Monday, April 18, 2011

Sunday, April 17, 2011



Teething on the Table



First trip to the Ice Cream Caboose

We are on our way with NG tube weaning. The therapist came on Tuesday and agreed that it doesn't look like Caleb was quitting with the bottle because he was tired. On Wednesday afternoon, I called the pediatrician and got his go ahead to try our weaning plan. He gave us the ok to let Caleb lose up to 1.25 pounds in our endeavor.

Based on talking to other parents when we were in Ann Arbor, doing research on the internet and listening to our parent instincts, we decided to take the NG tube out each day and give Caleb only bottles. This allows him to get hungry and tell us when he wants to eat. With the tube out, he can feel what it is like to eat normally. We bought a baby scale so we can track his weight each day and identify problems early on.

We pulled the tube on Thursday and things went well. He drank about a third of his normal volume of milk, but was not fussy. We left the tube out Thursday night, but we noticed fewer wet diapers on Friday, so for now, we are putting the tube back at night. This allows us to give him three full feedings each day, so the change is not too abrupt. As of Sunday, he has not lost any weight.

We have noticed an increase in the volume that he is taking from the bottle. Right now, he is taking around half of what he should be. He is also doing much better taking his medications orally. If he can hold the syringe, he will drink the medicine.

Feeding was our main focus last week, but Caleb did hit another milestone. On Tuesday, he got to go to the Ice Cream Caboose for the first time. We did find out that if the whole bottle thing doesn't work out, we could add some sugar, freeze the milk and be in business. He loved the ice cream and I had a hard time getting my cone back.

Phil and I are feeling much more positive this week. We were getting nervous with the feeding issues and were worried that we might not get Caleb to eat from a bottle (or from a cup in the future for that matter). Hopefully, we can make some progress this week and be on our way to eliminating the tube entirely. Caleb's cheeks are suffering from the tape, but hopefully that will be short-lived.

4 comments:

  1. Wonderful progress this week. A trip to the Caboose is good for all of us. Tom and I were there on Tuesday for opening day as well. Thanks for the update.

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  2. Kilroy was here!

    Take a guess who left the nerdy history comment! :)

    Love the updates & pictures!

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  3. I'm not sure if you're getting tired of posting these- but I'm certainly not tired of reading them! I look forward everyweek to my little Caleb report!
    Sue & John in South Haven

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  4. I still like to get the updates. We are happy he is growing and changing like a baby should.

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