Okay. Turns out the button was just blocked with some I don't know what. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions so fast. As advised by a friend, we now know how to troubleshoot it, flushing with some coke or fizzy water.
It's just a big relief that the button's A-okay. The surgeon used the stick to stretch the BARD peg upon insertion, so I think insertion isn't that painful. It's the pulling out that wasn't with the stick, just bare hands. But given that it's so soft, I guess it's less painful than it looks. It would have been better if a nurse had held Vera down. Then I wouldn't have to see the blood oozing out from The Hole few centimetres from my face.
Anyway, that's all over.
The poo - it's still not regular.
We don't have Pediasure with Fibre here in Singapore. I could ask the local supplier if they could ship it in, but thing is, I'm just not very keen on Pediasure anymore. I know it's for tubefeeding it's complete nutrition, but my gut feel is that it is too potent (rich, thick, sweet) for her system. Another reason is our house has become an ant-haven. They LOVE Pediasure! So once the poop gets regular, I might try out another non-sweet milk.
With the constipation : I've tried adding really smooth banana puree to her milk, and giving pear juice. She's on Vitamin C and lactulose, and lacto GG. I've upped her water intake by a lot. More than her daily requirement. So far, we're not seeing the smooth passing of stools on these.
Thanks for all the suggestions. Keep them coming!
9 comments:
Lily responds well to applesauce. Have you tried that or apple juice? Lily will take a little by mouth, so I don't have to put it through her tube, (is it too thick to go through a tube?) but she definitely has better bowel movements when she's eaten a little applesauce. And she loves it when it's an applesauce/blueberry mix.
I've read somewhere online that if the child is not so active, it may lead to constipation. Can try cooking vegetable soup too. Glad the button is ok.
Yar I strongly believe its the Milk issue that causes the constipation as my daughter try certain milk formula brands and will get very bad constipation. I have to try a few before finding the right one.
How about there is a Dumex fomula in Singapore which is also like Prediasure supplying all the essential nutrition.
Hi May...You might want to stop with the banana puree as bananas are constipating!
Regards..from Sue in Canada!
kaiya is having constipation issues as well...i actually just put some castor oil through her tube (talk about a mess...) nothing else we were trying worked. i would definitely cut out the bananas. kaiya's pediatrician has pretty much forbidden kaiya to eat them b/c they are known to back things up. he says that she can have any fruit that begins with a p. so pears, pineapple, plums, prunes, etc.. her therapist recommends standing in the stander for at least a half hour a day. something about blood flow and of course good ol gravity...
hopefully things start moving along for little miss vera =)
Ensure also has a product with fiber. Some people here in the states feed regular foods, well pureed through the tube. A blender that many people swear by is the vitamix, but it is really expensive. Some people use things such as metamucil.
I am not a mom, I am a pediatric physical therapist, with many years working with kids with special needs.
Hey May, sorry I don't have any suggestions except to cut out the bananas cos I know it can cause constipation. Hope things start moving for Vera soon.
Hi May. I'll add my 2cents ... we use cod liver oil, magnesium/vitamin C powder, and activia (like kefir - has a few bacteria cultures). but the last one, since it's not home-grown kefir, I think might just work because Mallorie is milk-intolerant unless it's really well-cultured, so I suspect it could just be that milk gives her diarrhea. :) We don't give much of that, and one day I'm gonna learn to do kefir myself. Anyway, the cod liver oil really seemed to help, plus the powder, and the activia just makes me "feel" good about giving a little (only 10-20 cc).
And any sort of grain (oatmeal, rice, etc) constipates her, so we hold off giving that unless we are fighting constipation. And Dr. B kept telling us that applesauce can constipate, but I took forever to learn that she was right - it does our girl.
Please email me about the bard - I think I forgot to tell you how to get them to do it to try to avoid the pain & blood.
Post a Comment