Our 3 month old has never been a good eater (always fussing after 2 oz or so, and never eats more than 4 oz at a time) However, last weekend he has decided to not eat. He also had some red in his diaper. I took him to the doctor Monday and she said it was not blood, and unsure what it was and thought the problem was allergies. He then started projectile vomiting everything. After a trip to the ER and another to the doctor they ruled out any bacterial infections, nothing wrong with urine or kidneys. She says it is a viral infection and he is now on amoxicillin. He is eating a little more (at the max 2 oz every 2 hours) but still vomiting several times a day. He has also started having red in the front of his diaper again. Has anyone ever experieced this or had a bad eater??
Thank you all for your help. A little more information about my situation and to answer your questions:
-We are on soy formula. He was originally breastfed, then at 4 weeks he began rejecting the breast so we were told to supplement with soy formula. That didn't solve anything, so we went to Alimentum...which really didn't help with his fussy eating either.
-He did undergo blood and urine tests last week that showed only a viral infection, nothing in the urine (which is puzzling with the red)
Over the weekend he has now stopped vomiting, but continues to be a fussy eater and will have the occasional red spot in the diaper. After some researching here on the internet, I am wondering if this is uric acid crystals due to him not taking much liquids. He is not dehydrated though, just not drinking a lot. Also, he started taking prevacid last week, but that does not seem to be affecting the fussy eating.
Overall, he is acting normal, smiling, cooing, and hitting all milestones thus far. I am just worried about him not eating much. He still only wants 2 oz every 2-3 hours.
Thanks again for all the responses and if you have any more with this additional info I would appreciate it!
Have they tried changing his formula? Some of my grandkids had the projectile vomiting, they had a sensitive gag reflex and my 8 year old granddaughter can still vomit when she wants. The red in the diaper concerns me I don't know if he was taken to a pediatrician or not, I might take him for another opinion and if you live in KC, the best ER for a baby is Children's Mercy.
I'm not sure if you are having challenges or not, but my oldest was two months old when I had a staph infection from a bump under my arm (and didn't know it). It was causing my daughter to not like the taste of my milk and to projective vomit after feeding. It was making her sick. Look at yourself and make sure there is nothing wrong with you. IF that is not the case, then you may be dealing with allergies. Get a second opinion. Good luck and God Bless.
maybe he can't digest milk,be it formula or breast.my daughter had that problem,and I put her on soy,which solved it.Just a suggestion.
I have never had any issues like this, but I would definetily get a second opinion. Go with your gut feeling when it comes to your baby. You, as the mommy, know something isn't right with your baby. Go to another doctor.
I don't know if they make nutramegen formula anymore but it is more expensive and is what my kids drank when they were sick and seemed to settle better. After they got better we went back to their soy formula but since he hasn't eaten well anyway he may do well with it and want to stick with it. Are you seeing a pediatrician? If not I would switch to one or a doctor that will try to figure it out and be more thorough. Sounds like something is going on with red in his diaper. That definately isn't normal and don't give up until you know what the problem is.
Good Morning T., I agree with Teri, check on formula. Sometimes soy based is best, sometimes not so good.
I also argee about taking your little man to a Ped. The red in the front of his diaper could be a urinary infection or his urnie is making crystal like substance and cutting him as he wets. Nothing to ignor that it for Sure!!
There is something definitely wrong and I wouldn't stop asking or checking until I got an answer that determines the cause and stops.
Ok Mama's Where is our Ped nurse and Dr. on here when we need um ;)
Good Bless T., Mama's instincts are best,something is causing this so find out what it is. I don't think or feel he is just a fussy or bad eater.
K. Nana of 5
T.,
At 3 months old, your child isn't eating anything with red dyes that would be coming through the urine or the feces. Red in the front of the diaper needs to be investigated thoroughly. It needs to be IDENTIFIED, not a *shrug* , "we don't know what it is". I would take him back to the doctor and ask for a referal to a gastrointestinal doctor for children.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/urine-color/DS01026/DSEC...
Are you breast feeding? Are YOU on any medications that would be coming through the breast milk and causing his urine to turn red?
Another thing that the article mentions is exposure to lead or mercury. What kind of plumbing do you have? Are you still living in a older house with lead pipes?
I honestly think more testing should be done since he's also vomiting in addition to having the red diaper.
Did they run any tests for the viral infection or are the guessing by process of elimination?
My very good friend just went through this with her daughter. It turned out that her daughter after difficulty nursing and eating for two months began vomiting terribly and then had blood in her diapers from her rectum. Breastfeeding stopped and she was put on a non-dairy and non-soy formula. The child hated it and would refuse to eat it, except for just a little bit at a time. The blood in the stool was from ulcers and intestinal tears due to irritation and could be seen when they did a colonoscopy and gastroscopy. After 3 months she started gaining some of the weight back and her tears were healed so she was started on baby food. She is doing really great now.
