Sophie had another doctor appointment earlier this week with a new GI doctor. This was officially the 3rd GI doctor we have seen & she basically explained in better detail what we learned at the hospital & she actually used the words "gastric dysmotility". I have been really good about not googling all of her medical issues because there is so much out there on the Internet & I have tried my best to just listen & understand about her condition from her doctors. Basically what I have learned is that dysmotility is when the strength or coordination of the esophagus, stomach or intestine muscles do not work as they should. But the good news is that the medicine she is currently taking has proven to help children with this condition:
She is taking 1 medicine twice a day & 2 other medicines 3 times a day. The 2 that she takes 3 times a day are specifically used to help with the dysmotility issues & since she has been on them, we have seen improvement. We have fed her 1 ounce of pureed baby food once a day for the past 2 weeks & she has not thrown up! Meaning the medicine is helping to push the food through her system the way it should be, so she is not throwing up her bottles anymore:
After we met with the doctor, we met with a new dietician. They both said that we should be able to get Sophie to maintain a regular diet as long we are consistent with the medicine. We have already learned our lesson, because the one time we accidently skipped a dosage, she threw up.
We are having to make changes a little slower than usual. We are definitely starting over & treating her like an infant because we do not know for sure if she has any food intolerances. So pureed baby food only, starting with single fruits & vegetables. In the past 2 weeks, she has only had sweet potatoes, peaches & peas. Once we make it through all of the single fruits & vegetable, then we can do mixed foods. They want us to specifically stay away from any protein & dairy at this point. Our first goal is to increase the amount she eats in one setting. She has never had more than 1 ounce at a time, so our goal is to get her up to 3-4 ounces in one sitting. Once she can do that for a while, then we will try feeding her 2 times a day & eventually 3 times a day. At this point her stomach is really small since she is not used to food & we are having to manage her food consumption with her medicine dosage to make sure that the medicine is still working properly. Eventually we are hoping to try soft table foods with her, but that will really be trial & error since she has a hard enough time consuming & digesting pureed baby food. They have already told us to expect some gagging & choking since she is not used to eating at her age. And for some reason, children who throw up a lot tend to gag & choke much easier than normal children.
We are not giving her anything else to drink except for formula at this point. First of all, until we can truly increase her food intake, the only calories she gets is from what she drinks. We are making the transition from an infant formula to a toddler formula. They sent me home with 2 different samples that we are going to try with her to see which one she likes better. Both of them are similar to what she is currently taking which already has the proteins broken down.
I know this is a long boring blog for those who are still reading, but I am really trying to document all of this because I really have a horrible memory. On a fun note, Sadie was so excited to go to the doctor with us. I usually try to schedule Sophie's appointment while Sadie is in school, but I took the first appointment we could get. I was by myself with both of the girls & they did good considering we were there for 2 hours, but Sadie started getting restless the last 30 minutes or so. And then she realized that if Sophie was naked, she wanted to be naked too:
Oh goodness - there I am by myself at the doctor with 2 naked children. Luckily they were well behaved, just naked :) Luckily she did this after the doctor left so only the dietician saw Sadie without clothes on. After the dietician left, Sadie pretended to be the doctor so she could check Sophie's tummy:
These girls definitely keep me on my toes :) Stay tuned & I will blog again if we have any changes with Sophie as we strive to maintain some sort of food diet for that sweet girl.
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