Food, eating, gaining weight
Dec 12, 2006 3:33 AM
I have read a few of your blogs and noticed that your children also have been diagnosed with, "failer to thrive." I am sorry for what you have to deal with.
My son Joshua has been diagnosed with "failer to thrive" for quite some time now. We noticed he wan't gaining like he had previously done around two years of age. We weaned him off the bottles and he started a new breathing medication. We think those two things contributed to him not growing as well. He was also toungue tied which made him gage and throw up easily.
Now he is five and quite small. He is about 33 pounds. We have tried many different things. First we were told to mix mayo and butter into all of his food. Yuck!!!! I never could do the mayo. What about clogging his arteries? Then they told us to buy him junk food (cookies, chips, etc.) That was a stretch for us, but we were desperate. Previously we never gave this kid suger ever. The first time he had suger was on his first birthday. He licked his cake frosting three times and then prompty threw up. Even now at five he doesn't even like ice cream! Anyway, we tried the cookie chip thing for a short while, but he didn't really want to eat that stuff and then there it was in our house for my husband and me to eat!!!! That option didn't seem right anyway.
We tried super milk(Milk mixed with powdered milk). That didn't work well. We would mix it up and cook with it. We would make two of everything. Joshua's "super food" and our "normal food." We even tried cocoanut milk. That stuff has sooooo much fat in it, but that didn't work. He tried pediasure for quite some time...it didn't work either. Then the nutritionist started talking to us about a G-tube. There was no way I wanted to have one of those placed! Now we have special formula delivered to the house. You can't buy it at the store. It costs about 2 dollars a box. It has 355 calories in each box of 8 oz. He is supposed to drink two a day along with three meals, at least two snacks which should be higher calorie if possible. He still isn't gaining much or growing much taller.
My daughter Hannah also had some growth problems in her babyhood. She had bad reflux(like Josh) and had to be weighed weekly. She was so tiny. She stayed very slinder and still is. However, in the last five months, she has been on a daily athsma medication, and she is growing. I was looking at some pictures of Josh and Hannah five months ago. Hannah has grown about four inches and gained about five pounds. She now weighs slightly more than Josh and will soon pass him up in height. I think the athsma medication has helped her body, so she could start growing and sleeping better.
I am happy Hannah is growing and is so healthy, but I am kind of sad for Josh. He is nearly two years older than Hannah and will soon be smaller than her because he just isn't growing much. I wonder if he will even notice? His doctors have all told us that he probably won't be big as an adult. Having breathing problems and C.P. make it harder for a kid to gain weight. I am not super tall myself(almost 5'4''). My husband however is 6'2''. All of his sisters are very tall(I look like a shrimp next to them in all th family pictures.) Hannah is probably just taking after them and Josh is probably jsut taking after me along with having so many medical issues.
In about two years Nathan(almost 18 months) will probably outgrow both Hannah and Joshua!!! Then instead of everybody asking me if Hannah and Josh are twins, they will ask me if the three kids are triplets!
On a different note. I took the kids to the dentist today. The dentist wants to clip Josh's toungue back farther than it was already clipped. He had it clipped when he was two(toungue tied). The ENT that did is was suprised by how severly toungue tied Josh was. She clipped twice as much as she had planned on clipping. Well, now three years later the dentist said it needs to be clipped even more...otherwise his speech will never improve past what it is now. I trust the dentist especially since four of his own sons have been toungue tied and had to be clipped. Joshua will have to have it done in the hospital and recieve antibiotics(He has to have antibiotics every time he goes to the dentist because he has a shunt). He willl be put under and have another I.V. His hands, feet, legs and arms are covered with little I.V. scars. I am worried, but this proceedure is so simple compared to a shunt revision requiring intubation and brain surgery. He will be fine, and I am sure will thank us in 15 years or so for having it done so he could learn to speak better.
Thanks for reading. It was nice to get out my thoughts. I hope you are all staying well and that your children are too.
Tiffany
My son Joshua has been diagnosed with "failer to thrive" for quite some time now. We noticed he wan't gaining like he had previously done around two years of age. We weaned him off the bottles and he started a new breathing medication. We think those two things contributed to him not growing as well. He was also toungue tied which made him gage and throw up easily.
