Your experience with a "feeding team"?

Hi everyone,

Just wanting to hear your stories and feedback about using a feeding team? A feeding team is generally a speech therapist and an occupational therapist who provide assistance with feeding issues for babies/children like sucking, swallowing etc.

Our pediatrician has suggested with take DS2 (3 months) to see them as he has discomfort and lots of vomitting after feeds. DS2 is bottle fed (on Neocate for cows milk allergy).

At what age did you see them? For what issues? Were they helpful or not? Also, were they expensive and did you get any back on your private health insurance?

TIA!

My mum's friend's daughter's child (got that?) went to a feeding team and then ended up in hospital with a stomach peg in to feed her through. Apparently the parents don't really think it is neccessary but the feeding team and pediatrician won't "let" them take it out. (I don't know the full story, but it kinda puts me off the idea of a feeding team). DS2 isn't underweight, yet, but has dropped from birth at the 98th % to now under the 50% for weight.

Anyone out there to help me with your stories?

My DD2 saw a feeding team twice as she is underweight but they decided that her problem was due to medications.

Hi Aligater! Thanks for your post.

How old was DD2 when she saw them? Was it worth while to see them, for you?
How is DD2 now - gained weight?

Just bumping! Please help!

We have just been referred by DS's speech pathologist and his GP to the Mater Children's Feeding Clinic. They seem to think that his fussiness and persistent gag reflex could be related to his delayed speech and low muscle tone. He has also been referred to a physiotherapist to be assessed - again, physical issues can be associated with delayed speech etc.

I honestly had no idea how closely-related these issues all are. If I had my time over, I would probably have picked up on all of the symptoms and done something about it far earlier :(

This probably doesn't help because of the big age difference between your DS and mine, but I am happy to share any of our experiences with you and, likewise, I would like to keep an eye on this thread.

I don't know if you can remember, but our DS was also such a crazy spewer when he is was LO's age. I wouldn't be too concerned about the paeds and doctors bullying you into doing anything you don't want to do. If it was me, I would follow my instinct and get the evaluation done. You can put the brakes on at anytime before any action is taken that you may deem inappropriate or extreme.

ETA: I *think* where DS will be going is public, but not sure. Our private health has been really great with all of DS's speech and physio appointments (we have top hospital and extras cover, though, so they pay out about $1000+ towards it). We also have one of those Medicare Health Care plans which covers about 7 speech therapy sessions per calendar year which we use as well. You may be able to get something similar for your DS?

double post

How is it going Bloom?

:wall: we have a bottom 3% child here, so I'll be lurking
We dont have access to this kind of thing here so very interested to hear about experiences and out comes. If DS2 cant put weight on this year I'm thinking about bringing him home for this kind of thing

Our 'feeding team' was our dietitian and pead.
My little man has not been on the charts since he was 3 weeks old and at one stage he was dropping further down.
He also was an extreme vomitter and not much of what he ate stayed down.
He has had all the test (barium swallow, sweat test, metabolic tests etc) they determined it was reflux and further along the line was fat malabsorbtion (from bowel complications)
At one stage they wanted to put a NGT back down but I was very reluctant to do that because it can cause oral aversions, but fortunately his weight stabalised.
He seems to eat ok but puts on weight very slowly.
He is still small (8kg at 21mths) and we are still seeing the pead and dietitian but he is a happy, healthy boy and his development is doing well so they are 'happy'.
We are public so do not pay anything, but the initial wait can be a long one.
Hope all goes well :hug:

Thanks everyone for your responses!

LifeisGood - our paed is at the Mater but the feeding team he has referred us to is not the Mater Childrens' one - it is a private one off site. I wonder why he didn't refer us to the hospital one...? Do you think that DS's vomitting was related to low muscle tone? What are the signs of low muscle tone in a baby?

Doubletrouble and Rainbowbrite - thank you for sharing. I did get the impression that most babies who see a feeding team do so for a very underweight child. My DS is still around the 50% and indeed looks a bit chubby! Both times I've taken DS2 to the paed he has suggested to hopsitalise him and "whack" a NGT in (his words!) but I've said no, unless it is absolutely the last resort. He seemed very quick to suggest it for no particular reason (seeing as DS2 is a good size!).

Maruschke - we are going okay, just, thanks hun. Last week he dropped 40g and this week he seems to have put on 400g! He's feeding 2 - 2.5 hourly during the day and only poos every 5 days or so. We still have bouts of crying after feeds and lots of vomits. Sometimes he seems "normal" and sometimes I am convinced there is something else medically wrong with him. Just hanging out for 4 months, surely it will get better then...

I am not sure why he didn't refer you to the hospital one...perhaps it's an age thing? I know that the programme Mikey will be in to get assessed is for older kids (they have picnics and stuff as part of the assessment). I would be very interested to know, actually. I hope it isn't because they aren't any good...

