i think it's working! (knock wood)

as an update for those i haven't talked to yet: i'm not sure whether i posted about con's GERD here or not, so here's the background, in brief--

his reflux was not well controlled on meds & he was losing weight (pounds of it) despite being on enough pre.vacid for a grown man, so we got referred to a surgeon for a fundoplica.tion as a last resort. (fundoplic.ation= scary stomach surgery, with a large chance of being only a temporary fix & an awful recovery for conrad.) when we saw the surgeon, he had miraculously gained a little weight back & bc the risks of this surgery are so great for such a little guy, (he's very small, the recurence rate is close to 90% for kids who have a fundo.plication before age 2, general anethesia is esepcially dangerous for babies with GERD, the recovery is long & really awful bc it would impact his entire digestive system, & the list goes on), the surgeon advocated waiting another 6 mos to make a decision. as long as we can keep him comfortable on the pre.vacid & get him back on a normal growth curve, we can wait. there's no guarantee he won't need the surgery in the future, but the older he is the safer it will be.
anyways-- the kid is now on a high fat diet to gain weight.
problem: high fat & reflux are a BAD combination, & the new diet brought the GERD back in force, with all of its nastiest symptoms & lots of pain for conrad.
thanks to some wonderful friends & lots of research, we (i think) have the boy on a program that actually works!!! we front load the fatty stuff-- cream in his milk, ranch dressing at lunch (yup, ranch! apparently preemie taste buds hate bland & he has done MUCH better eating since we've spiced up his chow), & lost of snacks in the morning & early afternoon, & then we remove the high fat/high cal stuff for dinner & bedtime snacks. so far-- minimal puking & only occasional mild reflux attacks, & he seems MUCH more comfortable.

i'm really hopefuly this will work & we can get him gaining again... so please, keep fingers crossed, rub a lucky rabbbit's foot, or just think some "healthy kid" vibes for him!