Trying to Avoid Having Feeding Tube in Daughter

Hi J.. I can't imagine how tough this must all be on you. I haven't read through the responses, but what is your gut feeling? I'm asking because my son has always been small for his age--he is now 26 months and only 24 pounds--not much bigger than your daughter is. I was going to a pediatrician who was pushing me to go the invasive route, but I felt my son was fine. My ped told me that my son was developmentally on track. Anyway, I went to a holistic ped to get a second opinion. He literally took one look at my son and told me he's fine. He said his hair, skin, teeth, eyes and nails were all in great shape, and that those are the first signs of malnutrition. He does NOT believe in fattening a child up just for the sake of putting on weight--he said sure, you can increase the number on the scale, but at what cost? Then you'll have a kid with high cholesterol and clogged arteries.

Anyway, I recommend what I did, and what you want to do--find a second ped for a second opinion, preferably one who is holistic. If you are in Northern NJ, let me know, and I'll give you the contact info for my now NEW ped (he also found a heart murmur in my son's heart after listening just ONCE, and my old ped never detected it!) Needless to say, I switched, and am much happier. I no longer know where my son falls on the charts, because my ped doesn't use them--he assesses the individual health and vitality of each child.

Good luck to you.

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I would try out some superfood formulas that are rich in antioxidants and nutrients. I can email you some files with details. Way too much to copy and paste here. Please paste in your original post here so I can address each topic, especially the asthma and pneumonia.

YOU CAN DO THIS!!! I got an email the other day about a new product that puts muscle on fast. I requested more info since i couldn't find it on Google so when I hear back I can certainly put you in touch with the person.

My email: ____@____.com

If you use yahoo or hotmail there's a good chance you won't receive my reply so be sure to add me to your address book and if you have a high spam setting lower it for a day or email me your phone number and I'll call and explain some things to you that your nutritionist won't.

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Hi There,
I am an Occupational Therapist and have worked with young children with a variety of developmental delays including feeding issues. It sounds like your daughter eats a variety of healthy foods and unless she has issues around textures, and she is eating enough calories from all the food groups, you probably don't need to get a feeding tube. Does she eat enough sources of protein?? 21 lbs for a 2 year old is small, but not unheard of! My daughter who is 3 was born full term at 7lbs 2oz and after she reached 2 months, fell off the charts, but continued to eat a relatively healthy diet and was growing, (just small) (also loves broccoli and spinich, but loves chocolate too :-). She weighed only 20lbs at her 2 year checkup and at 3 years, only 25 lbs. So, the fact that your daughter was only 2 lbs at birth and weighs that much now, doesn't seem overly concerning as long as she is eating a variety of healthy foods. Is she still on whole milk?? What about peanut butter- a good healthy source of calories!! What about letting her dip the fruits and veggies she likes in a variety of dips... celery, apples and bannana's with peanut butter, veggies with hummus or cream cheese. Avacadoe, sweet potatoe fries are healthy, but full of calories..... I am assuming that your Speech Therapist and Occupational Therapist are working with her oral motor, sensory and feeding issues. If not, ask them to address the issue and work with you for more techniqes to help her with her feeding issues.
Good Luck

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I do sympathize. While my daughter was full-term, she was small at birth and has remained so. You have had lots of good advice re diet etc so I won't add anything to that. I just wanted to say my daughter was 16 lb at a year old, and is now around 28 lb and is about to have her 4th birthday. She is very bright, lively and reached all her developmental milestones early. We also have had a couple of hospital admissions for wheezing and pneumonia. While I worry about her weight and do all I can to get her to eat lots, for some kids this is just the way they are and it will not necessarily impact on their future development, so do everything you can then try not to worry too much. It sounds like she is actually eating quite a healthy diet.