Now he is five and quite small. He is about 33 pounds. We have tried many different things. First we were told to mix mayo and butter into all of his food. Yuck!!!! I never could do the mayo. What about clogging his arteries? Then they told us to buy him junk food (cookies, chips, etc.) That was a stretch for us, but we were desperate. Previously we never gave this kid suger ever. The first time he had suger was on his first birthday. He licked his cake frosting three times and then prompty threw up. Even now at five he doesn't even like ice cream! Anyway, we tried the cookie chip thing for a short while, but he didn't really want to eat that stuff and then there it was in our house for my husband and me to eat!!!! That option didn't seem right anyway.
We tried super milk(Milk mixed with powdered milk). That didn't work well. We would mix it up and cook with it. We would make two of everything. Joshua's "super food" and our "normal food." We even tried cocoanut milk. That stuff has sooooo much fat in it, but that didn't work. He tried pediasure for quite some time...it didn't work either. Then the nutritionist started talking to us about a G-tube. There was no way I wanted to have one of those placed! Now we have special formula delivered to the house. You can't buy it at the store. It costs about 2 dollars a box. It has 355 calories in each box of 8 oz. He is supposed to drink two a day along with three meals, at least two snacks which should be higher calorie if possible. He still isn't gaining much or growing much taller.
My daughter Hannah also had some growth problems in her babyhood. She had bad reflux(like Josh) and had to be weighed weekly. She was so tiny. She stayed very slinder and still is. However, in the last five months, she has been on a daily athsma medication, and she is growing. I was looking at some pictures of Josh and Hannah five months ago. Hannah has grown about four inches and gained about five pounds. She now weighs slightly more than Josh and will soon pass him up in height. I think the athsma medication has helped her body, so she could start growing and sleeping better.
I am happy Hannah is growing and is so healthy, but I am kind of sad for Josh. He is nearly two years older than Hannah and will soon be smaller than her because he just isn't growing much. I wonder if he will even notice? His doctors have all told us that he probably won't be big as an adult. Having breathing problems and C.P. make it harder for a kid to gain weight. I am not super tall myself(almost 5'4''). My husband however is 6'2''. All of his sisters are very tall(I look like a shrimp next to them in all th family pictures.) Hannah is probably just taking after them and Josh is probably jsut taking after me along with having so many medical issues.
In about two years Nathan(almost 18 months) will probably outgrow both Hannah and Joshua!!! Then instead of everybody asking me if Hannah and Josh are twins, they will ask me if the three kids are triplets!
On a different note. I took the kids to the dentist today. The dentist wants to clip Josh's toungue back farther than it was already clipped. He had it clipped when he was two(toungue tied). The ENT that did is was suprised by how severly toungue tied Josh was. She clipped twice as much as she had planned on clipping. Well, now three years later the dentist said it needs to be clipped even more...otherwise his speech will never improve past what it is now. I trust the dentist especially since four of his own sons have been toungue tied and had to be clipped. Joshua will have to have it done in the hospital and recieve antibiotics(He has to have antibiotics every time he goes to the dentist because he has a shunt). He willl be put under and have another I.V. His hands, feet, legs and arms are covered with little I.V. scars. I am worried, but this proceedure is so simple compared to a shunt revision requiring intubation and brain surgery. He will be fine, and I am sure will thank us in 15 years or so for having it done so he could learn to speak better.
Thanks for reading. It was nice to get out my thoughts. I hope you are all staying well and that your children are too.
Tiffany
COMMENTS
- Dec 12, 2006 6:13 AMI am so sorry that you have to go through everything that you have. I know that it is fustrating. I hope that everything turns around for you and your family soon.Angi "Phoenix's mom"
- Dec 12, 2006 7:21 AMI'm sorry Joshua is going through so much.We too are battling weight gain, 3 1/2 years old, 27.8 pounds. I'm tempted to make an appointment at the doctors right after the holidays to see if he gained any weight!Good luck with the clipping, I'd never heard of that before.-Shonda
- Dec 12, 2006 12:20 PMWeight has been a concern since the beginning for us. I am hoping that the tests lead to negative results and it is just because he is so energetic and has a high metabolism. We will just have to wait and see.Good luck with the clipping. I'm sure your worried about it. Even a little surgery with our little ones is a big deal!Crystal
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