Two-year old Logan Davenport from Crossgar was almost in a serious, potentially life-threatening pickle recently when he chewed the top of his baby bottle. And then Downpatrick Poundland came to the rescue writes Jim Masson.
Logan, an active and inquisitive youngster was padding about his back garden when I chatted with his mum Kerryn Davenport. “Most parents would expect their child to have been weaned off a baby bottle long before, but Logan has a condition which makes it virtually impossible for him to drink liquids. He has to take his food in the consistency of custard through the fine teat of a baby drinking bottle.
“Logan was born at 30 weeks prematurely and as an under-weight baby of just over two pounds, he was faced with a spell in hospital for his first three months. His oesophagus is short and this makes it almost impossible to swallow ordinary liquids. There is no cure for this condition.
“We first noticed he had a condition when he turned blue one night and he was rushed off to hospital by ambulance. On four occasions we have had to phone the ambulance when he has stopped breathing. His lungs basically fill with fluid. We had to do CPR on him once until the ambulance arrived. The doctors said he may grow out of it when he is older. In the meantime he requires a lot of supervision.
“He can swallow cereals and other foods in the consistency of custard, liquidised mostly. During the day he chokes around a half dozen times as fluid finds its way to his lungs. He is teething just now so that means he’s creating more saliva and it tends to choke his as it runs back into his lungs. Even a drop of water would cause him to choke.
The other day, just before his second birthday, Logan, who is teething, chewed the top off his last baby bottle which had a small teat. I tried everywhere to get one as it is the only way to get him fed. He gets a lot of comfort from his bottle. Even washing his face or bathing him causes choking.
“Eventually I went to Poundland in Downpatrick and the staff there were brilliant. They did not have the baby bottles in stock I needed, but the manager tried to get a bottle from other stores and they too were out of stock. Eventually he found a store, a Poundland in Lisburn, and he managed to get it for us. It was a godsend. The manager Phil Watson really went our of his way to help us. Logan is settled down just now… for the moment. We really appreciated Phil doing this for us.”
Downpatrick Poundland manager Phil Watson explained: “Poundland staff and myself go the extra mile… literally, for our customers. We are here to help them. I never realised how important it was to get this baby bottle for Logan. He is a wee star and we understand the level of supervision and care he requires.
“It started off looking like Mission Impossible but we got the baby bottle required with a fine teat in the end. We are living through very difficult times with the Covid-19 outbreak so we must all do what we can now to help each other.”