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well my son was also a preemie and born at 32 weeks and 2 lbs. 6 oz. He is now a 5 year old healthy boy, so there is definetly hope. When he was younger he was also at the bottom of the charts. In the less than 5 percentile. I also wanted to fatten him up a bit, but his doctor told me not to worry and to feed him a lot of icecream. Like your child, my child seemed to prefer the less fattening foods, such as popsicles instead of icecream! However I used whole milk as much as I could. Today we still by 2 diffent milks, whole for him and skim for us. I also gave him the pediasures, try other flavors if she's not liking the one your given her. I think banana was my son's favorite although not always easy to find. Every morning we gave him oatmeal with whole milk. We had him drink it in his bottle or sippy cup which was a lot easier than spoon feeding him at the time. We gave him oatmeal to drink in between meals as well. Now at 5 he's still thin, but healthy and that's what matters the most. I'm sure your baby will be fine, I hope that the feeding tube will not be needed.

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Will she eat avacado? My vegitarian daughter lived off it the first few years of life.

Hi I feel your frustration! My 2 year old just reached 25 pounds. His doctor has tested every organ and they are all fine. He hes like a horse and like your daughter loves fruits and veggies. i have actually been told by a doctor that i am too healthy for him, the nutritionit gave me recipes for shakes that were nothing but SUGAR! Like I want to have him bouncing off the walls. I told the dotor that I will not use those recipes, my husbands family has a strong history of diabetes, high blood pressure and other things. I have worked very hard to change how we eat. BOTTOM LINE: I was told he needs carbs and sugar so I make cookies (but i choose things like applesauc cookies but sometimes chocolate chip) he loves pancakes, so I make those alot too. As long as your daughter is not suffering i would avoid the feeding tube, maybe she might like icecream or pudding. My son has a dairy intolerance so for along time he was on Zantac everyday and i think that had alot to do with his eating. He also loves yogurt with fresh fruit. Fruit salad is big in my house. Not sure if this helps.

When my son was born with life-threatening cardiac deformities, just breathing was burning off calories faster than he could take them in. I used to give him soup (which he loved!) and thickened it with instant mashed potatoes. After heating the soup up really hot(absolutely necessary or the flakes wouldn't dissolve), I would sprinkle some instant mashed potato flakes on top and stir it in to thicken it...and then wait for it to cool off before feeding him. I used the flake-type made with real potatoes, so it wasn't adding unhealthy ingredients. I'd never serve instant mashed as a side dish (LOL)but they worked for the purpose I intended...and didn't taste yucky like the Pediasure does!

Good Luck, and I hope it works for you and your daughter!

Hi J.,

I am not a Dr. and have no experience with what you are going through. But I still wanted to offer some advice (for what it's worth). PLEASE find another Dr. before you allow a feeding tube to be put into your daughter. That sounds a bit extreme. From what you have said, it sounds like your daughter eats well. The questions then should be, why isn't she gaining weight. How is feeding her through a tube going to change anything? Perhaps she has some sort of a digestion issue or Celiac disease? Find another pediatritian. Perhaps one that takes a more holistic approach.
I'm sure that if the Dr. thinks her size is a problem, it must be to some extent. But Dr.s do not always know what is best for our kids. Often, we as moms, know best. I can remember when my daughter was a couple of weeks old her pediatrican said she wasn't gaining enough weight and instructed me to give her formula at least once a day. As if that was better than nursing. He did it to me with my first born and I ended up quitting nursing (as a new mom I did EVERYTHING the dr. told me to!). But with my daughter, I knew that I knew better than the Dr. what was right for my baby. And I ignored him. And she did great.
With your daugher having asthma (this is really young to be diagnosed with asthma) and pneumonia AND issues with weight gain, maybe there is some sort of allergy she has. By eliminating whatever it is she is allergic to (maybe gluten or lactose or something else) you could change her life.
Anyway, that's just my advice, get another dr. Even if it's only for a second opinion. Or a third!
Oh, and pediasure is OK but as far as nutrition goes, it is not all it's cracked up to be. Read the ingredients. I found Shaklee Meal Shakes and they are much more nutritionally sound. And perhaps cheaper (I'm not sure). When I started giving this to my kids in the AM (just to make sure they were getting enough protein) they honestly grew about 3 inches in 4 months. I was amazed! And they were better able to concentrate and focus too. They like the chocolate but it comes in vanilla too.

