hello mummies, long time never check in. Quite a few episodes happened in between so got demoralised. Hope all of u and our little warriors all doing well and healthy.
For those of you who are new, my boy was born at 925g at 28wks. Stayed in NICU for 1 month and SCN 1 month, had 1 hernia op after discharge. As he was a VLBW baby, my main struggle has been with his weight. My boy is now 3yr 6 months and weighing still only 11kg. His weight has been stagnant over last year so we have been desperately trying to up it. Well, in the end after trying and trying, we decided to be referred to the endocrine dept for further investigation. He's had blood tests done and confirmed to be partially deficient in growth hormones. Will need further tests, including a MRI, to confirm some more things before he may get started on daily injections of growth hormones. SIGH.. big set back. But i'm not complaining because he is healthy and progressing fine otherwise.
I read that a few premies going for SPOT clinic? Can anyone share if it helps very much?
To be honest, i got very tired of all the silly calculations by the dieticians and all those recommendations that were not helpful for my case(with the exception of MCT, caloric powder which can easily dissolve into food) cos my boy is simply not interested in food! I stopped visiting the dietician when my boy was about 1.5 year old and decided to just go with the flow. I have always believed in eating normally, i.e. he shouldn't be given any especially "healthy" food (e.g. organic, salt-free) just becos he is a child and premie, as he will have to adjust to these later on anyway. To me, a little is fine, just don't overdo. He had major problems taking solids, because pple ard insist on giving him porridge. I insisted on giving solids no matter how long it took for him and how little he ate. I can still rememeber sitting next to his high chair for 1-1.5 hrs just to feed 10 spoons of rice... This arduous journey of introducing solid like rice and noodles started at about 2.5yo and til now he is only starting to like them and chew better. So, speaking from my own experience, i think for premies who have difficulty chewing, it's impt to expose them to as many opportunities to chew as possible. Nowadays, he still can't eat much solids at one go, but i realised he can eat quite frequently, so i split some meals into 2 feeding sessions and ply him with lots of "healthy snacks" in between. This seems to be working well, at least he is eating more and knows how to chew very well now.
Anyone got tips to get kids to eat more? I think i am already giving watever i can - pediasure, appeton, caloric powder...
After our last kite flying, were there any more mtgs? How about a makan chit chat session soon? Sengkang mummies? Got quite a few here rite?
PM me if keen k? feel free to give me ideas on the places and dates. I am terrible at setting dates and venues, but i can coordinate quite ok
take care all!