Low muscle tone only becomes evident when they are older. Clumsiness, slow to reach physical milestones like walking - that sort of thing. DS walks with a strange gait and he walks heavily on his arches - so not really something you would pick up that early. It is largely hereditary and does rectify itself over time...they just need to get more exercise than the average kid. May be worth an ask if it is related to anything gastric complaints?

Have you asked him why he is being so hasty with the NGT? It sounds awfully premature, especially with only being on the 50th percentile. Perhaps he has a legitimate reason? If he / his reasoning doesn't sit well with you, I would be looking at getting a second opinion (the first paed we saw was an absolute shocker!). It's your kid, your instinct and you really need to feel comfortable with the care you / your son are in and the advice you are being given.

Your DS sounds so much like mine and, at 4.5 months, we noticed a marked improvement in him. He was such an unhappy little chap during those early months and it was almost overnight that he became a happier, more content boy.

DD is the same age. She poops also about every 5-7 days, thats just her. We have mege issues with reflux, but here they say most babys do, their tummys havent finished developing and wont give antacids. She has only just stopped having colic every day but some days she is a bugger to feed, twisting and turning, drinking 20ml every 5 or 10 mins then goes to sleep (these days I susspect she has alot of wind) and I will give her warm water to try work out the snacking, make her hungry and have a proper feed and it mostly works.
What other formulas have you tried? perhaps its that formula? it can be tricky to find the "right" 1. I know another lady here has baby same age and had a hell of a time getting the right formula for her baby.
Without knowing the whole thing, I think your right to question your ped

Your son was born pretty big, it's not uncommon that he has dropped down in the charts. My DD dropped from the 75th to the 10th (although over a longer time) and we monitored her weight to make sure that she was still growing, but i think it is just her metabolism.

Is your DS2 losing weight, or just gaining slowly? How were your DS1's weight gains?

DS1 and DD are almost the sames. Same size and look the same DS2 takes after the chinese side and is slim slim slim (even here he is slim) So things can vary even within the family. Look at the bigger pic to- what were you and the father like as babys? even grandparents- what were they like? Kids get alot from their grandparents

Oh hun, what a difficult time you are having.

I want to start off by saying that I have absolutely no expertise in this area, other than that my DS vommitted constantly from the time he was about 4 weeks until he was 6 months. There was absolutely no explanation for it. We literally could not pick him up without a spew cloth on our shoulders. Even when it was time for the next feed, he was still vomiting.

But, just from what you've said, it seems to me that your Paed is suggesting pretty drastic intervention. Especially for a baby that is in the 50th percentile and from what you're saying is still having some good weight gains.

If he wasn't showing any signs of pain or discomfort I would be saying let it go for a few more months, the vomiting may sort itself out. But he is in discomfort. If it was me in your shoes I would be looking at other less drastic forms of intervention. I know people who have remarkable improvements with reflux and colic by taking their bubs to an osteopath. And even simple things like the Brauers colic relief have been known to work wonders.

To me hospitalisation and a NGT seems totally unnecessary. I would be trying every possible natural form of intervention first. Unless of course he was loosing weight at a drastic pace or there were definitive reasons for real concern.

JMO

DS2 has had one week with an actual loss (of 40g) and generally has been gaining slowly (other than last week where he appeared to put on 400g!). Since last weigh's results showed a 400g improvement I am less worried about weight loss now! Maybe it was just taking a while for his new prescription formula to make a difference. Today he's been feeding 2 hourly and taking about 130ml! So perhaps we are on track for another big gain!

HotI Interesting to hear that you say your DD has dropped down the charts too. The GP said it was a concern if DS2 dropped below the 75% as it would mean he would have dropped through 3 percentile lines (through the 99%, 97% and 75%).

Double trouble - He is on a prescription formula called Neocate for a cows milk protein allergy. It is pretty much impossible to be allergic to this one and it is the easiest to digest. So we are already on the best formula for him. Thank you though. Is your DD formula fed? Are you worried about the infrequent poos or not?

MissE - yes! We go through heaps of bibs each day and multiple outfits for DS2! And he does that same - vomiting even hours after his last feed! We just got him a bumbo today as another way of keeping him upright. He seemed to like it - he has very good head control.

I think I will hold off on seeing the feeding team for a while - particularly given that he's gained so much last week. I also think that if we do go back to the paed we will take him to a different one!

Thanks for the suggestion of the oesto. We did take him to a chiro in the first few weeks of life. To be honest, I am a little sceptical that they work and also they are quite expensive - we only get 50% on our PHI.

Im not worried about her poops, she has always been this way even when she was exclusive breast, that didnt change when she was comp fed or now she is ff.
I have heard great things about crainile (sp) osteopathy- that might be worth a look. Its a hard job getting into this world and sometimes things get out of place- back, head plates etc.

Hi she was about 18 months when she went and is 21 months now and is finally gaining weight. They were very good and said to get back to basics and make meal time fun even if that means messy and playing with food.