Failure to thrive/reflux/feeding issues?

Re: Failure to thrive/reflux/feeding issues?

• JOEBunny member

  September 2011

  Both my DS and DD were FTT.  It really is just a symptom, often they don't know what the cause is.  In DD's case she was treated for reflux, but it did nothing.  She finally started to gain between 3 and 4.  (she did gain in between, but not what they wanted to see.)  She was at one point diagnosed with "persistent short stature", which has mostly resolved itself at 5, and causation has been ruled out.  She is still one of the shortest kids in her school, but has nothing that they can point to and say is the reason. She does well with fruit, veggie, and peanut butter smoothies. 
  

  DS is another story.  He has always been average to tall and at some points has not been on the weight chart.  Because he is my second child and had a sister with similar issues, they were not as concerned.  He is 2.5 and does well on Boost Plus.  He does not eat much solid food, but is capable of it occasionally.  He also throws up randomly.  He could probably benefit from feeding therapy at this point.  Today, he had 1 graham cracker and 2 cups of popcorn (which had an unfortunate result), along with his boost, but he is happy, healthy and growing normally.  

  The biggest thing is to make sure that they get the nutrition they need, rule out any issues, my kids have been tested for everything from CF to dwarfism, and back to intestinal issues.  Ultimately, some kids really will not eat when they are hungry, some have sensory issues, some are stubborn, and some have real medical issues that they won't grow out of.  Now you just have to do the test and go through the process to determine which kind of child you have. 

  Try to enjoy your child and not worry too much, but use your resources, nutritionist, specialist, medicine, therapist and see where it leads you.
  

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• lemen99 member

  September 2011

  My son does not have FTT, but he has severe reflux, Delayed gastric emptying, oral aversions, a delayed swallow with deep penetration of his airway, and oral-motor coordination issues.

  We have worked with Gi and now he is in OT.  He also got his adenoids out in Dec of 2010 (always inflamed due to reflux and he kept getting infections) which is when we started OT.  After being in OT for 8 months, we just stopped workiing on feeding issues.  It is night and day.  Having his adenoids out and having feeding therapy helped tremendously!  (he will be 3 in dec)
  

   

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• Falioley member

  September 2011

  My son Dean had FTT and reflux as symptoms of Prader-Willi syndrome. He had a G-tube and it took us quite a while to get his reflux under control. He was able to be weaned off the tube at 9 mos and off meds right around the same time. You're not alone.

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• TriciaJoy member

  September 2011

  My son is three now and coming out the other side, but we had all of the above.

  He was G-Tube fed until he was nearly three. The reflux was horrible. My son was born with a hiatal hernia which was surgically repaired twice, including a fundoplication, but still puked upwards of 20 times a day for nearly a year and a half. Finally around 17 months, he got down to about 3x a day and it was like the angels were singing. By 2, he almost never puked and honestly now.. I couldn't even tell you when it last happened. 

  It's a hard road, but there is hope eventually.. 

   

  
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