Notes:Korvin had a procedure done by Dr. Oser to release his class 4 anterior tongue, posterior tongue, and lip tie when he was 8 days old. The procedure should have taken 15 minutes, but took over 40 because of how bad it was. He was NOT happy about it, and it was torturous to hear him scream about it the whole time.
After they finished and brought him back to me, Kathy O'Brien (the lactation consultant present to help babies re-learn how to nurse) helped us start nursing. I had mastitis, and shredded nipples by that point, so it was painful. . .but sooo much easier. He nursed for 45 minutes, and then passed out for 4 hours.
We had to do exercises on his tongue and lip for 2 weeks to keep the ties from re-attaching. . .4 times a day. . .and he screamed so hard he stopped breathing pretty much every time.
Once his tongue was all healed up, I noticed something weird about the way he was when he was on his side. It was like he was trying to touch his butt with the back of his head. He also never turned his head to the left. So we called his dr and took him in a week after his 1 month check up (at which he measured 8 lbs, 15.5 oz and 22 inches) to ask for a prescription to physical therapy. He thought it was just torticollis, and that stretching his neck would fix it. I insisted on PT, and since he said it wouldn't hurt he agreed to send us.
At his PT evaluation, the therapist told us it wasn't exactly torticollis. More specifically, the right side of his neck and the right side of his pelvis were locked, the soft tissue in his mouth was too tight, and the left side of his jaw was too tight. Because he always turned his head to the right, the right side of his head was also larger than the left.
He HATES physical therapy...for awhile I had to feed him the whole time to keep him from screaming. One day when he was about 2 months old he'd already nursed before hand, and then drank 8 oz which was all I had with me. He was still crying like he was hungry, even though I knew he wasn't. The 2 therapists working on him were convinced that he was still hungry, and couldn't continue working on him when he was screaming and tensed up. So we decided to end the session, and I would take him to the car and nurse. As soon as we walked out of the office and got on the elevator, he started grinning and laughing. . .and passed out when we got to the car.
He's made amazing progress though. He has full range of motion, his jaw relaxed, and the soft tissue in his mouth is much better. His head is still uneven, although greatly improved.
He also started teething way early, and about a week after he turned 2 months, the tip of a molar broke through. About the same time he started refusing to nurse, and would pull away and cry. On one side, he would routinely growl like a puppy, and shake me like a piece of meat when he was nursing. Eventually he refused to nurse at all unless he was pretty much asleep, and now won't even do that.
I've been pumping so he still get's breastmilk, but I can't pump as much as he needs, regardless of what I try. So since he had to have formula, I make it myself so I know what's in it, and where it all came from. Sounds like a lot of work, but my peace of mind is worth it...so is his health. Starting out he only needed about an extra bottle a day, so we were just giving him goat's milk and poly vi sol. Once he significantly increased the amount he needed per day, I started making formula, and slowly switched him over to using cow's milk.
Gradually he started refusing bottles too, and would cry and scream while eating, and sleeping. . .but not all the time. We took him back to the dr when he was 3 months old (where he measured 13 lb, 4 oz and 25 inches), and they started him on reflux meds. Previously, he didn't spit up a whole lot, but once we started medicine, he started throwing up. The dr wanted an update a week later, so when I called and told him what was going on, he decided to switch medicines and see if that helped. That made it worse. He started choking and aspirating when eating and puking.
His dr decided he needed to see a gastrointerologist to see if something else was going on. I had mentioned several times both to his dr, and other people that I thought it was because of the way he was swallowing. He would swallow giant air bubbles, and they, of course, cause gas and spitting up. We took him for his GI consult the day after his 4 month check up (where he measured 15 lbs 13 oz and 26 3/4 inches. . .pretty darn good considering all the issues), where the dr agreed with me that it was his swallow. His eating pattern usually goes: suck, suck, swallow, pull away and cry.
He is going for a swallow function test on Wednesday. Hopefully, they will figure out a solution, and he can start sleeping and eating without crying about it.
And those are the major updates on Korvin. Next post will be more entertaining, I promise. :)
