When Will Whitney Wean...: Puke Puke Puke...

Yes, three times...so far...today Whitney threw up all her meals! She's on Neocate Jr. I can't wait to get the OK to start the homemade blended food or blenderized diet. She got 150 mL's over night and did fine in the morning. She got 120 mL's from 10-11AM and threw up. She got 120 mL's from 2-3PM and threw up. She got 120 mL's from 6-7PM and threw up. I really hope there's nothing wrong. I'm going to call the surgeon and GI Dr.'s in the morning. Basically for her, not keeping things down is bad. I'm sure she didn't get much nutrition today. She still doesn't eat any by mouth, it's hard to just get her to try things now. I have asked a few other moms of tubie's and I want to share what they have to say... ( I have deleted everyone's name but mine)

What to do when my little tubie throw's up her entire meal 2x a day!? I'm not 'overfeeding' her, I'm actually worried that she's not getting enough!

Anything new? Runny nose,new meds???
ME: Nope, nothing new! She's had the gtube for a week now, is it normal to not tolerate feeds for a while? she got 4 oz in one hour. (she's had and NG tube for 9months and got 5 oz in one hour and didn't throw up AS much). ?
my son has had the gtube for 3 1/2yrs and he would vomit everything given to him through his tube. he would vomit 20x/day. finally after test after test it was determined he has slow gastric emptying plus the formula was the wrong one for ...him. changes we made were: slowing his rate down and having his feeds run longer. he is at 180cc/hr x 2hrs 3x/day, next change was polyric botox injections, 3 so far and as of right now the dr won't do anymore cause he only vomits like 1-2x/day if even that, oh and the first change we made was his formula------he can only tolerate elecare unflavored. keep in in this took over three yrs to finally get this all under control, now the next step is to keep trying to get him to eat orally, he only eats very little by mouth.
sorry, what I should of said is after having 3 polyric botox injections is when we were able to slow down his feeds and get him on 3 feeds a day.
me: Then I will definitely ask the GI if there is anything else he can do ie. tests or meds! I feel like her reflux is worse...
Our daughter became a vomiter once she got her gtube...played around with rate etc but hasnt completely gone away. Not helpful I know but wanted you to know you aren't alone!
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ME: Thanks! It's frustrating and discouraging. And she just threw up her third meal today!

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What formula? My son did awful on Pediasure, so heavy and seemed to just sit in his stomach. He is now on Pediasure Peptide and it's great, made to promote gastric emptying since it's easier to digest.
ME: oh interesting! She's on Neocate JR. unflavored, has been for about a month 1/2 now.
Garrett got his tube in April threw up constantly with a Nessan wrap for 3 months changing formulas 3 times finally came down to acid reducer and alimentium bc testing showed he was milk and sit intolerant but I call my GI about it constantly

my other question:

What to do when my little tubie throw's up her entire meal 2x a day!? I'm not 'overfeeding' her, I'm actually worried that she's not getting enough!
I use to do 5 oz (150ml's) in one hour with NG tube. She threw up once a day and gained weight.
Now with new G tube I do 4 oz (120ml's) in one hour of Neocate Jr. She throws up more with that! Is it too fast? too much?
She 'needs' 800ml's a day but only gets 650mls a day with the vomitting! I feel like I've tried every thing!

Answers:

There is no "one size fits all" answer. Your LO obviously is not tolerating the boluses at that rate and or volume.

You can try adjusting one or the other or both at tge same time. I would suggest giving less volume in each bolus and add in one more feeding time to start. You can slow the rate too if she's still struggling.

My LO can't tolerate much by bolus so we do a small percentage by day in 3 boluses and then do a continuos feed overnight at a much slower rate. That helped us a lot.

Is she on meds for Reflux? Has she had a gastric emptying scan? For us, even on meds, it was trial and error finding the rate and volume our DD liked and once that happened things improved dramatically.

It's important she's getting enough fluids daily too, especially with the vomiting so water is also important.
Have you looked at everything she takes in I read she is on neocate I know the first ingredient is corn solids (processed corn) they wanted to put my LO on this, we chose not to because he does not tolerate processed foods. I know she has a new G-tube and probably had a nissen done also. You may need to go down a little more in volume. Rylan can handle exactly 165cc's per feeding and nothing more of he throws up too. Her stomach may still need to stretch to handle the volume you are giving her. Also are you feeding by pump or gravity, we do gravity because Rylan could not handle the pump for some reason. And if she does have reflux you may want to look into some gripe water it is natural and has no side effects as opposed to conventional drugs.
Hope this helps.

It does take a little while to figure out what your daughter can handle. It sounds like her G tube is relatively new? My daughter can only handle 120ml by bolus and she has to be laying down (elevated). If she is sitting up she throws it all up. Something about the tube makes kids puke. My daughter never threw up in her life until she got a tube. She could take 4oz. by mouth (dream feeding) and never got uncomfortable. With the NG tube we couldn't even give her 2oz. over an hour or she would puke??? Now with her G tube she can handle 4oz. but barely. I feel like I am constantly disagreeing with the nutritionist because she always wants Macy to take in more than she is....but she just cannot handle more. She is at her max continuous feed overnight, and her boluses are maxed out. Every kid is different and you know what your daughter can handle and can't. Trial and error is all you can do to figure it out. But if her G tube is still new, I noticed my daughter did get better with time. GL!