On the mend?

Harry has been in and out of doctors offices for the last two weeks now.  I have felt for the last 6 months like nobody wants to listen to me when it comes to how sick he is because he is happy and thriving (for which I am very grateful but still entitled to be concerned about his vomiting!).  So one day in January having had enough of going mad and questioning myself - is he really that bad or am I making it out to be worse than it actually is? - I made a note of every time Harry was sick, noting the time, graded the severity of the episode from 1-5 and noted what he was doing at the time (eg sitting reading or rolling on his gym).  He was sick 42 times - in 12 hours.  So enough was enough and off to the GP we trotted.

I knew that my GP would not take me seriously unless I presented him with all of the facts and when there is so much to say I didn't want to miss anything out so wrote it all down - it ran to 4 typed A4 pages!  I noted the history of his reflux and diet, the number of weaning foods we had tried, what he was "safe" with and what seemed to aggravate his reflux (at the time we only had 3 safe foods - brocolli, swede and sweet potato and 7 foods that he couldn't tolerate).  I also obtained quotes from articles from the american association of paediatrics and the archives of childhood diseases and illnesses which point to the link between reflux and cows milk protein intolerance.  I suffered with this as a baby as did my mum and one of my cousins and it is known to run in families.

The GP agreed that we needed to be referred to a paediatrician.  The waiting list for the NHS was running at 4-8 weeks and since I knew that whatever would be recommended would need to be trialled for a few weeks, we decided to pay privately so he could be seen immediately and we could get him on the mend before I return to work in April.

As luck would have it, Chris's fabulous HR manager was able to persuade BUPA to register Harry on his medical cover the same day and they agreed to pay for the consultation.

We saw Dr Nathavitharana who specialises in gastroenterology paediatrics with a particular interest in allergies.  His advice was to take Harry off the Gaviscon and comfort formula and to put him on normal formula with carobel (a thickening agent) and a drug called Omeprazole which stops the stomach from producing acid.

That Saturday we started Harry on Cow & Gate formula - he was horrendous.  Within 3 oz he was arching his back, writhing around, crying.  After two bottles we put him back on Comfort formula and emailed the paediatrician's secretary to seek advice on what to do.  That night at bath time, we noticed Harry was covered head to toe in eczema.  My poor little boy.  The paediatrician agreed to see us that week (rather than wait to see him the week after at our scheduled appointment).  One thing he had commented on at the first consultation was how clear Harry's skin was.  He was glad to see him quickly and see the effects of the milk himself and said that Harry had a cows milk protein intolerance and should be put on fully hydrolysed formula where the protein is broken down so that the body does not recognise it as an allergen.

Our GP doesn't do a surgery on a Friday so knowing we would have to wait 4 days we decided to buy the milk ourselves from the chemist - it cost £17.28 from Tesco pharmacy for a tin that lasts 2.5 days!
Today we saw the GP and after a battle he agreed to put the formula on prescription.  He doesn't seem as sick on his new milk but is still in a lot of pain with bowel wind and has been suffering with diarrhea.  Here's hoping that his new regime will start to sort him out soon, poor little Harry.

On a happier note, we have been doing baby led weaning where we let Harry feed himself rather than spoon feeding him purees.  He is loving it and his hand-eye co-ordination is coming on leaps and bounds.  I am still giving him some purees but he guides the spoon in himself.