Thickening Feeds | What Worked Well For Us
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Backstory. . . .
When Jaxson was younger he had difficulty feeding. As mentioned in my first post I tried nursing with zero success, tried a nipple shield with zero success, and finally went to pumping exclusively. I pumped every two to three hours every single day for three straight months. Yes I probably could've kept going because I had great supply but in all honesty mentally I couldn't handle it anymore. I pumped, I thickened and fortified his feeds, I paced his feeds, I tracked his feeds, and repeat.Paced you may ask? Yes, when we were admitted to the Children's Hospital in town they had us see a Feeding Therapist prior to being discharged. They had us pace, or allow Jaxson to suck five times, and take the bottle away from him in order for him to compose himself. We did that repeatedly until he was finished with his bottle, which could take up to hour. We were trying to prevent him from choking because he had difficulties swallowing, or better known as dysphagia. He also had risk of aspirating which meant that fluid was going into his lungs -- he was admitted for pneumonia once.
In order to prevent aspiration they had us thickening his feeds on top of fortifying (I will explain fortifying in another post) his bottles.
Related Post | Weighting Game : Jaxson's Fight.
Steps we took:
***PLEASE SPEAK WITH YOUR CHILD'S FEEDING THERAPIST OR HIS/HER MEDICAL PROVIDER PRIOR TO PURCHASING AND USING THICKENERS. I'M WRITING THIS AS A TUTORIAL ON HOW TO MIX THICKENERS AND PROVIDING INFORMATION ON WHAT TYPES OF THICKENERS ARE OUT ON THE MARKET***
***I AM NOT a Medical Professional and my experiences do NOT replace medical advice from a Feeding Therapist and/or Medical Professional.***
***I AM NOT advocating for the use of thickeners, I'm clearly stating what worked for us***
1. Picking the best bottle.
This one is tricky. You might have to spend a little money to find the perfect bottle for you warrior. We tried the Medela brand first because it was what we used with our oldest and it came with our pump. Needless to say it didn't work, and we even tried purchasing the Special Needs nipple but no luck.We then tried the Dr. Brown bottles and their Specialty Feeding bottles. Again, no luck. One day our friend's mom was in town visiting and she recommended we try the MAM bottles because he did so well with the MAM binky. At last! We found a bottle that worked for him! I think he liked that the nipple on the bottle was flat, might've been easier for his small jaw and recessed chin to use.
*It will be a lot of trial and error but try to be patient.
2. Types of thickeners.
There are many different types of thickeners on the market and your provider may select one of these thickeners for your child. Our Pediatrician and Feeding Therapist wanted us to thicken Jaxson's feeds with rice/oatmeal cereal to prevent aspiration and choking from dysphagia.a. Simply Thick - Easy to use, great for travel.
b. Thick It - Easy to use, dissolves quickly.
c. Gelmix - Mix with warm milk/water.
d. Oatmeal - Easy to use, mixes well.
**AGAIN, I am NOT a Medical Professional and my experiences do NOT replace medical advice from a Feeding Therapist and/or Medical Professional.
3. How you mix thickeners into bottle.
***Always follow manufacturer instructions or those given by your medical professionals***
1. Grab thickener your Medical Professional and/or Feeding Therapist recommended:
2. Prepare your bottle, here I used 4 ounces of water to show consistency change.
3. Mixed, see the difference in consistency once you mix it?
***PLEASE SEEK MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL'S ADVICE FOR WHAT TYPE OF CONSISTENCY YOUR CHILD NEEDS***
4. Conclusion.
As you can see it's a lot of trial and error. Every child is different, what might work for one might not work for another. I've seen some children on the Coping with LM or DYRK1A support page take to Dr. Brown bottles or Tommee Tippee bottles. It all depends. I know it may get frustrating and you may get discouraged -- don't. I'm here to help and there are many other blogs, groups, and support pages out there to help. We are all in this together.Do you have any other suggestions for parents trying to thicken their child's feeds? Or would you like to share your story? Message me or comment below!
Labels: Feeding Difficulty, Feeding Therapy, How To
posted by JaxsonsMomJennie @ August 12, 2018
24 Comments
24 Comments:
My daughter loved the Tommee Tippee bottles but we tried a few others first (she had awful colic and it was worse with some bottles than others). I've never heard of thickening feeds though...
This post brings back memories. Now my girls are grown but I do remember this time of trying food for them
Thank you Kate. We had to start thickening Jaxson's feeds when we were admitted to the Children's Hospital. He was having feeding difficulties so they put in for an upper GI test and swallow study. Swallow study showed he aspirated and so they started thickening his bottles with rice cereal. He's come a long way! He no longer needs thickened bottles since his most recent swallow study showed no penetration/aspiration :)
When my daughter was born, she also had feeding difficulties. Now at 19 months, they are gone, but I remember the struggle to find the right bottle. We had to have made 4 separate trips to the Babies R Us closest to the NICU before she finally was able to drink from the Dr.Brown bottles. Thank you for continuing to share your little ones story!
My daughter had terrible reflux and so we used a thickening agent under the care of her paediatrician to thicken her feeds. It did help a little but also increase her digestive issues, it was a vicious circle!
I never had to use a thickening agent for my kids but know so many who did! I am so thankful for that but know so many people who could benefit from this post.
We had to thicken the formula for my oldest son. (I tried breastfeeding and it was not my thing at all!) At his four month checkup he hadn't gained weight since his three month because he had bad reflux. His pediatrician recommended getting the formula with the thickener in it (we used Enfamil AR) and that helped a lot. As he got older we would thicken with rice or oat cereal if we couldn't get the AR. It made such a difference for him in his weight gain and being happier since he wasn't having reflux after every meal.
Trial and error is sometimes the only way to figure out what our children need. I hope that by sharing your experiences, you can help someone else.
I'm not mother yet but this post give me a lot of idea about child feeds I'm sorry hear about your baby.
Feeding issues in infants can be due to so many different things so going through each item you listed is important. This is a great resource for new parents.
Very informative post and indeed, kids always will be different from one to another. Nice that you guys can manage to figure its way.
What fabulous advice for mums and dads to be! I am sure many of them will find these tips and info really helpful :) x
What a great resource for new parents. I've never had kids, but I'm sure this will help many families.
I'm glad to hear that your kids are doing well <3
Thank you Patricia, I hope to help others! Thank you for sharing your story <3 How long was your daughter in the NICU?
Thank you Cindy <3
Thank you Melanie :)
Thank you Philomath :)
Well I might not be apparent that this is a very good green for future reference in to get understanding of what to expect in the future when you become a parent yourself
Thank you Maysz, he's doing a lot better now :)
Thank you Christa! I hope to as well <3
Thank you April, hope that this post finds them <3
Oh yes! Jaxson was SUPER gassy on rice/oatmeal cereal, he's a lot better without it now :)
#FedisBest! I haven't tried AR! We used the Sensitive brand with the oatmeal. I knew some moms were using Neocate or Nutrigamen and boy they're expensive! We were worried he would need that but he seemed to thrive once we stopped with my BM and switched to FM.
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