BeckyNICURN

"I can't hear you!....But the babies can!"

I have a question about my daughter (I am a NICU RN and so I am lacking in older Peds stuff!!). When she was 12 months, she weighed 17 lbs 4 oz. Now at 15 months, she weighed only 17 lbs. We have had concerns about her weight gain since birth, but most of it was chalked up to reflux (she was on Zantac till 12 months). She has always eaten very well, no problems with appetite. She eats very healthy and drinks at least 16 oz of whole milk a day. Our Ped wants us back in 6 weeks for a weight check and wants us to make some dietary changes before we go for the labwork. We changed her to whole milk yogurt instead of lowfat, added peanut butter to her diet and make sure she gets meat every day. In retrospect, my husband and I have noticed these things about her: her arms and legs look very thin (not boney, just thin), after she eats her stomach is HUGE - regardless of how much she eats and pooping decreases it only slightly), she has regular stools - some loose but not always, her hair is very slow to grow (I can't even put a bow in it), but she is HAPPY, very active, very smart, talks alot, good fine motor and gross motor skills - I have no concerns about her cognitive development at all. Do you think there could be something GI going on with her? Perhaps some sort of malabsorption going on? Any ideas from you Peds nurses would be great!!

Thank you all so much for your replys and suggestions. I am going to print this out and give it to my nurse manager. We are not currently using humidity. Maybe that is something that we should be doing instead of the Aquaphor. Are any of you aware of any research articles related to this topic? That would be helpful in policy changes too. Thank you!

Just wondering if anyone else is having this problem...our micropreemies' skin is burning and we think it is related to the aquaphor. Obviously, we know that their skin is fragile as is their water/fluid/temp balance and thus we use aquaphor for that. What we are finding is: skin emaciation - looks like burns almost- under temp probe gold hearts (adhesive stickers to hold the temp probe to skin) and when the baby is under phototherapy. We are only seeing it when the baby has Aquaphor on their skin. Has anyone else seen this? Do you use something different for the skin that doesn't react to gold hearts or to phototherapy???

Unfortunately, we don't have any policy against contact with the parents.

Thank you so much for your advice. It really helps hearing it from the perspective of a bereaved parent. If she contacts me again about going out with her, what would be the appropriate response? I would not want her to feel like I am rejecting her, but obviously need to let her know that we won't be meeting. About our hospitals programs, we don't have any. There is no support group. We have a bereavement nurse who does follow-up with them, but nothing in the sense of a group. Unfortuntately. Thanks again.

I took care of a 25 weeker, who after 5 months passed away. I was fairly close to the parents, but solely in a professional relationship. After he died, I sent them flowers and a card. I have since recieved an email from the mom saying how much she appreciated the care I gave her son and for continuing to think about them in their hard time. However, she proposed that we go out to lunch sometime. I talked with another nurse, who has bereavement training, and she said that it isn't a good idea to meet with the parents. She said from her experience they become dependent on us since we are the only link to their child and they feel no one else would understand. She also said that if the only thing in common is that child, then the get together are awkward. I am torn as to what to do since the mom stated she feels she and her child have been forgotten already. I don't want her to feel this way, but I have two young children and a very busy life that can't afford a dependant relationship. This sounds horrible and I don't mean it like that, but I don't even get together with my friends for lunch like I would like. I would never want her to feel rejected or forgotten, which is why I am torn. Help!!