My Kid’s Crazy Stomach

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When my son was a baby we had to feed him every two hours and when he ate, he ATE, panicked and ravenous, like we were starving him or something. He practically inhaled breast milk and formula, and when we weren’t feeding him, we were cleaning and sterilizing the breast pump equipment 24/7. It was brutal and my boobs were like two throbbing orbs that leaked all the time. I would’ve loved to breast feed him and burn the milking machine, but every time I tried, he would scream all day. So the dairy business was up and running until about six months.

Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, he still spat up alot and when he started eating solids, would also bring up his meals and chew on them. We tried Ranitidine (before it was recalled) and anti-gas medicine, and even hoped he would eventually grow out of it, but at 3, he’s still spitting up. I will put him to bed for a nap and, two hours later discover a Monty Python Meaning of Life-type barf explosion in his bedroom. We’ve tried cutting down his intake of food and water and eliminating or reducing suspected triggers, but nothing really works!

In November, I had a meeting with a pediatrician and two OTs about it, along with hopefully someday getting an autism diagnosis, but it’s been crickets ever since. To be fair, he did get some bloodwork done and will be meeting a gastroenterologist in April, but I really don’t know what the frick to do in the meantime. He is also super picky, which makes things even more difficult. My husband thinks he has something called “rumination syndrome”, and the doctor seemed to agree. What’s also difficult is that he is non-verbal, so I honestly have no idea how to teach him how to chew and swallow food properly. We are on an occupational therapy waitlist, but not sure when that will happen. Guess I should just be grateful for that gastro appointment in April eh?

Anyways, the point of this post is not to gross you out, but just to vent my frustration. Learning how to cope with my son’s autism has been difficult, but I’ve gotten some support from other parents and suggestions. However, rumination syndrome is not as common it seems, and I have no idea how to fix it.