With my Andrew are presisting and I getting worse.
I posted once somewhere about him and how he eats or does not eat for that matter.
He is a very tiny 4 year old, is in 90 percentile for length and weighs only 34 lbs. But that would not have been a problem if he actually ate or took interest in his food. I would classify him as a non-eater.
Well, further more, recently he had a viral infection and ran a low grade fever and stayed home for a couple of days and of course stayed away from food almost completely. He...gagged everytime he saw us eat. He would retch when passing near a garbage can or when i opened refridgirator or when the food was cooking in the oven.
We ordered a take out indian and he and I had to go and pick it up and about had a puking episode in the car from the smell. I think that his stomach is so small that when he eats two bites of a waffle, he complains that his tummy hurts and askes to be excused. I don't want to force feed him, I tried that in the past and almost always it ended up all over me and the floor. He does not eat any veggies, I mean he can not even look at them. It makes him gag. He eats very little and mostly the same things over and over again. Hes had a PB& J sandwich at school for lunch everyday since September.
Anyway, I addressed it to his doctor and he thoguth it might be a sensory issue and suggsted that Andrew can benefit from a feeding therapy. I am just so scared that he is not getting the nourishment he needs to develop, altught he is very advanced for his age.

I think he needs help. Feeding has always been a pain with him and it does not seem to end.
Any thoughts?

I am just on my way out, Ella but I will respond to this when I get back. It does sound like your fella has some feeding issues. For a long time all Curran had to do was smell food and he would puke everywhere. It was so hard to see as he would sit at the table foaming at the mouth for food (big time comfort eater, opposite completely of Iain) and then he would puke across the table when food was brought out, even if it was a favourite.

He still gags to this day on veggies and many other things. At first I thought it was just him being picky, but I know it is not the case now. He just simply can not handle some textures.

And yes, they have a shrunken stomach when they do not eat. Iain took a year to get to the point where he can eat good portions, although often they are not what his peers eat still. Curran always ate, but for one year we had a stall on his growth and he did not gain an ounce. He lost a lot of weight and kept on working to bring it back up only to lose it again. That was before our diagnosis of GERD and his being put on the meds. At the time he was around 3 to early 4 years of age and we had a "colic" label still.:banghead:

Curran has always had a heightened sense of smell and will still gag when he smells Iain or something foul in the house or otherwise. Lucky for us, he has finally turned silent reflux but we still see him gag and he does still puke up from time to time. We pulled Curran from school last year due to his puking and pooping issues in Dec. He would smell something in the class and puke so they would call us to come and pick him up. Or he would have his intestines explode and understandably we were called to pick him up. We had him out of school until April when a bland diet from January on made a huge difference for him and took care of many issues for him.

Does Andrew take meds at all?

I have to go now and will check back later.

Leigh, thanks for your response, I would love to hear more from you.
Andrew is only on singulair for preventing asthma, no other meds. He was never dx'd with GErD, I never thought he might have had it, but now I really wonder.
He barfed so much when he was infant and had constipation issues and still does big time, but was a happy child and tolerated milk and all.
I just want to get him back to normal, somehow with his eating. I don't know what to do, how to apporach it. It seems that whenever I tell him it's time for lunch or dinner or whatever, he automatically makes a face and says that he is not hungry.
Oh, I am so tired of it.
He says that in school other kids eat weird things, like meat, potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes...see...for him it's weird. He would be happy eating waffles for the rest of his life and a bite at the time.
What do you mean by blend diet, Leigh? I am all ears.

Ella I have just found this tucked away, I know that Leigh has also been sick and pretty busy so may be why she never got back, but I honestly think from what I am reading that he has some reflux issues.

I know it is so cliche to diagnose all kids with reflux but here is what I see...

Family History
Vomiting as an infant (and I only learned recently that any vomiting is reflux, though whether it needs treatment or not depends on severity and type)
Food refusal
Poor food intake
Queasy stomach
Telling you his tummy hurts

I know at 4 you would think they would be able to say, but mum my tummy hurts all the time or it burns, but in actual fact it is age 6 before most kids can verbalise thier pain (just learn't that too).

www.prevacid.com (http://www.prevacid.com) has a good site for children with reflux that tells symptoms of older children... and they are not the ones that you would think.

Until you get this under control, or made sure that this isn't his issue, then I don't think any feeding therapy would be a success, something is stopping him from eating and I don't beleive it is a SID totally.

Please let me know how you get on.

Rachel, thank you for replying. He is still the same. We are just waiting to see the docs in march. He is actually scheduled to see a whole bunch of specialists, including a ped nutritionist, ped phychologist and a ped GI. He's never been seen by so many doctors, let alone those types. So, I am hopefull that they'll be able to determine what's causing our 5 year battle with food. I will update. :)

http://www.infantrefluxdisease.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27235

I did this for you Ella!

I am sorry he is no better, I really hope all the drs can sort it out for you guys. It sounds like a really good bunch that you are seeing together, so fingers crossed, don't forget to update us all! :hug:

I don't know much about all this yet...I am very new to this!, but this really does sound sensory since he won't eat any veggies....Some veggies can be very easy on his tummy. I know my DH to this day , at 28 years of age, will not eat a veggie because he doesn't like the texture - makes him gag!!! I would definitly look into feeding therapy. Also, are you providing a daily vitamin to make sure he is getting necessary vitamins/minerals? Just curious

Hey Ella... what about an apetite stimulant?? periactin..? you could try suggesting that to the docs.. sorry your goin through this with him.. my brother hated to eat..he's always been small.. you ever checked his thyroid??

Hey guys, thanks for your responses.

Kristen, appetite stimulant?? I should mention it to the docs when we go, sounds good to me. Does it make you want to eat??? That would be awesome!

I really think he's got an issue with some textures. I would say anything crunchy is a problem.
As far as daily vitamin, yes, I am finally able to get him to eat the gummy bears vitamins.
He is now used to it and is ok with it.
I also make sure he takes a probiotic in a berry flavoured chewable tablet everyday to help him go. He's always had trouble in that department.

Rachel, thank you for that sticky. I saw it and knew you did it for me:hug: . You are a very kind friend. :)
I had my suspicions about reflux for a while, but he does not ever complain of burning or stuff coming up. Just lack of appetite and some aversions. I have a theory that he might have suffered from it in the past and outgrew it somewhat, but the damage has been done.
I don't know, those are just my thoughts. I am eager to hear what the docs have to say.

Ella, my mom used to give my brother brewers yeast.. its like a vitamin i guess. i think its supossed to help with apetite and weight gain you could try that.. pretty sure you can buy it in the stores.. whereas like periactin i know is prescrption.. um.. and the texture thing.. im going through that with hannah.. yes she's a lot younger than your son but anything thats hard she gags.. like even a cheerio...i think with her that she has a very arched palate.. which goes along with the turners syndrom and the small jaw.. and i think that when she gets food back there she just doesnt know how to manipulate it.. (sorry im talkin about hannah lol ) back to your son.. you could read about the brewers yeast and see what ya think,, hope the doctors appt will go well for ya... good luck.