your instincts!
On a side note, we got to visit Brody in the hospital (even though he slept the whole time)...boy is he going to be ticked when he realizes "Baby Drew" and Jess was there and he missed it!
