Hi, good for you for standing up for yourself with the breastfeeding. My friend's daughter had the same experience as you with any solids or liquids that weren't directly from the breast. My daughter won't choke on everything...just randomly on anything. That's what made us close friends is our daughter's similarities though...even the same specialists. Anyways, her daughter is a couple of weeks younger than mine and it took the dr's until this past September to find a laryngeal cleft. (she was almost 3 at the time). You should ask your pedi to refer you to a specialist who deals with issues like yours in babies all the time. You could see an ENT/ORL, that's who we have right now with a CADD clinic looking for a possible cleft in my daughter. (the CADD clinic is made up of a Gastro, Pulmonology, ENT, and Neuro if necessary). And as far as the bf'ing goes...stay strong. Dr's push because they question what they can't see (I had them give me the run around on bfing forever...and it never was the problem). Formula (or even EBM in a bottle) is something they can see and count so they push for that. My friend's saving grace (and mine) was the bfing. I nursed until 20 months and she EBF for more than the first year and a half. She just stopped nursing completely about 6 months ago with much help from Early Intervention and an OT, Speech pathologist. Her daughter also has an oral sensory issue. You should definitely ask for the referral though to a specialist. Best of luck. Keep us posted.

 

I know some kids aren't into stuff in their mouth, but DD sticks EVERYTHING in her mouth, including food

it just doesn't go down at all.

With the abx it will mean a simple infection may mean hospital admission for IV's. When we told the doctor drawing blood was less tears they didn't believe us

Did you friend's DD eat at all before 3? Did they tell her it had to be that? Did they give a list of possible causes?

 

My friend's dd only ate about 50 calories a day when she was 1 year to 2? She would eat the dissolvable puffs by Gerber (walmart has their own brand). She nursed the rest of the time. She would choke on anything else that she put in her mouth (including the puffs). She drinks only thickened liquids out of a straw cup. She had already had early intervention step in to help find out if it was an oral sensory issue. She didn't know it was a laryngeal cleft until they found it in Sept. She always knew there was a possibility but they did a scope once and didn't find it so they assumed it was a mental, not physical thing. You should really talk to your dr about the gagging on liquids other than at the breast. Some babies will gag on food just because it's a sensory thing. Does your dd use a sippy cup at all? I found that my dd couldn't take any fluid out of a sippy cup w/out choking horribly but when I bought a straw cup (I think it was Nuby or many munchkin?) she could press the straw against the roof of her mouth and control what goes down her throat (much like bf).