rainrshine
09-07-2012, 11:32 AM
I have been lurking on this board all week and reading everything I could in order to save some emaciated, starving, dehydrated, and cold babies this week. I want to thank all who have posted helpful hints and tips so I had a reference to run to around the clock. They appear to be 3-4 weeks old but were in bad shape.
Here's my story. I received a call Monday to see if I would try and save some very sick babies that were found on Sunday. The mom was shot and killed and the babies were not discovered until days later. The person who found them attempted to save them and gave them water and canned puppy milk with a visine bottle that was cleaned and sterilized. While this may not be the best practice, it was pretty creative to find something to use in a pinch. The babies were never warmed except from the sun but were fed the milk.
After the call on Monday, I had the babies within 20 minutes. I was eager to save them and she was eager to get them some help asap. They were laying in a cold box with only a thin cloth and initially I thought they were dead because they were so cold and grey rather than warm and pink. One baby died within the first hour. I was upset and had knew that it was going to be a long and difficult week for me to get through this and save these babies. I read all I could in-between caring for babies and the board was up and running continually during this time.
The second baby was deceased Tuesday morning when I went for the 6am feeding. I kinda knew it was going to happen because I just could not get the baby to eat so I forced pedialyte drop by drop but the baby had the awful clicking sound and was extremely lethargic at 2 & 4 am but I was still hopeful a miracle would happen; unfortunately, my hope was not enough.
I knew I had to step up the pace and watch every little symptom and gather all supplies I needed now, will need soon, maybe could need, etc. for the next few days. I was determined to be prepared. However, there will always be something you forgot to get or didn't know you will need so I'm making a list of things to post later for the new moms out there who don't have initial supplies on hand. This is so they won't be in my situation where I have been in and out of stores continually and ordered supplies right and left trying to get everything perfect. I over-nighted esbilac and returned it the next day after reading the warnings.
Tuesday was rough, he was just not feeding well. I continued the esbilac puppy formula (canned) until I got frightened about the warnings. I then stumbled on the tip to use ensure vanilla because it is easy to digest. I had seen warnings about goat milk (unfounded) so I took my chances with the ensure. The baby loved it. Maybe loved it too much because he took so well to it I increased his feedings to 3cc every 3 hours on Wednesday. There is a lot of conflicting advice on the internet and I needed to make a choice on which to follow before the baby died from too many changes. This is when I decided to quit searching the internet, make the GM ASAP and get the Fox Valley ordered.
Wednesday seemed to go okay and I made the goat milk formula as directed. I fed him 3cc and he developed severe diarrhea. Not only did he he get the diarrhea but at the midnight feeding as well as the 3 am feeding my syringe was sticking and it became a nightmare just to work with it enough to feed the baby. In the middle of the night is not a good time to suddenly need supplies desperately. It is frustrating for the mom as well as the baby when you have to stop and start feedings. Anyways....
Back to pedialyte Thursday morning and a dose of Cipro 0.1cc just to be on the safe side. I remade the GM without the cream and watered it down 50/50 initially and increased the strength for a few feedings until it was 100% minus the cream still. Called husband at work and had him bring me new syringes from the hospital. All of mine were sticking because they were not the O rings but the ones with the rubber cover... I'm struggling through this with a sticky syringe until help came with syringes.
Thursday evening baby seemed bloated. Sent husband for a new weight scale. Dumb me. I had forgotten it and went by the feeding schedule by age not weight. I was feeding 3cc and baby was 50 grams and should only get 2.5cc! I stretched out the feeding and monitored him until he completely lost the milk band before he got more formula.
This morning I am happy to say the new baby is eating well, on the full GM formula with cream every 3 hours he gets 2.5cc. He is once again holding his syringe bottle and eagerly enjoying his food. After he eats the 2.5 cc's I let him continue to suck on the nipple. He has a pacifier! He can't suck air through the empty syringe and it seems to pacify him. He has no diarrhea so far and it peeing and pooing just fine. My Fox Valley should be here tomorrow so we can finally transition over to one stable formula and routine. Until then, he is sleeping in his nice warm comfy fleece bed with his rice buddy (also fleece) which is warmed only a little because he has the heating pad but I put it there just in case he wants to snuggle extra. I made two rice buddies so I have one warmed up before feedings so he never gets chilled while eating and it warms my hands too!
