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Enzymes as an infant
- Thread starter anonymous
- Start date
Hi There,I have a 10month old son, and it was very interesting starting enzymes for the first time.We get them in capsule form and have to break the capsule open, and put the droplets into applesauce for him to take.I thought this would be really hard for him as he was only 10 days old when he started, but he amazed me by swallowing them without a problem!And he loved the apple!!Good luck!Rebekah Mum to Matthew 10mths WCF
We started our daughter on enzymes when she was 12 weeks old. We broke them open and put them one at a time in her mouth while breast feeding her or giving her a bottle. It was a struggle at first but then got easier as time went on. Best of luck and wishing you the best with your baby!
hi,my son was started on enzymes at 1 month, the bead/applesauce method by nicu nurses. he was born six weeks early with meconium ilus. had a colostomy at 11 hrs old and did'nt get fed my breast milk for the first month while i pumped like crazy. when he was finally able to drink my milk he would not breast feed so i pumped for 11 months. he is now almost 3 and still loves his applesauce and we only give him applesauce with meds, no other time so its a treat. wish you all the best with your baby. amy mom to nathan almost 3 with cf
Hi, Ashley started enzymes at 8 weeks old. We also used apple sauce, but the other suggestion they gave us was jam. We were told only to mix it in products that contained no fat, otherwise it predigests the food. She didn't like it for the first week or so but eventually she realized that she wouldn't be fed otherwise. You should be ok because your baby won't know any different.They were a capsule form with powder when she was an infant and then as she got older they were beads inside the capsules. Today she is 3 1/2 and swallowing the enzymes whole and reminds us when it is time to eat that she needs them.We had a problem because the enzymes caused sever diaper rash on her. If you go to the webiste www.cystic-l.com you will find a "recipe" for baby wipes which we found extremely helpful with the rash. It is a mix of water, baby oil, baby shampoo and bounty paper towel. I even give it to friends without CF kids because the wipes are better and a LOT cheaper. If you can't find it let me know and I'll write it down.Heather (Mom to Ashley 3 yrs old)
Hi, my youngest daughter started with Cotyzm at about a week or two old. My oldest daughter had just been diagnosed with CF the week before my youngest was born and they decided while waiting for the results of the cord blood testing that she should start on enzymes. These particular ones have a powder instead of the microspheres inside the capsule. I had to poor one capsule into a small amount of formula and feed that to her immediately. Feeding liquid to a newborn with a spoon is nearly impossible. I found a tiny NUK medicine dispenser at either Wal~Mart or one other store in NC that is like a WM. The liquid med. dispenser has a nipple attached to a tiny bottle, about big enough to hold a table spoon or two. I put formula (I breastfed but supplimented with formula due to the high stress we were going through, newborn, newly diagnosed 3yr. old and then my husband on alert for what would become Desert Shield/Storm) Anyhow.... Its been a long time since I visited the baby dept. but I did look on-line and saw that it is still on the market. The doctors told us that they prescribed the cotyzm for infants because it can be mixed with their milk. They did say however that it could not be mixed with their entire bottle because it starts breaking down the milk immediatly. Hope this info helps. Do you know that your baby with have CF? If you need more info. on that liquid med. dispenser let me know I'll look for the site for you.Liza
AbsintheSorrow
New member
Exactly the same as someone else said... I'm on Ultrase, and those, when you open them, are full of these little beads. When I was too little to swallow the pills, my mother would open the capsules and put the beads into applesauce, and I'd eat the applesauce before meals. My mom did it that way for years.
AbsintheSorrow
New member
Yes! That reminds me. My parents fed me... some predigested thing when I was really young. Progesta-milk? Something like that. It worked like a charm and I guzzled the stuff down... but my parents still tell me about those days because the stuff was expensive, and it did indeed smell like - and I quote my parents on this - goat puke.
My son was dx. with CF at one week old. (Fortunately we live in WI, which is one of the few states that screens newborns for CF). He was started on Ultrase when he was only 2 wks. old. We would open the capsule and pour the beads into applesauce. What i found to work out well was to use the lid to his bottles to put the applesauce in and then add the contents of the capsule to that. He is now a very energetic 2 yr. old who knows that he needs his applesauce before he eats. Good luck to you. Your child will take it fine i'm sure. He/she won't know any different.Jodi, mom of Tucker w/cf
Hey everyone, when my daughter was born and diagnosed w/cf, well, let''s put it this way, I'm not over the shock yet and she just turned four years this past December. Anyway, when I gave her, her enzymes as a new born, they would burn her gums and make them bleed. So I cut part of her baby bottle Nipple and made the hole a little bigger. She had Nipples used to drink from, and she had Nipples that she used only for her enzymes. I opened her capsules which was full of powder, mixed it quickly in a small amount of apple sauce untill it was like a paste and literally stuffed the Nipple with it and she would suck it out thinking it was her bottle of milk. No problem it worked like a charm. And when she was just shy of two years, I was on the sidewalk, in the dark , with millions of people around me mixing her enzymes in apple sauce, so she could have her treat while watching the Santa claus parade and that was it, I said " tomorow you are gona learn to swallow these pills. The next day, She did and now she swallows them 2or 3 at a time with food in her mouth and needs nothing to drink . she is amazing. Right from day one , I never treated her like a porcelain doll. I wanted to, but I knew that it was not in her best interest and now , it doesn't matter what she needs at the doctors. She'll take needles no problems, she takes throat swabs, about a billion a month, anything I tell her to do she does and all I say is " you are so brave babe, I love you" and just think at school she reminds the teachers that she needs her enzymes> Cooool.She doesn't know any other way and her brother, who is one year younger is even trained to bring enzymes when he brings a snack for them to share, he hardly ever forgets and I am so proud of both of them. I chose to have my children on my own, it's hard, but you know I teach my kids that they are the only ones that will ever be there for each other and they are . They look out for each other all the time, and at 3years and 4years old they make me the proudest mom and make it (this stupid illness) all worth while. Take care
Debi,Emily started Pregestimil when she was about 2 months old and started to gain weight almost overnight. She started taking the enzymes when she started on baby food at about 6 months of age. Don't forget this was 20 years ago so things were a little different than they are now. She wasn't sweat tested until she was six months old because she "didn't sweat until she was a certain weight". She was only tentatively diagnosed at two days of age when she required bowel surgery due to Meconium Ileus. She took enzymes very easily and started to swallow pills at a very early age and can now swallow 7 or 8 at a time without blinking.Try not to be nervous and feel free to email me at any time...bwiles@cheshire.k12.ct.usBarbara<img src="i/expressions/heart.gif" border="0">