How Do I Get Her to Eat?

Updated on May 01, 2007
S.J. asks from Milford, ME
4 answers

My little sister has a daughter who is 2 years old. She was really premature, she only weighed 1 lb and 10 oz. She's had a few problems, when she was a few months old they found out that her formula was coming back up into her lungs and giving her pneumonia. The did surgery to make it so she can't spit up or vomit and since then she won't eat. They put in a feeding tube (G-tube) and that's how she's been getting food since. She's been seeing a speach therapist to try and help her to eat but it isn't working at all. She gags on the food and chokes and out it comes. She has also begun to pull her hair out a few strands at a time and chokes on it and gags. The doctor hasn't been a whole lot of help either, just tells my sister to get her to eat because they aren't going to have food to put through the tube soon... but how can you make her if she won't? She's very thin and it breaks my heart to see her going through this, she's such a beautiful little girl and her health is slipping downhill and I feel so helpless and I know my sister does too but she's been strong and has done every trick the therapist told her to do.. nothing is working. Does anyone have a child who has had this happen or know someone who has? Any help would be greatly appreciated, we're willing to try just about anything!

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So What Happened?

My niece still won't eat like a normal child does but she nibbles from just the very edges of a cracker and when the points are gone she throws it aside and won't touch it again. She also licks the salt off. She has started to drink from a sippy cup too. She won't eat anything stick or messy in any way whatsoever so crackers for now... hopefully it will lead to bigger and better things. I'll keep ya posted!

More Answers

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S.S.

answers from Bangor on

I once worked in a daycare and there was a little boy there that wouldn't eat real food - only babyfood being fed with a spoon by an adult. I realize this is a different situation because it sounds like your neice doesn't eat anything at all. This little boys parents found an Occupational Therapist who worked with the little boy twice a week at lunch time at school. It took about a month and then he was eating like all the rest of the kids. He got really thin in the process because we had to stop with the babyfood and offer the food that the other kids were eating but eventually with the help from the OT he was doing it by himself. I know that she had to make the regular food really moist, like mixed with soup, and feed him with a spoon. The she gradually got him to pick food up off his tray and do it with out being fed. This was in a classroom of 12-18 month old children. I don't know where you live or if you have access to any services like this (I lived in Pheonix, AZ when this happened) but it would be worth a shot to check into getting a referral for some sort of service like that if available.

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D.B.

answers from Richmond on

I don't have any specific advice to offer, except maybe your sister should find a new pediatrician. Doctors, I think it's safe to assume, encounter problems like this far more often than the average parent. Her doctor should have ideas, referrals and support for her.

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M.D.

answers from Boston on

Hi S.,

I have no expertise in this area. I am only a sister of a mom who spent years looking for help for her son who was "failure to thrive" due to what seemed like not eating. Our whole family was desperate for any lead that might help. What if your neice's dysphagia (failure to swallow) isn't related to her surgery but to some other issue. Has everything else been looked into and thrown out. My nephew ate well his first year but as table food was introduced he started to refuse to swallow. His weight and height fell off the charts. I will throw out two stabs in the dark that you can research and see if they fit your neice's situation.

1)Abnormally large tonsils - children can literlly feel like they are suffocating while eating in many cases. Therefore many children don't eat.

2) Mitochondrial diseases result from failures of the mitochondria, specialized compartments present in every cell of the body except red blood cells. Mitochondria are responsible for creating more than 90% of the energy needed by the body to sustain life and support growth. When they fail, less and less energy is generated within the cell. Cell injury and even cell death follow. If this process is repeated throughout the body, whole systems begin to fail, and the life of the person in whom this is happening is severely compromised. The disease primarily affects children, but adult onset is becoming more and more common.

Depending on which cells are affected, symptoms may include loss of motor control, muscle weakness and pain, gastro-intestinal disorders and swallowing difficulties, poor growth, cardiac disease, liver disease, diabetes, respiratory complications, seizures, visual/hearing problems, lactic acidosis, developmental delays and susceptibility to infection.

My nephew has mitochondrial disease. His only symptoms are muscle weakness and swallowing issues. It took years to get a diagnosis. I don't know if any of this information will be useful. But having been in the situation of looking for an answer for my sister who was struggling to help her child my heart goes out to both you and your sister.

M.

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T.S.

answers from Springfield on

my god son has the same problems, he has a feeding tube and has trouble eating and every thing..hes been in and out of the hospital since hes been born.

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