Failure to thrive?

[Mau]

Anyone out there had any experience with failure to thrive? My 2 mo. old son and I are headed to Children's hospital for an extended stay in the AM due to it. He has a cleft palate, heart murmur, and is constantly losing weight...it's now gotten so bad that they're admitting him, because they can't find the cause( the heart murmur isn't bad..and isn't causing weight loss, neither is the cleft palate because he is taking in food very well..but still losing). It's an extremely scarey thing, and is hard on the family. Hubby is going to have to take 2 weeks off of work (without pay :( ) to care for our other two boys so I can stay at the hospital with the baby..and we aren't exactly 'rich' people here..lol
Has anyone else dealt with anything like this? If so, has the child suffered any long term effects from it?

And thanks Daydreamer for posting in the Energy requests section for him..I really appreciate it
Mau (Maryn)

[Scarlettvixen]

Mau
many years ago i worked for a time in a big paediatric hospital
we got lots kids with failure to thrive and it usually took a while to track down the cause unfortunately

we had a program tho where the parents could live with their other kids in special acommodation and this place also had preschool/school for the other children plus volunteers to care for the kids if one of the parents couldnt b there

energies to yr little one to find the problem quickly and for him to get better

[DanuMoonrunner]

(((Mau & baby))) My youngest son was also born with a cleft lip/ cleft palate and heart murmur. When he went in at 4 wks for his 1st lip repair, he was badly dehydrated and had lost weight. The doctor decided to close the soft palate temporarily so that he could suck better. He had been (I thought) keeping his liquids down well, but apparently not well enough. We had to feed him through a tube that we had to force into his little throat and apparently this had caused a small rupture. Hopefully this will be the case with your little one, or something as simple anyway. If you ever need to talk about the cleft and problems that emerge from it, please feel free to contact me. I kept an extensive journal and all the pictures of John as he grew. He is now a fairly healthy 22 year old, and he's beautiful! Sending thriving energy for the babe and calming and strength energy to you!

[Semele]

As a peds nurse I have seen a lot of little ones with this problem. Oddly enough we can't always identify the problem. Most often it is an issue of the child just not eating. It could be something wrong in the absorption of the food. They will evaluate every possibility and get it figured out.

It may take some time, but hang in there. He will be fine and shouldn't suffer any long term effects. That is the good thing about catching it early. It may involve some IV hydration or even a feeding tube passed through his nose and into the stomach. All of these can be uncomfortable for parents to deal with but they are measurse to help. Most likely they will be experimenting with different formulas to find one that he can maintain better.

Good luck and you have all my energy for you and the family during this rough time. Keep us updated.