I would give her as much pasta and as long as she is eating nutritious foods then in between give her pudding (I make Italian cream as my kids love it and it is much more fattening), cookies, etc. I have found that while fruits and vegetables are great they tend to go right through the kids. My son a preemie, not as small as yours though, so we gave him lots of pasta and I made banana oatmeal and other cookies which he loved. By the time he was 4 years old he was above the 50 percentile and now he is going on 13 years old and is right on target, as a matter of fact for a while he was chunky but puberty has set in (utoh lol) and he has thinned out.
Hugs,
T.

I haven't experienced this specifically. I know my brother had a lot of problems when he was little because he was also born premature. They gave him something called Appetitol that basically increased his appetite. Perhaps you can ask your pediatrician about this type of thing.

My son drank a ton of PediaSure....

Lots of extra calories and vitamins..

Helped him gain weight.

K

I just read on Baby Center someone was having a similar problem. Carnation instant breakfast was suggested for their child.

Both my girls are thin. One is 2 1/2 and weighs 27 lbs. and the othere 6 1/2 and weights 38 lbs.Both are very tall. One thing my doctor suggested was not to stop whole milk at two. Have you done that? I did and it was the first thing the doc. said to go back to if I was worried about weight. Both girls score around 15 to 20% on weight and 75 to80% on height. If your little girl doesn't like heavy creamy foods why not try homemade baked goods. You typed you favor natural remedies so I'm sure cookies, breads, cupcakes, etc... made with raw sugar, organic milk and butter would do wonders for your little girl. Good luck.

Hi! I strongly suggest you seek help with a specialized hopital. I don't know where you live, but if you're close to PA, use Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP ###-###-####). The BEST. The saved my son's life. My son was treated by 2 different groups of pedi's and hospitalized 7 times in 6 wks for "upper respiratory infections". He was 2 months old. A VERY long story short, we took him to CHOP on 2/14/01 (3 months old), and found out that he needed heart surgery and also had a chromosome deletion. Not saying at all that is what your daughter has, but they are the best and they find the "problems". We also found out, because Nicholas also had eating issues, was that he had a week immune system (thymus gland out of place) which was causing pneumonia's because he couldn't fight infection, reflux, sleep apnia and also needed heart surgery 7 days later to repair a minor thing (minor to them - major and heartbreaking for us). He just turned 8 in November and is finally coming along and getting healthier. We also found out in 6/08, that his body didn't accept the prevnar vaccine when he was a baby. Prevnar prevents some illnesses like pneumonia, menengitus(sp), some virus', etc. For that, we went to see an infectious disease ____@____.com have a whole team of ____@____.com new pedi family are the BEST. They listen, talk and advise that you are the 1st pedi in your childs life and want to discuss different options to take, instead of being "pill pushers". They love the fact that I use CHOP because they know that they aren't specialized in the major things wrong with Nicholas and wouldn't be able to help that part of it w/out consulting his Drs @ CHOP, so why not just go there from the start and let them know the reseults.

I know that you know your daughters health can not be taken lightly. Please consider finding a CHOP where you live, even if it means traveling. If you do need to travel, you can call the hospital, talk w/ some type of counselor and they may be able to help you set up appt w/ different Drs for the same day. If somethings seriously wrong, God forbid, you want the best and you need to know NOW before she gets worse. I would start with an infectious disease Dr and also the Genetics Drs. If you need any names of Drs, please get in touch with me.

I wish you the best of luck and your daughter will be fine. Sorry for rambbling on! Take care.

J.
____@____.com

My son is 26 months and is only 23lbs. He has always been in the 5th% or under. My dr. right now is okay with it because that's how he has been all along. He was born 3 weeks early and has a speech delay as well. I do all the things you do. Give him pediasure which I have to mix with milk because he doesn't like the taste so much. He also would rather eat fruits and veggies than more fattening foods. I think if that is the way your daughter has been all along then they should leave it at that. I will not be pushed into doing anything more for my son unless I see it becoming a problem. He eats though and so does your daughter. They may just end up being small people. My first dr use to drive me crazy though because he is on the shorter side too and she was thinking he may need to go for more testing. We've had blood work done so he doesn't have celiac disease which can prevent them from growing. I would continue doing what you are doing. Your daughter will grow at her own pace. Good luck!

