Conflicting Opinions

Emmett has been doing fairly well over the last week or so. It's hard to tell if the small improvements we are seeing are from the bodywork or Brett and I finally figuring out how to manage Emmett's needs, but I like to think it's a little bit of both!

We had Emmett's two month appointment at the pediatrician last Thursday, which I had been anxious for in the days leading up to it.

Those of you that know me, know how much I hate confrontation.

Despite dreading confrontation, I just knew I couldn't not say something about everything going on to the pediatrician at his appointment. My point of saying something was absolutely not to come across as disrespectful, but to open up a conversation to share all the knowledge I've learned over the last few weeks.

The appointment started with getting Emmett's weight checked, which looked great at 10 pounds 13.5 ounces! After we finished updating the nurse, the pediatrician came in next.

I just want to put it out there that we honestly love this pediatrician. He's so goofy and great with kids, which was what made us initially decide to go see him.

He walked in cracking jokes like his usual self and said "so now you guys have got this whole baby thing down, don't you?! Two months in and you're masters at the eat, poop, sleep, repeat routine". I quickly stopped him saying that it's actually been pretty difficult for us over the last couple months. I began to briefly explain that I recently discovered Emmett has oral ties and that it was the reason behind all his symptoms. I then began to mention that we started to see a chiropractor and he immediately cut in saying "they haven't been doing adjustments on him, have they?" I said "yes, they actually have" and proceeded to inquire why he was questioning that. He responded "I get pretty weary about cracking baby bones because you just don't know what that might do to their body."

Let me stop right here and say this already showed his lack of knowledge on pediatric chiropractic care.

I continued to inform him that they absolutely do not crack Emmett's bones during these adjustments and said that they only use as much pressure as squeezing a ripe tomato (as it was explained to me by the chiropractor). I then began to explain how they did some scans on Emmett to see where he holds his tension and again he interrupts saying "they didn't do an X-ray scan, did they?" Again, I informed him that absolutely no X-rays or harmful radiation was used in the process of the chiropractic scans. I explained that a probe was used on his ear to measure his heart rate variability and another device to read the different temperatures down his spine. I continued to explain that his results showed that one of his biggest problem areas is reflux, which has been a huge issue for him since early on. He responded "well reflux is normal for babies and he will grow out of it, so it's not likely related to all of this."

At this point I just knew that the pediatrician was not open to learning more about this because it was not part of the way he learned to "practice" medicine.

He mentioned that he doesn't want Emmett on the Famotidine for longer than he needs to be (which trust me, Brett and I don't want him on it either) and that we can try adding in rice cereal to his bottles to help thicken his formula in hopes it helps keep it down and prevents as many spit up episodes.

I began to wonder how the rice cereal would even help because besides the pediatrician's knowledge, he didn't understand that Emmett's reflux is from trapped air in his stomach pushing the formula back up. My thought was regardless of how thick his formula was, I assumed it would still find its way back up Emmett's esophagus.

The final part of our appointment ended with him examining Emmett, including in his mouth. He has a PA student with him, so he was explaining his head to toe assessment as he was doing it. He began to point out Emmett's upper lip tie (which he previously misdiagnosed) and said "it doesn't look to be that severe".

Let me remind you that Emmett's worst oral tie is his upper lip tie, which was diagnosed as a grade four.

The appointment ended with the pediatrician stating "you can proceed with getting his oral ties released if you'd like, but it may or may not help with anything as the procedure is typically only beneficial for breastfed infants".

By this point I was furious at his lack of knowledge and unwillingness to learn about what is truly going on with Emmett. I was even more frustrated knowing that there will be more infants in the care of his practice that go undiagnosed and have to suffer because he truly doesn't get it.

Brett and I left the appointment confused because we wanted to be able to trust the doctor taking care of our child, but how can we in a situation like this? As I mentioned earlier, we also loved this pediatrician, so I think we were upset and a little caught off guard with his reaction.

Brett was questioning if we should just try the rice cereal for Emmett's reflux in hopes it will allow us to get him off of the Famotidine.

You all know me well enough by now... I began to do some research on it.

I was finding some scary stuff regarding rice cereal, such as babies choking on it due to it being a thicker consistency. This terrified me as Emmett had already been choking on his spit up previously, so I decided to call his Speech Pathologist to get her perspective on this recommendation. She immediately started chuckling and said that she absolutely does not recommend the rice cereal. She said "these doctors just don't get it", like she had heard this one too many times before. She said we would be basically be feeding Emmett empty calories and it would not help him at all. I, then, asked her about the Famotidine, as I was questioning if we should even continue to give him that given the risks associated.

I read online that due to Famotidine wiping out all the acid in an infant's stomach, studies have shown that it can lead to increased risk for children to develop food allergies, rashes, and even asthma.

The Speech Pathologist said that she can't advise us to stop giving our son a medication, but we can look up the risks online and make a decision based on that. However, she pretty much said it the Famotidine isn't helping anything.

We definitely did not end up trying the rice cereal and now Emmett is also off the Famotidine medication. As I processed everything that happened last Thursday, I couldn't figure out my emotions towards Emmett's doctors office. I knew we loved his pediatrician, but honestly knew we couldn't stay there as we aren't getting the support we need from them during this very difficult journey. I ended up asking Emmett's chiropractor if she knows of any pediatricians in the area who understand all of this and are accepting of it. She recommended a couple to us, so we will be looking into those practices and transitioning care moving forward.

As a nurse, I know that we are taught how to provide care through a textbook. However, the important thing to take note of is that healthcare is constantly evolving, so you have to keep an open mind to things as more research is being conducted and findings are being discovered. Although treatment has worked for previous patients, is it treating the underlying cause? The lady at the front desk of Emmett's chiropractor's office said to me today "the body was built to heal itself, so we need to get back in this mindset, not just jump to a surgery or medication as the fix." This resignated with me because she's so right! Yes, a surgery or medication may be needed, but let's start by healing the body and seeing what progress the body can make on its own before adding in these more invasive treatments.

With that being said, I know that the chiropractic work has been helping Emmett's body heal, but he definitely still needs the frenectomy done to assist in the healing process as his oral ties can cause life-long health issues. His procedure is just one week away and the nerves are definitely setting in, but I keep telling myself that this is what is best for him. We appreciate all your thoughts and prayers going into Emmett's procedure next Monday! I will try to post an update after the procedure to let you all know how he did. We know our sweet boy is so strong and can't wait to see his progress in this next chapter!