It's a Start.

KayTar's gut still isn't behaving itself. She didn't tolerate her full feed volumes the night before last, yesterday morning, or last night. She only got about 50% of what she needed yesterday. It is happening more and more often, so something has to change.

First, I made her a pediatrician's appointment for Wednesday to be sure there isn't anything fixable happening that we're missing...and I figure we'll discuss the breathing and fatigue issues while we are there, too.

Second, I changed her feeding schedule today to half-sized feeds every 2 hours, instead of full-sized feeds every 4 hours. So far, so good, with the exception of her "belly burning" for a while midday. It is a pain, though. Hooking her up every two hours is a lot more disruptive than every 4 hours, and it takes longer overall. She got feeds at 9am, 11am, 1pm, 3pm, 5:30pm, 7:30pm, and she will get one at 9:30pm, and 11:30pm to get it all in. Of course, she'll be asleep for the last two.

Third, we're not letting her eat any meat. This one is a bit of a long shot and going to be the hardest to implement if we have to continue it. KayTar is *almost* a total carnivore when it comes to what she is willing to eat by mouth. She doesn't eat A LOT, but a huge percentage of what she does eat is fatty meat. If her gut is indeed having trouble processing things, then meat, especially meat high in fat like bacon, is probably just compounding the problem, as it is tougher to break down than a lot of other foods. If she is chowing down on meat and it isn't breaking down and moving through in a timely manner, it may be gumming up the works for other things (like her Pediasure), causing an upset stomach and vomiting. I haaaate telling her she can't eat something when she wants to, but we have to figure this out, so for the next few days, meat is a no-no. If everything goes well with the half-sized feeding schedule, then we will add meat back in and see if things go awry again. The pediatrician may have additional suggestions, so we'll see what she thinks and go from there. Hopefully this little belly starts behaving itself!