"With her guidance and support things massively turned around"

I wanted to leave a message here to express my thanks to the Pediatric Dietetic department at Forth Valley Royal. My daughter was born November 2022 and unfortunately struggled to regain her birth weight. From birth, We were caught in a never-ending cycle of grueling feeding plans alongside formula top-ups at differing hourly intervals often combined with a very threatening-feeling 48hour deadline that she should put on weight or there would be a “consequences” (namely a hospital admission). This went on for months and both my daughter and I were exhausted.. it was a very dark time.

Following birth, My daughter dropped to the 2nd centile but never deviated from its curve and followed it over the ensuing months (I’ve since understood that her continuously following the curve raises the question of why the feeding plans needed to have been so aggressive). She was now struggling with reflux, constipation, excruciating trapped wind and a rash which covered her from head to toe. It was at this point that a milk allergy was suspected (I had wanted to exclusively breastfeed but never had that chance).

Thankfully, we were then referred to the Pediatric Dietician and with Kay’s guidance and support things massively turned around. I instantly trusted Kay as her approach was one of kindness, consistency and common sense - all of which I felt had been sorely missing up until this point (we were constantly given conflicting instructions by departments who didn’t communicate with one another who seemed to be following a prescribed approach rather then considering my daughter as an individual).

My daughter was confirmed as having a cows milk allergy and we were put on a suitable formula for her top-ups as the previous one had been causing the reflux, skin rashes etc.

I finally felt as though my wishes to breastfeed were being heard and there was a proper plan being put in place to help my daughter.

We moved towards my being able to breastfeed more and worked towards reducing the formula top-ups. It was around this time that both my daughter and I were finally allowed to have a couple of consecutive hours of sleep (necessary for growth!) and things really turned around.

My daughter is now just above the 50th centile and those dark days feel like a distant, albeit still rather painful memory. I dread to think how long it would have taken to turn the corner had it not been for Kay’s involvement. I can’t thank her enough and thought this might be a good forum to express my appreciation of the care we received from the Pediatric Dietetic department.