My husband -- now 35 -- was diagnosed with FTT. He's smart and healthy now.

Hi OP, I am learning as much as I can about all of this stuff too. I had never heard of ABA before, but saw this article from KKI that describes how they use this method. The article is specifically about children with ASD and feeding problems, however, I found it to be generally informative. The doctor's explanation of the method made sense to me and so I am curious what would be wrong with it. Thanks. http://www.iancommunity.org/cs/therapies_treatments/treatment_of_feeding_disorders_in_asd

My child was never officially FTT, but he was/is scraping (or falling off) the bottom of the curve. We see Deborah Clapp at Sleepy Hollow in Falls Church and have really appreciated her careful but encouraging approach. No blame, no grandstanding, no panic. Just thoughtful questions, good suggestions and a willingness to step back and consider the bigger picture: genetics means that someone, somewhere has to set each end of the curve.

Anonymous wrote:

KKI Feeding Clinic does not use ABA. I think you are confusing their Feeding Clinic and their autism program.

OP here. I know the difference and yes, they do. See here:

http://www.kennedykrieger.org/patient-care/patient-care-programs/outpatient-programs/feeding-disorders-clinic

(And click on their brochure, where they discuss their program using "applied behavior analysis" approach. AKA: ABA)

Thanks to the others who responded with suggestions - at this point, nowhere is really too far, so I will definitely check into them. Thank you!!

A feeding clinic will require a pedi GI to rule out conditions before they will begin therapy. That being said, you should start there. It may be something that can be treated medically. My child stopped eating at around 2 years old. We ended up putting him on prevacid for reflux and he started eating again.

Anonymous wrote:Thanks. I should also say that I am not interested in a feeding program that employs any use of ABA (I believe that is true of Kennedy Krieger?).

My pediatrician has been worthless and is really seemingly blaming me. (?) I have seen GI at children's. He suggested a new pediatrician, too.

Any recs? Thanks...

KKI Feeding Clinic does not use ABA. I think you are confusing their Feeding Clinic and their autism program.

Kelly Dorfman, the nutritionist, was really helpful for us. My child had reflux and sensory issues, everything else was ruled out. You can take a look at her book to get a sense of how she works. We really like her a lot and my child likes going to see her and playing with her small dogs. She is in Potomac. Good luck!

I think pullman and ariza handled my child's FTT well -- an appropriate level of concern, but not panic (i, on the other hand, struggled with anxiety about it) and they didn't blame us. child born at 50% to parents both between the 75%-90% in height, fell to 10% in height and off curve for weight by around 15 months. we saw endo and gastro at children's, but both thought when they saw her that her pretty severe reflux was under control, that she had enough fat to grow and that she probably had constitutional growth delay. at 3, she seemed to catch up a bunch, and at 6, while she is not in the 75% to 90%, she looks right-sized with her peers and has a normal appetite with some texture and pickiness issues. knock on wood, she is doing well developmentally and we have not had an issues there. good luck. you didn't say your child's age. i was so anxious about this since growth and the growth chart is part of every appt those 1st 18th months. we had extra appts, did oil in food, pediasure for a bit, periactin for a bit too, but no one made me feel bad (and I was breastfeeding during most of this time -- which they supported).

I think pullman and ariza handled my child's FTT well -- an appropriate level of concern, but not panic (i, on the other hand, struggled with anxiety about it) and they didn't blame us. child born at 50% to parents both between the 75%-90% in height, fell to 10% in height and off curve for weight by around 15 months. we saw endo and gastro at children's, but both thought when they saw her that her pretty severe reflux was under control, that she had enough fat to grow and that she probably had constitutional growth delay. at 3, she seemed to catch up a bunch, and at 6, while she is not in the 75% to 90%, she looks right-sized with her peers and has a normal appetite with some texture and pickiness issues. knock on wood, she is doing well developmentally and we have not had an issues there. good luck. you didn't say your child's age. i was so anxious about this since growth and the growth chart is part of every appt those 1st 18th months. we had extra appts, did oil in food, pediasure for a bit, periactin for a bit too, but no one made me feel bad (and I was breastfeeding during most of this time -- which they supported).

We like the Med Peds practice at Georgetown. Drs. Donnelly, Burke, etc. but it might be too far for you.

Thanks. I should also say that I am not interested in a feeding program that employs any use of ABA (I believe that is true of Kennedy Krieger?).

My pediatrician has been worthless and is really seemingly blaming me. (?) I have seen GI at children's. He suggested a new pediatrician, too.

Any recs? Thanks...

Get an appointment at a feeding clinic. There is one at Children's Hospital and at Kennedy Kreiger in Baltimore. My son has been at the feeding clinic at Childrens and was Failure to Thrive. He started at 14 months for an evaluation. He is now 4.5 and doing just great. We were also seen in the genetics and metabolic medicine area of Children's but my child does not have a metabolic issue. He does actually have a chromosome disorder, but that is unrelated to his eating disorder.

Childrens takes all insurance.

You don't give specifics of your child, but here is a yahoo group with a bunch of parents dealing with children with Infantile Anorexia, and eating disorder of young children

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/InfantileAnorexiaForum-OneBiteAtATime/

I am surprised that your pediatrician did not recommend a feeding clinic.

Are you working with a feeding clinic?

I have gone through >1 pedis in this area looking for someone who will work WITH me as a partner to get DS into a healthy weight category (or discover that it really is genetics - that he will be a small but otherwise very thriving human), not blame me, subtly or otherwise - I stand on my head and do cartwheels to get DS to eat fattening foods. Ideally, said pediatrics practice would also accept insurance, something that I am realizing is not standard practice in this area (we are relatively new here). Could someone point me in the right direction? We're in Nova.

On the same note, I'd love to hear stories of thriving in kids diagnosed with FTT. I could really use some hope right now. I alternate between being confident that he'll eat and be fine, to worried that his failure to gain lots of weight will affect his development otherwise. He is doing meeting/exceeding developmental milestones otherwise.

Thanks for any help.