Well, fattening up a child is not an easy thing to do without causing health concerns of it's own. I would say resort to classic foods! Feed her high carbohydrate, medium fat foods with lots of veggies to help keep her from developing cholesterol issues. I had a friend with a similar situation and she resorted to a diet like that and had great success.
She fed her son bacon, lots of complex carbs like pastas and rices, and tons of veggies. His plate was generally equal parts fat/carb/veggie. She gave him whole milk and dried fruits to help prevent constipation as well.
Think of what would have been eaten 50 years ago and feed her that. Butter (not lowfat spread), bacon, bacon grease instead of olive oils, peanut butter, almonds are especially high fat but also high protien and fiber, dried coconut, etc.
Just be sure you offset the possible cholesterol issues with a healthy amount of fiber and veggies is my only warning. Oatmeal and most leafy greens have tons of fiber!

Good luck!

Hi J.
I am so sorry for your trouble.
Have they tested her Vit D levels? Tests for celiac exist but are non conclusive without family history. Is there any family history or allergy or digestive disorders?
Have you checked into ideas at the health food store?
Dandelion helps increase appetite. Worked for mine when she was 4 yo til about 7, but don't know about 2yo.
If you find a real problem please let me know.
We hovered at the bottom of the chart her whole life til 12 then the chart for girls changes and she didn't, they all of a sudden said anorexic. She was not anorexic any more then then she was at 2(by standard definitions) when I began complaining. They did barium swallow tests and Upper GI at 2 and again at 9,10, in hospital. Feeding tube etc, proved she had to eat about 5,000 calories to hold her weight even lying in bed on 24/7 watch to make sure she was not throwing up. Oh yes, no usual symptoms of anorexia existed after 28 days in hospital at 12yo. If you don't have the symptoms, do you have the disease? No it is something no one can find.
For some reason at 7, I stopped moaning about her eating habits. Don't stop letting them know if problems continue. When she can eat she eats us out of house and home and when she can't she simply won't. She is old enough now to know she has to but it is tough still. At school she must check in to the health center often and the blood work is either very good or bad. We pray always for someone to figure it out.

God bless you and give you answers.
K. SAHM married 38 years === adult children=-== 36, coach; 33, lawyer, married with son 6mo; and twin girls 18 in college after homeschooling.

If you are just looking for weight gain ideas there is a nice recipie for a healthy smoothie in What to Expect when You're Expecting. I think they call it the Double the milk milkshake and it adds powdered milk and wheat germ to a fruit smoothie. You could do a variation to that with the powdered milk, whole milk yogurt and frozen fruit. Oatmeal cookies can be made healthier adding dried fruits and nuts.

I don't know how comprehensive a group of specialists you are working with now. My cousin who is 14 was found to have celiac disease at age 8. He was always small for his age but has been doing better since getting on a diet that avoids foods he is allergic or sensetive to. For him that is a lot--milk, eggs, soy, nuts, wheat. It may be worth checking into if you haven't had tests done, if only for peace of mind. However, if you have a thorough doctor that you trust you don't have to go along with really agressive treatments if there isn't a clear problem or you don't feel comfortable with them.

My daughter is a light weight and not much of an eater ( 20lbs at 21 months) but does not have a medical condition, she is just petite and is often too busy to stop playing and eat. She also loves fruit and veggies so we give her a lot of Avocado, Coconut, salmon, peanut butter and almond butter... high fat foods that aren't too sweet for her tastes. She is also more likely to eat some foods if they are frozen because they feel good on her teeth and are novel. Our daughter also likes strongly flavored foods such as Mexican and Indian, and anything she can dip (ie: waffle dipped in whole milk yogurt, carrot dipped in almond butter, crackers dipped in soup). With our daughter we have just found that we have to get creative to keep her near the chart!

Best of Luck!

I dont understand why the doctors think she has to 'catch up' soon or be affected for life. She is tiny, whats wrong with that? You said she was happy and active and as long as she is getting vitamins I dont see why she needs heavy fats. I think you need to find a different doctor.

Has she been tested for Seelyact's disease yet? I have no idea how to spell it (cyliacts maybe?) It took them ten years to finally diagnose my friend's son with this condition. Now he is doing just fine with it, but it is a very restricted diet and very important that he follow it to a tee. Good luck to your wee one.
D. N.