administering herbs to an infant with a gastric tube

[Guest guest]

HAs anyone had experience administering herbs to an infant with a

gastric tube? This child is 11 months old, weighing 16 lbs. 11 oz.

SHe is an IVF twin and had a gastric tube put in two months ago to

resolve her continual vomit and lack of appetite. That procedure was

done during an operation to remove her gallbladder, which had cysts.

Needless to say, her appetite has not improved. She is fed pedisure,

for it's calories. She cannot withstand formula due to the volume.

She vomits the pedisure 2-3x per day, a coagulated powdery vomit. She

is very thirsty and craves ice. Her stools are the consistency of a

newborn breastfed baby.

The formula I came up with is out of F & S (p.241). It contains

ginseng, bai zhu, fuling, zhi gan cao, mu xiang, huo xiang ye, and ge

gen (15-30g)It describes the thirst as resulting from exhaustion of

essence and fluids due to reduced food intake. It says 30g of ge gen

can be used if there is thirst. I assume the ge gen is

redistributing fluids to her stomach? Does anyone have any comments

or suggestions about this?

Julie Smith