Back on the Pump

Talked to Dr. Brady this afternoon and we came to the conclusion that maybe going straight to 7 bolus feeds from 3 may have been too fast of a change for Connie. He's back to normal wetting and stooling and has kept down his 10am and 1pm bolus feeds minus a little, tiny, phlegmy spit. The new plan is to give him bolus feeds at 10a, 1p, 4p and 7p and then turn the pump on continuous at 10pm until 6am. I did the calculations again and it seems that he went from 1140 mL per day down to 700 mL per day for intake when we switched him over. That is considerable and when the vomiting increased, it's no wonder why he lost weight. Now he'll be getting 960 mL per day. Hopefully he handles it well.

Connie was receptive to some new oral motor stimulation today. Yesterday he loved getting very diluted apple juice mixed with ice water via syringe. He sucked the syringe as I slowly emptied it into his mouth. He was heard swallowing and didn't cough or choke or gag at all (until the end when he spit it all up). He did this for a good 20 minutes. Today he did the same with some pear juice in the ice water and wasn't quite as crazy about the flavor. I filled a medicine dispensing pacifier with the juice mixture and dipped it into the juice and offered it to him. He sucked a little (just the tip--didn't put it all the way in his mouth), but was very eager to do it himself--which he couldn't. I then poured some of the juice mixture into a take and toss sippy cup and gave him some sips. He took four sips/swallows and then lost interest. Tomorrow I'm going to try it with the apple and see if he likes that better. It's amazing ! By this time next week he may be drinking more like 1/2 ounce or so from the cup. We'll see.