I am concerned if the Dr. has not tested the redness in the diaper. If you are not giving your child red kool-aid, beets, or anythings else that is clearly red and could be the culprit then the Dr. should be running some tests and you should get an answer beyond "I don't know." Time to find a pediatrician that has time to get involved.
Don't know about the red in the diaper--but would definitely look for answers if it happens again. The lack of eating and vomiting may be Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)--approx 1/3 of all babies have this to some varying degree. My son (7 mo) has it and is on Zantac. They will eat until they feel a discomfort from the reflux--usually about 2 oz or even less. Just a possibility...
Hi, if you're not breast feeding you might be able to start-some moms, with help, are able to re-lactate. As your Family Doctor-specifically about Reglan. Formulas have so many things in them babies can be allergic to. Also see a lactation counselor. I am one, but I am not practicing right now. I suggest calling Cardinal Glennon's NICU for a referral.
Call the doctor again - it could be a urinary tract infection - Did the dr. do anything to determine that it was not blood the first time? If it is a urinary infection, amoxicillin won't work - he will need a sulfa drug or bactrim. I would be very persistent about this with the doc - or find a different one.
This may be a long shot, but what about milk allergy? My daughter was breastfed, but after one of those "makes you think" coincidences where I kept running into info on milk allergies--including one woman who simply approached me in public and asked, "Do you breastfed? Do you drink milk? Because this will make all the difference in the world..."-- I gave it a shot and found out that my daughter's fussiness, her *constant* wanting to eat and vomiting, her green diarrhea (sometimes mucousy, sometimes with a touch of red) poop were all cleared up by my eliminating all dairy products from my diet. That stranger was right-- eliminating dairy made all the difference! It gave us a content baby and thereby a content mother!
My research said that milk allergies in babies (breast- or formula fed) is a fairly common and often-overlooked thing. Luckily, it's something they can grow out of. She's a year old now and doing fine with dairy.
My 7 year old was a horrible eater at that age! He was the same way...NEVER drank over 4oz bottles...even at 8 months old he wouldn't eat over 4 oz. He would cry through the feedings too....then would spit up half of what he drank. He eventually got down to the 25% for both height and weight. We battled him forever on drinking his bottles. It gets better when they start eating food...which we started at 4 months. Because they are getting more than just the bottles. My son never did like his bottles. As a matter of fact at 10 months I decided to take him off of them and just give his formula in a sippy cup.....I gave him a lot of yogurt and cheese to make up for the calcium part. I gave him the minimum he had to have in formula...which was I think 12 oz and just stuffed him with a lot of cereal and food. After I took him off the bottle and just fed him mainly food....he went to the 50% in weight....and 75th for height. We joke now that he just hated formula....but I can sympothize....it was a very hard time for us and we worried all the time. He may or may not start eating better.....just hang in there! You can E-mail me if you would ____@____.com. M.
Is he on breastmilk or formula. If he is on formula you may want to try a different kind. It could be that the one he is on is not agreeing with him and that is why he is not wanting to eat. I was lucky with my daughter I did not have a problem with formula, but she did have an allergic reaction to amoxicillan it causes her to have a rash.
T.-
I would make an appt. right away with a pediatric gasterentologist. Sometimes it can take some time to get in to see them. But, don't wait---seeing red in the diaper is not normal!!! I say this because at 7 months old my daughter began to have loose runny stools quit growing. She never did vomit but then I started seeing red in her diaper also. She was a breastfeeder. I took her to many different doctors and they tested for every bacterial and parasite that existed and could find nothing. Also, I waited months to get her in to see a peiatric GI doctor who just dismissed it and told me to put her on formula which in hindsight would have been disastrous since she ended up with food allergies including dairy and soy which they wanted her to go on. Our second pediatric GI doctor was much better and immediately wanted to do a upper GI scope test (endoscopy) and lower GI (colonscopy). This ruled out celiac disease which we thought she had. She ended up having many food allergies and once we removed all offending foods from her diet and mine (nursing) she recoverd. It took us 5 months of doctors and tests to figure out what was wrong----this is crazy! She did not grow the entire five months. It was awful! Anyway---please do not wait to see a GI doctor. The vomiting is not normal and neither is the red. They repeatedly told me the blood in her stool was from an anal fissure which was wrong--it was from her insides. The minute that the GI doc heard her symptoms and the mention of blood they wanted to do the test. Even though your baby may not have the same thing as mine, it sounds alot like allergies to me or at least something very serious that you need to address right away. When they are not eating--something is wrong!
I'm thinking of you!
I'd say it's an allergy. My youngest is a monthly GI patient at Children's Mercy and I can tell you they're great, but it'll take months to get into them without a Ped's referral. Look into milk allergies. And for the PP, there is a formula that is neither milk or soy based (what Ellie is on). It's based from amino-acids and is the gentlest thing their tummy can have (what they use in the NICU). It's called Neocate. Go to their website and it has a quick test you can take to determine if a food allergy is a problem.