Wish us luck, I think we are gonna be okay but I'm not letting my guard down until he is hiding acorns in the closet!
Here's my story. I received a call Monday to see if I would try and save some very sick babies that were found on Sunday. The mom was shot and killed and the babies were not discovered until days later. The person who found them attempted to save them and gave them water and canned puppy milk with a visine bottle that was cleaned and sterilized. While this may not be the best practice, it was pretty creative to find something to use in a pinch. The babies were never warmed except from the sun but were fed the milk.
After the call on Monday, I had the babies within 20 minutes. I was eager to save them and she was eager to get them some help asap. They were laying in a cold box with only a thin cloth and initially I thought they were dead because they were so cold and grey rather than warm and pink. One baby died within the first hour. I was upset and had knew that it was going to be a long and difficult week for me to get through this and save these babies. I read all I could in-between caring for babies and the board was up and running continually during this time.
The second baby was deceased Tuesday morning when I went for the 6am feeding. I kinda knew it was going to happen because I just could not get the baby to eat so I forced pedialyte drop by drop but the baby had the awful clicking sound and was extremely lethargic at 2 & 4 am but I was still hopeful a miracle would happen; unfortunately, my hope was not enough.
I knew I had to step up the pace and watch every little symptom and gather all supplies I needed now, will need soon, maybe could need, etc. for the next few days. I was determined to be prepared. However, there will always be something you forgot to get or didn't know you will need so I'm making a list of things to post later for the new moms out there who don't have initial supplies on hand. This is so they won't be in my situation where I have been in and out of stores continually and ordered supplies right and left trying to get everything perfect. I over-nighted esbilac and returned it the next day after reading the warnings.
Tuesday was rough, he was just not feeding well. I continued the esbilac puppy formula (canned) until I got frightened about the warnings. I then stumbled on the tip to use ensure vanilla because it is easy to digest. I had seen warnings about goat milk (unfounded) so I took my chances with the ensure. The baby loved it. Maybe loved it too much because he took so well to it I increased his feedings to 3cc every 3 hours on Wednesday. There is a lot of conflicting advice on the internet and I needed to make a choice on which to follow before the baby died from too many changes. This is when I decided to quit searching the internet, make the GM ASAP and get the Fox Valley ordered.
Wednesday seemed to go okay and I made the goat milk formula as directed. I fed him 3cc and he developed severe diarrhea. Not only did he he get the diarrhea but at the midnight feeding as well as the 3 am feeding my syringe was sticking and it became a nightmare just to work with it enough to feed the baby. In the middle of the night is not a good time to suddenly need supplies desperately. It is frustrating for the mom as well as the baby when you have to stop and start feedings. Anyways....
Back to pedialyte Thursday morning and a dose of Cipro 0.1cc just to be on the safe side. I remade the GM without the cream and watered it down 50/50 initially and increased the strength for a few feedings until it was 100% minus the cream still. Called husband at work and had him bring me new syringes from the hospital. All of mine were sticking because they were not the O rings but the ones with the rubber cover... I'm struggling through this with a sticky syringe until help came with syringes.
Thursday evening baby seemed bloated. Sent husband for a new weight scale. Dumb me. I had forgotten it and went by the feeding schedule by age not weight. I was feeding 3cc and baby was 50 grams and should only get 2.5cc! I stretched out the feeding and monitored him until he completely lost the milk band before he got more formula.
This morning I am happy to say the new baby is eating well, on the full GM formula with cream every 3 hours he gets 2.5cc. He is once again holding his syringe bottle and eagerly enjoying his food. After he eats the 2.5 cc's I let him continue to suck on the nipple. He has a pacifier! He can't suck air through the empty syringe and it seems to pacify him. He has no diarrhea so far and it peeing and pooing just fine. My Fox Valley should be here tomorrow so we can finally transition over to one stable formula and routine. Until then, he is sleeping in his nice warm comfy fleece bed with his rice buddy (also fleece) which is warmed only a little because he has the heating pad but I put it there just in case he wants to snuggle extra. I made two rice buddies so I have one warmed up before feedings so he never gets chilled while eating and it warms my hands too!
Wish us luck, I think we are gonna be okay but I'm not letting my guard down until he is hiding acorns in the closet!