Child Not eaing....hit a Dead End Please Read.

My son did this and it was SO hard. I hardly even want to answer this b/c he is 6 and just now finally learning how to eat age appropriately. It's so so hard. A very good book for it is "Just Take a Bite"

One hard thing for me is that people didn't understand. They'd be like, "He just doesn't eat?" Yep!!! We still don't have an answer for why he didn't eat. A healthy kid but he failed to thrive. It became not about why, but about how can we get him to eat?

Good luck!!! The book is really really good!!!

Every State, has an "Early Childhood Intervention" organization. It is free. It is for kids up until, 3 years old.
They come to your home and do an overall developmental assessment of the child, and per the parent's concerns.

My son had speech therapy, through the ECI. I called them myself. I did NOT have to be referred by a Pediatrician.

So what does my son have to do with it???
Well, with the developmental assessment they do, they also look for things like "Apraxia" or "Dysphagia."
Both of these things, MAY affect, eating. And swallowing. And chewing. And motor planning.
AND it will NOT show up, on blood tests.

That is why, I bring this up.
There are things other than, reflux etc., that can or may cause, eating difficulty for a child or baby.
My son, was also assessed for this... because it can even impact speech development.
But in my son's case... he simply had, a delay in speech.

Then this is also an interesting article:
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/extremely-picky-eaters-st...

I agree with S. H. He may have developmental issues that is causing him to not be able to eat enough. My grandson is developmentally delayed. At 8 he still has difficulty talking. For him he also has difficulty eating. He can't tolerate certain textures. For him, he can't feel how much food he has in his mouth and so will stuff it too full and then has difficulty swallowing.

I agree to have an evaluation thru your school districts Early Intervention Program. This program stops once a child reaches 3 and so do it soon. There is another program after 3 but it's less comprehensive and the experts don't come to your home.

I agree that it sounds like failure to thrive as well, but surely the doctors would have mentioned it or ruled it out?? Is he signed up through the Parents as Teachers program? If not I would do it ASAP. It is a free program through the school district that is offered to each child under 3. They will even come to your home. They could definitely help you find a nutritionist or someone else qualified in helping your nephew with this issue. I would bet that if he's under 20lbs there has to be something going on...perhaps sensory issues?

Use your resources is my best advice! Good luck, I'm sure it's stressing all the grown-ups out!

Your sis should discuss this with his pedi. They will likely refer him to be evaluated by a speech therapist and occupational therapist. My son is 17 months old and spent six weeks in an intensive in patient feeding program. Although, he has no other developmental delays he does have oral sensory aversions. My son also had feeding difficulties very early on. I understand how frustrating it can be! This sounds sensory related based on what you've described. Good luck!

Btw speech therapist not only work on speech but also help with feeding problems. It goes hand in hand. I just wasnt aware of this until after my son started therapy. When you hear speech therapy you think..learning to talk...atleast I did.

I would be going to different doctors until I found answers! I'd start with someone specializing in either diagnostic or developmental pediatrics (we have both here in Des Moines so I'm sure Minneapolis/St Paul does too).
The early intervention people are another good (and FREE!) idea.

I'm wondering if he's got a sensory disorder? There are SO many different causes of a feeding/eating disorder that wouldn't show up on blood tests...

I was just reading the book Child of Mine, Feeding with Love and Good Sense. It's worth picking up if you've got a picky eater on your hands. My daughter is on the small side too, at 3 she's not yet 30 pounds. But she's healthy and normal for her genes. On the other hand, I see the other posts that mention there might be others issues afoot, so it's a good idea to rule those out. If this is not the case, it could be that his need for independence is more important than his need to eat. So if eating has become any kind of power struggle that may also be the problem. Age two is common time for food battles.

If that were my kid, I'd push for answers. Maybe a food aversion specialist or something. That's not normal.

Could it be failure to thrive?

try tasty vitamins and vitamin shakes to supplement his diet for nutrition purposes. I sell this kind of stuff. If you think that is something to try shoot me an email and I will send you a link with ideas that might help.

My daughter was referred to Children's Hospital for failure to thrive - after ruling out celiac, cystic fibrosis, krohn's among others. At 20 months she was 17 lbs or so. - They discovered in July she aspirates when she swallows - so she was started on Thick-it for her pediasure (which they just switched to Boost 1.5 calories but she doesn't drink that!). She is also starting speech/ot. She was on prilosec for a few months until some scope/biopsies ruled out "silent reflux". She sees a pediatric gastroenterologist. ...she would only take 1/2 oz bottles at daycare and still rarely drinks more than an oz at a time. She was 2 a month ago and is 19 lbs 14 oz now. but still not good enough for them! every other week weight checks. 3 hour feeding schedule, "milk" (pediasure/boost) at end of meals, no longer than 30 minutes at table. we've had to do food diaries.

Our pediatrician referred us to the Feeding & Growth clinic for Failure to thrive. If your sister is in your area she might check out http://www.childrensmn.org/Web/Services/035357.asp

Good luck to your nephew and sister!

Maybe it is textural. How old is he? Can he speak? Can you ask him what it is about food that he finds it difficult to eat? (Ask in a non-judgemental way. In a soothing way.) Maybe he doesn't have the words or knows what it is that makes it difficult to eat. Can he drink his meals? You could blend them.

Good luck.