Pedialyte Trial Day 1 into 2

Caydence has been starting to eat more the past few months. But not enough to eliminate or decrease any of her feedings. Her feeding specialist that she sees recommends that we do a Pedialyte trial with Caydence in order to get her hungry and hopefully, get her to eat more. We called Caydence's GI specialist and they agreed and gave us the directions and amounts for the trial.

What happens is that we replace all her Pediasure with Pedialyte for 3 days. So she stays hydrated, but doesn't get any calories. The Pedialyte is also supposed to keep her electrolytes balanced. We were told that kids don't eat much on Day 1, but by Day 2 and 3, she should be eating a lot more. The GI specialist suggested not giving her any Pedialyte during the day and just give her all the Pedialyte and water overnight while she is asleep. But I know that totally would NOT work since she is a mover and a shaker at night. The tube would probably come out or she'd pull it apart and we'd have a Pedialyte water crib. So I've opted to give the Pedialyte in her tube after ever "meal" like I would with the Pediasure.

Yesterday was our first day on the trial. For breakfast she had a bite of banana and then she spit it out and threw it. After that she had 7 pieces of kix cereal and then started throwing them. She also had 4 spoonfuls of her yogurt/pediasure drink on a spoon and then started spitting it all out. She wouldn't take anything more after that.

At lunch she ate almost an entire fishstick, which is the most fishstick she has ever eaten. This took her a half hour. And she wouldn't eat any of her cooked carrots which she normally likes. She also had a 1/2 oz of her Pediasure/yogurt drink on a spoon.

For an afternoon snack I tried giving her small bits of peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but that was a no go. She just would pull them out of her mouth and throw them. She had 1 goldfish cracker but after that, she proceeded to pull them out of her mouth and throw them. She did take an ounce of her Pediasure/yogurt mixture on a spoon and 7 pieces of bacon and cheddar potatoskin chips and 8 pieces of mac N' cheese puffs.

Dinner was the hardest, because I knew by then she must be starving. Except she didn't want to eat :/ She didn't want any brownie, noodles, or chicken tenders. She took 3 spoonfuls of her drink and then just started spitting it out and smooshing it around in her hands. We tried her mac N' cheese puffs, but she just took them out of her mouth and threw them. She didn't want anything, but seemed fine.

This morning she was VERY lethargic and didn't want to wake up. We finally got her up and got her down stairs in her highchair. She was very weak and sleepy and her hands we kind of shaking. She acted hungry though and I was able to get her to wolf down an ounce of her drink on the spoon, 3 big bites of oatmeal and a half a jar of applesauce. She turned down the blueberry waffle, kix cereal, banana, strawberry/apple puffs, and mac N cheese puffs though. She had her Pedialyte and water and seemed more like her self.

I called her feeding specialist and left a message asking if this is normal. If she should be eating more by now... If I should give her a little Pediasure in her tube to take a edge off. I'm still waiting to hear back. Caydence just fell asleep playing with her toys. And it's time for lunch. Understandabley she is zapped for energy and very tired. For lunch I'm going to try more fishsticks since she seemed to like them yesterday and some mac n cheese. Tonight we're having steak and garlic mashed potatoes for dinner. So I'm hoping she'll eat some of the potatoes since she has LOVED them the past two times we've had them. Maybe she'll have some hotdog and veggies too. We'll see...

It was so hard seeing her so weak and frail this morning. I don't know how much longer I can do this. I guess we'll see how lunch goes, but I might end up having to give her Pediasure. Hopefully my little sleeping beauty will wake up for lunch now...I'll keep you updated...

Wish me luck <3