Please help, my 8 month old has developed a feeding aversion, failure to thrive.

[Anonymous]

Just an idea, because the failure to thrive thing happened to a friend, and it took until the kid was almost 3 to figure out it was celiac disease. She even tested negative for it on the blood test initially, but they did an endoscopy, and further testing and it was positive. Developmental delays and a miserable child. After going gluten-free, turned around and caught up developmentally. So painful for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Op who asked about dysphagia - does your child tend towards bronchitis/pneumonia or wheezing - those are other symptoms. Her docs did a complete panel and celiac and allergy testing and an immunologist. But our dd had a bunch of other symptoms, like seizures, severe asthma, and others. Reflux can mimic dysphagia. Prevacid is only a firstline treatment. Do you think you could get your general ped to try nexium? Plain elecare tastes terrible. There is vanilla and chocolate and even tropical elecare as well as the splash drinks. You can order samples. They are for kids over 1 but our gi said it was fine to try. You can use duocal to beef up the calorie content but that absolutely has to have a gi's ok.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just an idea, because the failure to thrive thing happened to a friend, and it took until the kid was almost 3 to figure out it was celiac disease. She even tested negative for it on the blood test initially, but they did an endoscopy, and further testing and it was positive. Developmental delays and a miserable child. After going gluten-free, turned around and caught up developmentally. So painful for everyone.

OP. I used to consume wheat when pumping so I don't think that is it but thank you. Today we went out again for an hour to buy buy baby, yay 2 days in a row and after that I was able to bottle feed as she was distracted by the people in chipotle and she was on my lap and downed 4 oz, which is huge for her. We came home and she showed signs of hunger within 90 mins so very warily I made another 3 oz and she downed that. I was so happy that maybe after 2 weeks of elecare and finally stopping Prevacid yesterday ( yesterday she made it to 17oz!!) maybe her esophagus was doing better but she coughed when being upright on her high chair and vomited it all out. The slightest trigger like a cough or gag and she vomits holding her is so depressing as she is all bones.


So i have been to Georgetown medstar and have dr kerzner's appointment in mid-April and I am looking to see Dr Wolf next. Is that what you would do or are there any other recommendations?

[Anonymous]

OP. I meant what would you all do PPs? I am searching the forum for other ped GI recommendations.

[Anonymous]

OP, the vomit could mean perhaps the prevacid should not be stopped. I would think twice.

[Anonymous]

Coukd the barfing be from over eating today if its a major increase? When we were going through this we would only increase feeds by a little at a time and if she got hungry early we would give her more but not a whole feed. DD's throwing up was due to reflux so we tried to pace her. I remember the sinking feeling when DD would barf up what looked like the whole bottle because I put her down to change a diaper 45 minutes after a feed (while on an incline!), or due to a large burp, etc. We had a daily target of how much to get in DD, but could spread it out into more frequent and smaller feeds if DD. it was indeed a living hell, so sorry you are going through feeding issues! I always had extra clothes for ME when we went out in case I was barfed on.

[Anonymous]

I love love love dr au yeung at hopkins. The wait is long, but if you got your ped to call up they will get you in faster. My dd is a patient and dr au yeung has called me at home twice in the evenings to discuss reflux meds in the last two weeks. She also runs a feeding clinic which has drs from ent, gi, pulmonary, and one other group that all see the child that day. She has an incredible bedside manner and is totally worth the drive to baltimore. I tried to get an appt via the scheduling line and no appts until may - I called the office line to talk to a nurse and they worked me in ...your ped would need to do it since you are new, but I think shed be worth getting an opinion from as well.

[Anonymous]

Congrats on getting her to drink more! Hope it holds.

What size nipple are you using? We changed to a size 2 nipple on the Dr. Brown bottles and DS is doing much better. The size 1 nipples required him to work too much and he would give up and the flow on the size 3 was too fast for him.

Also, I talked to my MIL who takes care of him part of the week. She said she picks him up before the end of his nap and feeds him when he's not quite awake yet. Apparently he drinks more that way.

