Jo and Charlotte’s story (speech pathology submission)
Charlotte was born at 37 weeks and was tiny – she wasn’t on the weight charts and barely on the height chart. Unsurprisingly, the neonatologist / paediatrician whacked a nasal gastric tube (NGT) in her straight away and started milk feeds. My milk hadn’t come in as...Chrissy and Evie’s Story
My daughter, Evie is 3 and a half years old. This is her (medical) story. Evie was born in June 2009. Right from the beginning it was a rocky start. My milk failed to come in adequately and she failed to gain weight. We had to give her formula or we would be staying in hospital. I battled on trying everything to increase supply and meanwhile, supplementing so that she gained weight. At about 5 weeks, she became VERY unhappy. She cried for almost every waking moment for 3 days. The only thing that stopped her crying that weekend was me breastfeeding her (although I think she was using me more as a dummy) and walking her around outside, talking to her and holding her very upright.
Neocate, Elecare and the PBS
As of 1 July 2012, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (who administer the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme or PBS), have made changes to the way amino acid-based forumlae like Neocate or Elecare can be prescribed for children under 24 months. Theoretically, now only paediatric gastroenterologists, a specialist allergist or clinical immunologist can now write these prescriptions.
HOWEVER, paediatricians and General Practitioners can still prescribe these formulae “in consultation with” any of the specialists above.
Advocacy – making things better for our kids
So if you’re a reflux parent you know how few people understand what you’re going through. And that includes medical professionals – not just your relatives and friends. That’s why RISA exists, right?
While the prevalence of GORD in the general infant population runs somewhere between ten and 20 percent(1), the incidence among premature infants is significantly higher ‐ recent studies suggest around 90%!(2) Perhaps unsurprisingly, the incidence among the general infant population is not dissimilar to the incidence among the general adult population.
Glenda and Anthony’s story
Anthony was my third child and after having a difficult time with my 2 daughters, I felt confident and relaxed about the thought of having another child.
Little did I know what was to come. It wasn’t long before Anthony was struggling with his feeds. He would drink and then gag and splutter, but because he was born with a floppy larynx (laryngomalacia), I just figured that was the problem. He also breathed extremely rapidly and this was also put down to the same problem (a bronchoscopy ultimately confirmed this diagnosis).