This is Theodore. He was born at 36 weeks, which makes him a late preterm baby. Given that, he has feeding problems, gastrointestinal worries and an immature immune system. These health issues made him a fighter and from hereon, we shall call him "Mighty T".
Mighty T fought and beat pneumonia twice; and infectious diarrhea once. He survived NICU, where he stayed for the first 24hours of his life while waiting for his respiratory rate to normalize and the fluids in his lungs to drain out. He was also diagnosed with severe malnutrition secondary to acute gastroenteritis and Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) with malabsorption. So Mighty T is said to have "failure to thrive". But like all superheroes, he fought and continues to fight back.
Just this morning, we went on our weekly visit to the pediatric gastroenterologist. When we stepped into her clinic, she had her fingers crossed and said "I hope he gained weight!". Indeed, he did! From 4.75kls last week, he's now at 5.08kls. This excellent news means that our 6-month-old is capable of thriving. It means that he does not have some serious mechanical or metabolic illness that would require surgery or life-long treatment. This means that our baby boy only needs Mommy, Daddy, Lola, Nanny and Kuya to work together to provide him optimal care, the right nourishment and to ensure his timely intake of medicines.
However, Mighty T shows a strong disinterest in solids. Once he tastes the food, he would purse his lips and hide his face. The doctor said it's alright. Maybe he isn't ready to eat yet. She said to just give him food that he tolerates so feeding becomes pleasurable for him. Seeing how small he is, I tend to get very frustrated. I wanted him to eat more so he gains weight fast. If he gains weight, he wouldn't be so fragile and sickly anymore. But of course, he won't understand any of that yet so for now, I'll do what the doctor said.
To somewhat counter his aversion to solids, we also tried boosting his appetite with Cell Life and Heraclene but they didn't work on him. We tried coaxing him to eat, even playing with him just so he gets interested in the food. We also tried letting him watch cooking shows on TLC - hey, anything's possible! But, yes, none worked.
So we focused on giving him more nutrients through his milk. I'm breastfeeding so I make sure to eat the right kinds of food at all times. On top of that, the doctor recommended Nutramigen along with Spirulina.
Nutramigen is a hypoallergenic and extensively hydrolyzed infant formula designed for the effective dietary management of common feeding issues. It's pricey and it smells really bad - even Mighty T hates it. I'm all for exclusive breastfeeding but I would do ANYTHING just to help correct baby's health problems.
Spirulina, on the other hand, is composed of cyanobacteria: Arthrospira platensis and Arthrospira maxima. It is a dietary supplement and a whole food. The doctor said just two tablets of Spirulina is already equivalent to a kilo of vegetables. So I sprinkled half a tablet to Might T's processed porridge (we process his food in a blender so that he won't gag when he eats) and fed it to him. He ate about 5 or 6 spoonfuls (the small baby spoon) and he seemed to like the dark green color of his food. I asked his Nanny Joy to taste his food and she said it still takes like porridge. So it's odorless and tasteless - perfect for Theo's choosy palate.
We seem to be getting somewhere with Spirulina so we'll keep feeding him that. Also, per advice of the doctor, we will continue to use porridge and Spirulina as his base food and from time to time, add mashed vegetable, fish flakes and tofu. For his snacks, we'll try a combination of mashed or pureed fruits with Nutramigen or my milk. Maybe I'll blend them all in before feeding him. With fingers crossed, I hope this feeding plan works!
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