[Anonymous]

OP. I am going to request ped to see if we can get in with dr au yeung, thanks for the recommendation. Been researching and it seems we gave her reflux rebound by stopping Prevacid upon the Georgetown doc's recommendation. It seems we should have done it very very gradually if at all. This is sad and ironic that stopping this is causing more harm than when she was before it. I never ever thought she needed it since she was doing fine on the optimum dose of zantac. Also read that most parents cannot stop Prevacid once started till the baby walks or atleast sits up independently and she is not doing that yet.

Yes, PP it seems she overfed, apparently the stopping of the meds appears to create a false sense of hunger. And I thought we had turned a corner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Congrats on getting her to drink more! Hope it holds.

What size nipple are you using? We changed to a size 2 nipple on the Dr. Brown bottles and DS is doing much better. The size 1 nipples required him to work too much and he would give up and the flow on the size 3 was too fast for him.

Also, I talked to my MIL who takes care of him part of the week. She said she picks him up before the end of his nap and feeds him when he's not quite awake yet. Apparently he drinks more that way.

We are using dr browns size 3 since size 2 was slow for her. We tried the y nipple and added oatmeal but can't seem to get it right. I had read that would help if she has reflux but we don't know how much to add from the happy bellies box. I even ground it up further in a coffee grinder and still no luck. Dd won't do dream feeds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just an idea, because the failure to thrive thing happened to a friend, and it took until the kid was almost 3 to figure out it was celiac disease. She even tested negative for it on the blood test initially, but they did an endoscopy, and further testing and it was positive. Developmental delays and a miserable child. After going gluten-free, turned around and caught up developmentally. So painful for everyone.

OP. I used to consume wheat when pumping so I don't think that is it but thank you. Today we went out again for an hour to buy buy baby, yay 2 days in a row and after that I was able to bottle feed as she was distracted by the people in chipotle and she was on my lap and downed 4 oz, which is huge for her. We came home and she showed signs of hunger within 90 mins so very warily I made another 3 oz and she downed that. I was so happy that maybe after 2 weeks of elecare and finally stopping Prevacid yesterday ( yesterday she made it to 17oz!!) maybe her esophagus was doing better but she coughed when being upright on her high chair and vomited it all out. The slightest trigger like a cough or gag and she vomits holding her is so depressing as she is all bones.


So i have been to Georgetown medstar and have dr kerzner's appointment in mid-April and I am looking to see Dr Wolf next. Is that what you would do or are there any other recommendations?

Poor thing. I think i would push hard to get in sooner. Say it's bad, start crying, etc. Seriously.

[Anonymous]

Grandma here. You poor thing. You and your DH must be exhausted and terrified. I am glad she is eating better. By all means keep trying new MDs until you find someone who is supportive of you and you feel comfortable. In the immediate future you must go to your own doctor and get some Xanax or other drug, if you haven't already. You need to be able to sleep and relax. Interesting that she ate at Chipotle. In addition to your emphasis on bottle feeding, I would at least get her used to socializing around food. All babies are social and learn from best form other kids. Try to find some babies and toddlers who like to feed themselves. Then put her in a position to watch them and smear some yogurt or pudding or sweet potato puree in front of her. Then stay out of her line of sight. When she learns to sit, put her in a high chair and put lumps of various foods in front of her. You and your DH should then relax and eat and not pay too much attention to her unless she cries to get down. Never sppon feed her unless it is medically necessary. Babies like to control their own environment. She may have medical issues or development problems, but for humans eating is a social pleasure, so this part can't be ignored.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP. I am going to request ped to see if we can get in with dr au yeung, thanks for the recommendation. Been researching and it seems we gave her reflux rebound by stopping Prevacid upon the Georgetown doc's recommendation. It seems we should have done it very very gradually if at all. This is sad and ironic that stopping this is causing more harm than when she was before it. I never ever thought she needed it since she was doing fine on the optimum dose of zantac. Also read that most parents cannot stop Prevacid once started till the baby walks or atleast sits up independently and she is not doing that yet.

Yes, PP it seems she overfed, apparently the stopping of the meds appears to create a false sense of hunger. And I thought we had turned a corner.

I am so sorry.

[Anonymous]

What a horrible mom, you can eat at chipotle while your DD starves herself. How can you not consider relactating?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What a horrible mom, you can eat at chipotle while your DD starves herself. How can you not consider relactating?

She said a couple pages back that she is too lazy to consider it. The gist of it is that she and her husband believe has to put her own mental health before her daughter's physical health.