Tuesday, June 2, 2009

An After-Thought About Juan Or's Condition of Being Underweight

During the most recent visit to the paediatrician for vaccination at 12 months old, the paediatrician found Juan Or to be underweight at 8.1 kg. As such, he recommended Juan Or to be on PediaSure (Abbott Laboratories) for 3 months.



Of course Mommy is baffled as to how Juan Or turns out to be underweight considering that the babysitter gives him 3 or 4 times of milk feeds (ranging from 7 to 9 oz. of milk per feed) per day, and Juan Or is also capable of finishing 2 bowlfuls of porridge (rice bowl size) in a day. And the porridge contains mashed up carrots, some butter or cheese (to fatten him up) and fish meat or ikan bilis stock. Then one day, a quick flash of thought occurred in Mommy that Juan Or's condition of being underweight may be caused by him taking his antibiotic (trimetoprim) on a daily basis. Juan Or has to take trimetoprim daily as a preventive measure of him getting urinary tract infection. Juan Or has this congenital condition called mild bilateral hydronephrosis (laymen's term: mildly dilated kidneys) which makes him susceptible to getting urinary tract infection. And the HUKM peadiatrician mentioned that any infection to his growing kidney is no good because it can cause kidney scarring and along the way will cause the kidney function to deteriorate. Mommy thinks perhaps the antibiotic, taken in long run, has killed many of the natural friendly microorganisms in Juan Or's gut system. And these microorganisms have been known to aid nutrien absorption. So perhaps Juan Or's nutrient absorption is not efficient, that's why he has poor weight gain.





(The antibiotic that Juan Or has to take every day, trimetoprim.)






So on the day the paediatrician recommended PediaSure on Juan Or, Mommy went to buy a 900g tin of PediaSure that is supplemented with FOS and probiotics. Mommy bought is for RM55.90 at Pasar Mini Wah Seng (Jalan Sepadu, off Old Klang Road). Mommy saw The Store selling it for RM60.++ Anyway, Juan Or finished the entire 900 g within 9 days! So Mommy had to go buy PediaSure again. Mommy went to the same shop and this time, the exact same type of PediaSure is sold for RM53.90! So Mommy bought 2 tins straightaway since Juan Or consumes it very fast.





(The PediaSure that the paediatrician recommends Juan Or to take, which Mommy bought for RM55.90, then later for RM53.90 at the same shop.)



After 9 days of consuming PediaSure, Juan Or already showed some results. His cheeks are puffier now and the diameter of his hand looks bigger. Haha....to put it in a light way, Juan Or's extra flesh or fat costs RM55.90!






(A photo of Juan Or a week or so before the visit to the paediatrician. )










(A very recent photo of Juan Or about 9 days after consuming PediaSure. Cheeks are puffier and the diameter of his hands are slightly bigger now. Photo taken at this angle may not reveal such big difference, but the difference is easily seen in real life.)







1 comment:

Alice Law said...

Yup! Undoubtedly the medical condition and adverse-reaction of drugs are the most usual culprits for poor weight gain in infant or toddler.

The other major contributor is nevertheless "The sleep disruption", that suppressing the growth hormone, ghrelin and melatonin in children if they didn't get efficient night sleep (Norm:10-12 hours for 1-2 years old).

Stresses are also one of the cause for poor weight gain in children.

Determine the cause of Juan Or's slow weight gain would not be easy, it might be a combination of different factors. As long as the symptom is improved it should be alright, good luck!