Pyloric Stenosis...round 2

We'd been having a difficult time with Robin's eating since he was a few days old. He just didn't seem to eat as much as he should and was very lethargic and lazy about it once a week or so passed. At around 2 weeks he started with the projectile vomiting and at around 2.5 weeks he started to look pretty icky. I was afraid he hadn't gained weight but when we went to the pediatrician, he had actually lost some.

At 3 weeks old he was back down to his hospital discharge weight of 4 lbs 10 oz. He was vomiting a lot (unfortunately, most of the time all over my mother) and the doctor agreed that he was nothing more than skin and bones. She sent us up to Mass General where it was confirmed that Robin was our second son to have pyloric stenosis.

It's actually very rare for two children in the same family to develop this, even though it is somewhat genetic. One of his pediatricians told us she's only seen two children in the same family develop it once in the past 30 years.

The cure for pyloric stenosis is surgery (a pyloromyotomy). Arthur had one at 9 weeks old and Robin had his at 3 weeks. The good news is that it has a nearly 100% success rate. Of all surgeries for your baby to have, this one is preferable. It's quick and it cures the problem almost immediately. A few days in the hospital and we were back home with him on the mend. He did very well and began gaining weight immediately. By one week later, he had gained nearly a pound and has done very well ever since.