post palate repair question re: feeding

[carriesantos]

Hello everyone, my daughter Sienna just had her palate repaired on the 10th. The surgery was a success, unfortunately she does not want to eat at all. I have been basically having to force feed her just enough so that she stays hydrated. I use the haberman normally and she seemed to be doing ok with that at first, and now that we are home she has gotten worse. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks

[Heide]

Hello and congratulations on a successful surgery. Our little one seemed to like the clear pedialyte the best that first week after surgery, she did not like the formula at all, nor did she want to eat. If you can keep her hydrated that is great, our little one took only little amounts at first and we were using a little soft syringe kinda thing. Hang in there and I hope this helps. Heide

[daycon]

Hi, I don't know how old Sienna is but our son had his palate repaired at the age of 2 and the hospital gave us some huge syringes with some thin rubber tubes (something like what they use to tie around your arm when your having blood drawn). Basically you cut the tubing as long/short you want and attach it to the syringe. I used that for like 2 weeks (or more?) and fed him Gerber, homemade pureed foods and juices. It was a really slow process and a bit frustrating but it did the job. I even kept one as a souvenir.

Hope this info helps and good luck!!!

Angelo's mom.

[carriesantos]

Thanks for the tips. Sienna is now eating...willingly:). She is still eating smaller but more frequent amounts out of her haberman. Still up quite a bit through the night, but slowly improving. Thanks again...Carrie:)