We used periactin for DD for about a year starting around 20 months. Background: I am 5 feet 8.5 inches; and her dad is about 6 feet 3 inches. DD was born at the 50% and dropped percentiles -- at 15 months she was in the negative percentile for weight and less than 3% for height. She had fairly severe reflux (which we were treating) and was later diagnosed with a severe peanut allergy. She was diagnosed FTT from close to birth (because her rate of growth was always slower than it should have been). around 18 months we say both a GI specialist and an endo at children's. The GI specialist thought her only GI issue was the reflux. The endo looked at her and thought she looked healthy (and also looked at some family growth chart info that I had that showed some familial history of constitutational growth delay (basically a child with CGD will grow slower than peers in certain periods of typically rapid growth -- 15 months to 3 years and a delayed puberty; and have a younger bone age than chronological age). We were told to watch her. Ped was still nervous so we did the periacton. She definitely gained weight on the periacton and it bought some peace of mind. At age 8 she is 50% for both weight and height -- catching up was a slow process, but she just has a different growth curve. Good luck.

We used periactin as an antihistamine because other antihistamine's we tried gave dd bad side effects. She was on periactin for about a week, and it increased her appetite so much that we had to take her off the meds because she was getting a bit fat.

We ended up using allegra, and that has been great. So anyway, other than the increased appetite, she did not have any other side effects, and I was happy with the medicine. She didn't mind taking it, so no trouble there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need a better pediatric practice. Yours is not on the ball. Some pediatricians diagnose any kid below the 5th percentile as failure to thrive. This is BS. Being below the 5th percentile is an indicator/correlator of FTT. But if your son is growing, is not anemic, and is healthy, he does not have FTT. Messing him up with Periactin and changes in his diet, etc. will do more harm in the long run than having an underweight child.

yes that is the requirement for failure to thrive -- under 5%

That is the indicator for failure to thrive. Some kids are under the fifth percentile and perfectly fine.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need a better pediatric practice. Yours is not on the ball. Some pediatricians diagnose any kid below the 5th percentile as failure to thrive. This is BS. Being below the 5th percentile is an indicator/correlator of FTT. But if your son is growing, is not anemic, and is healthy, he does not have FTT. Messing him up with Periactin and changes in his diet, etc. will do more harm in the long run than having an underweight child.

yes that is the requirement for failure to thrive -- under 5%

My son is under 5% and does not have Failure to Thrive. He is not anemic, he is healthy and happy.

Anonymous wrote:You need a better pediatric practice. Yours is not on the ball. Some pediatricians diagnose any kid below the 5th percentile as failure to thrive. This is BS. Being below the 5th percentile is an indicator/correlator of FTT. But if your son is growing, is not anemic, and is healthy, he does not have FTT. Messing him up with Periactin and changes in his diet, etc. will do more harm in the long run than having an underweight child.

yes that is the requirement for failure to thrive -- under 5%

You need a better pediatric practice. Yours is not on the ball. Some pediatricians diagnose any kid below the 5th percentile as failure to thrive. This is BS. Being below the 5th percentile is an indicator/correlator of FTT. But if your son is growing, is not anemic, and is healthy, he does not have FTT. Messing him up with Periactin and changes in his diet, etc. will do more harm in the long run than having an underweight child.

We are in a similar boat with our son in terms of difficulty eating and consuming enough calories. He is on the charts now, but we use tv/videos to get him to eat. He would eat some things otherwise, but only crackers really. We rely heavily on pediasure. We almost did the feeding clinic at Hopkins but decided against it and we just try to gradually make progress instead. It's hard and stressful. We have not yet tried periactin but have discussed it a lot. I too hate giving him more meds, especially one with potential behavioral side effects. The last GI we saw basically said that while periactin can make kids hungrier, it rarely ever results in the kind of weight gain parents are hoping to see. From what I read online, it seems to help some and not others. As our son gets older (he will be 3 next month), it gets both easier in some ways and harder in others. He understands more, but he is also more stubborn and less willing to deviate from the food rut routine.

Can you put a scoop of formula in the milk? Try a few more brands. Surprisingly Walmart worked the best. Target, Similac (which we were using) and Enfamil were a bust. Kmart was just ok. Some companies like Walmart (parents choice) sometimes give free samples.

I have tried Toddler formula and he won't drink it __ i have tried 2 brands. My son does drink whole milk and likes it.

Have you tried just regular toddler formula over ensure? That is what we did and about age 3, ours went from the 3% to over the 50%. We had to try several as they all taste different (even the store brands). My son would not drink whole milk. Finally around age 3.5 we got him drinking 2%. No one ever bother us about the weight. Eating also go better around 3.5. Not great, but much better. I would not medicate.

OP here, my DS hates avocados for some reason. He is not a picky eater -- he will try anything but will only eat like one or two bites and is done. He also can go long periods of time without eating.

Anyone have any advice?

I may try the periactin but the thought of giving him a drug twice a day (if I can even get him to take it) makes me sad. I don't want to have to give him a drug.

We did have the milk debate too. Finally settled on 2% for the fat and calories but not too many. He also eats avacados but he literally could go all day without eating and it doesn't bother him. No one has ever mentioned failure to thrive for him though.

My per diagnosed him with Failure to Thrive, whatever that means. It gets confusing because I get different advice from different doctors -- for example, I had one doctor who told me he could have a milk allergy that causes him pain when eating and told me to eliminate ALL cow products and try goat only. But then the nutritionist said NOT to eliminate milk, as he likes it and it gives him calories. Then my PED told me to reduce to 2% milk from whole milk because the whole milk was filling him up. But then the other PED in the practice told me to bump it back up to whole milk because he needs the extra fat. Then Children's Hospital told me just to give him water all day long,-- no milk and no juice so he will be hungry enough to eat.

Can I ask what the doctors say? My now 11 year old has always been low/off the weight chart and in the 50% for height. At his 11 year old appointment he moved into the 75% for height and didn't register for weight. We are in our third pediatrician and none have been concerned about his weight. He is a horrible eater but hit milestones on time, continued to grow, etc. But it has always been something that has bothered me.

Sorry, I have no info to offer. The only thing he will consistently eat is ice cream so he gets a milkshake each night loaded with protein powder, crushed up vitamins, yougurt, etc.

I have tried it all with my 3 year old and he will not significantly improve his eating. We have been to feeding clinic at Children's Hospital, ped, holistic docs, and have a nutritionist working with him. He has consistently hovered from being off the weight chart (below) to around 4%. He recently dropped 1/2 a pound. He is growing and height is in 50th percentile. He will not drink Pedisure. We have tried DuoCal but he detects the grittiness in his drink and then will not drink it.

The last thing I have not tried is the Periactin which is an antihistamine with off label side effect of increased appetite. Has anyone used it for this and was it successful;? Also, how do you get your child to ingest it because mine will not take it in a dropper. I could try mixing it with juice but he may detect the flavor.