I brought my son into the ER for feeding issues. He was two and a half months old and had been having issues eating since birth, we had had lots of appointments at both his regular doctor and the GI specialist and the treatments he was being given (hypoallergenic formula and reflux medications) were only marginally helping. He screamed hysterically every time we fed him, it was a horrible battle to get him to eat and was traumatic for everyone in the household each and every time we brought a bottle to his mouth. He gagged and choked while eating and he had a chronic cough that occurred while eating that started when he was three weeks old. I brought him into the ER that day because he had begun forcefully vomiting while eating and his cough had worsened significantly - I was worried that he was aspirating.
Leigh saw how flustered I was and immediately asked what she could do to help me, she propped me up on the bed holding my baby with pillows around me, got me something to drink, even held my son while I went to the cafeteria to get lunch. The ER doctor initially thought there wasn't anything serious enough to admit my son that we should just go home and follow up with his GI clinic. But then Leigh tried to feed him, and he screamed hysterically as soon as she brought the bottle to his mouth, which had been normal for him for over a month now. She knew right away something must be very wrong with him, that his behavior was not normal and we should not be sent home.
Leigh and the other ER nurse insisted to the doctor that he needed to be admitted for a proper diagnosis, that we could not continue feeding him by bottle in his condition. They convinced the ER doctor to place an NG tube in the ER. My son was admitted and after many tests, they determined he was indeed aspirating while eating and that he should not be fed anything by mouth. The speech pathologist told us that he was developing an oral aversion and that it was good we got the help we needed now because if they had sent us home he likely would have developed pneumonia, in addition to a severe oral aversion. He is home now on his NG tube and we are starting therapy with a speech pathologist to begin the road back to eating by mouth. He is doing so much better now that he has his feeding tube, my son actually smiles when we feed him which never happened before!
We are so thankful for Leigh and her assistance in getting my son the help he needed. He was going down a very dangerous road, and Leigh helped us get him back on the right track.