Was wondering if eating aversion is common in refluxers? Shelby (currently 9 mo) started refusing her bottle at 4 months old. We went two weeks of struggling to get her to eat - all she would do is scream every time we tried to put the bottle in her mouth. The only way to get anything in was to spoon feed cereal-thickened formula. Took her to her pediatrician who told us she was just being finicky & that she would eat when she got hungry enough. After having two other children with GERD (though neither of them had suffered from an aversion such as this), I was convinced that she had begun to associate eating with pain, therefore refusing her bottle. I was finally able to see a Ped. GI who changed her from Zantac to Prilosec & within a week, she was eating again. She's done this several other times over the past few months as we attempt to wean her from her meds. Just wanted to know if any other of your babies had done this. My pediatrician acted like there was no way that the reflux was causing her to act this way.

Shae has been tube fed since she was three months old, so yes...definitely has a little bit of an aversion :lol: . I don't necessarily believe that the theory of 'they will eat when they are hungry' applies to refluxers, at least to ones as stubborn as Shae. I am firmly convinced she would be dead right now if not for the tube feeding. It would take 1.5 hours to get less than 2 ozs into her and then she'd puke it all up and sleep until I woke her to be fed again...only to have to force her again even though she had an empty stomach from the last feeding. This went on for three months, she never wanted food and has never in her entire life taken more than 3 ounces orally. Another time her NG tube came out and we opted to leave it out over night to see if she'd get hungry, it was over 19 hours b/f she got the tube put back in and she would not take even so much as one ounce in that entire time.

And it's not just Shae, there are tons of kids that are tube fed from refusing food b/c of reflux. The good news is that it sounds like as long as Shelby stays on her meds they control the reflux enough to relieve her pain enough that she wants to eat...thats fantastic and definitely what we like to see!

My son (Evan) will turn 2 years old this week and has been orally sensitive since birth. His medications (Losec and Domperidone) control his reflux enough so that he can gain weight before losing it again. In the early months, we were led to believe that he was just spitting up and that he just has a small stomach. That was the explanation for the fact that he could never drink more than 2 oz. of his formula at a time. Only recently has he begun to drink more than 2 oz. at a time, but only if he's really preoccupied with watching T.V.

Evan's physiotherapist thought that he might become tube fed, but so far the meds. seem to be helping enough.

Anyway, Evan's oral aversion is gradually improving. The nuk brush didn't seem to help much, but a spin brush used on his had while we would put a bite in seemed to help. Also, there are some board books with textures available. They're really kind of neat and did help quite a bit. (He no longer screams when he sees a stuffed animal, for example. The books are available at Toys 'R" Us for $CDN 9.95 or $US 6.95. That's the price for one, but occasionally they are packaged in 2's for the same cost. I've heard that Cosco also carries them.

Oops, I guess the "edit" just duplicated itself. Sorry!

Great tips Janette! I deleted the double post for you...no problem!

Hello, My son is 3 and is attending an intensive day treatment program for just this problem - his food aversion was so severe that he would rather starve than eat. The only problems we've found with him so far - silent reflux (undiagnosed until he was 2!) and delayed gastric emptying. I think the biggest problem that we all have is - the DOCS!!! They dont diagnose reflux, under-diagnose it, undertreat it and place blame on the parent for not being able to get their child to eat. I cant tell you how many parents I've met at the feeding center who are in this ugly reflux situation. Roni's book should be sent to every pediatrician and be required reading before they get their MD. SOrry for the vent... anyway, my boy was so averse to eating that it took an hour and a half three times a day to get a minimum amount of food in him. Plaing a favorite video and putting on a big show with toys the whole time. It was just exhausting. We found St Josephs Feeding and Swallowing center where he's going 5 days a week, 8 hours a day for a month to learn to overcome this aversion - and its working!!! The main reason for their success with little ones is that they have specialists on hand to make sure that the medical issues (mainly reflux) are under control - because they know that the child wont overcome eating problems until medical problems are resolved or at least under control.

Hope this helps!

I think the biggest problem that we all have is - the DOCS!!! They dont diagnose reflux, under-diagnose it, undertreat it and place blame on the parent for not being able to get their child to eat.

Well said Phyllis, I couldn't agree more :evil: !!


Roni's book should be sent to every pediatrician and be required reading before they get their MD

:oops: Aw shucks...thanks! I actually tend to agree with you and I often wish I would win the lottery so I could afford to send free copies to every ped, hospital, med school, GI, nurse, etc, etc in North America!

Thanks so much for everyone's kind words & sharing of your experiences. It's so nice to know you're not alone & comforting (at least to me) that Shelby's situation, though frustrating, is relatively mild. I am continually shocked by the apparent ignorance of doctors about this disease! I took her in for a weight check yesterday to her pediatrician & she had lost a over a pound in the last 3 week - - and the doc told me that i should wait at least another week before going to the GI again. Just because Shelby doesn't have every symptom that the ped's textbook says that a refluxer should have, there's NO WAY she could have reflux!!!! At least my GI is wonderful & is going to see her tomorrow. Just hoping that we can adjust meds and not have to go through any more scopes. Anyone have any thoughts on Reglan?