[undecided2011]

I hope i have posted in the right spot.

I have been seen 3 different Dietitians over the last 3-4 years for my DD6 due to her continual refusal to eat. she is VERY picky with what she will eat (heres a little example)

Eats
Chips (no gravy, NOT gems)

Sausages (plain, NOT made into a meal such as sausage casserole)

Pasta

Mince (will pick out all chucks of veggies )

Up and Go’s (off and on)

Bread – with Nutella

Lollies

Chips (packets)

Scrambled egg’s (won’t eat boiled or fried)

wont eat

Chicken

Fruit (ANY)

Steak

Yogurt

Cheese dips

Mash potato

Unmashed potato

Veggies in general

She's seen our GP today and he's finally agreed to give us a referal to a Private Pediatrician (he is a GREAT doctor, how we have only just been dealing with for 6 months)

Today i mentioned DD6 has been complaining about 'bleeding poo' and crying on the toilet. She's been doing it more recently (last week or 2) but i can (now) recall as far back as 8-10months ago she'd made a off hand comment about blood on the toilet paper, but didn't think to much about it as she didn't seem worried (i wish i had of thought more of it )

Anyway the GP ordered an x-ray to check for faecal loading which DD6 had this afternoon, They send the reports electronically to the GP (which will be available on Thursday morning) but i asked the lady doing the scan today could she see any (as i already mentioned what it was for) and she said 'yes, there's a bit' but obviously wouldn't tell me more than that till the report was done.

I know what faecal loading is, and i am sorta aware of what they are going to do to 'fix' it but i just wanna know if anyone elses child has/had this and how did it all go. I am so sad for DD6 and wish i could just fix it all.

The issues is she's ONLY eating enough to sustain herself, she's 16kg and 123cm (which makes her BMI 11.1 which is significantly underweight) she still wears size 3 clothes, and has NO weight to loose if she gets sick.

I've tried everything to get her to eat, i've tried polyjule but she's not eating/drinking things for me to put it into, and when i get it into her drink she can taste it?! I've tied the peadsure powder but she hates it, I've tried the tetra packs which she will have in chocolate only but i can't find somewhere that has the Chocolate (only Vanilla - which she wont have).

She wont have fruit (ANY) she dry reaches and throws up, she wont drink fruit juice. I seriously have tried everything!!

This faecal loading issues will just happen again if she doesn't start eating but i can't get her to eat the stuff she needs too

The Private Pediatrician isn't available till the of AUGUST and my GP implied he didnt know what else do do with DD6's lack of willingness to eat which is why we got the referral.

can anyone help me with any of this?

[ambwrose]

Have you tried a speechie? Maybe see one and get them to check out her mouth and the way she is chewing and see if ther is any reason she can't eat some of the foods you mentioned. Maybe an OT as well as some of it could be sensory.
At that age DD1 wouldn't have weighed much more than that, she was nearly always the thinest in the class, it is hard when they won't eat.

Margaret

[Sinister Bonnet]

A speechie or a dietician ASAP. A generalist paed is not likely to be necessarily that useful with this issue. Can you ask for a referral to a gastro (in some states, you need a paed to do that referral).

If you end up with a hospital admit or consult for an NG tube, leverage that as much as you can to see a gastro.

[melanieb530]

I've also found a speech therapist helpful in regard to eating issues and given her age maybe consider someone psychologist/counsellor dealing with anxiety if she is fearful of trying foods that she is not comfortable with.
Good Luck

[ellie1326]

Hey I have similar problem with DD2, she doesn't even eat enough to sustain her and she was not eating enough for her bowels to work properly. She gets constipation and gets all backed up, csn't push it out and struggles day in day out with it.


Ok so here is what we have done And we did this on advice from our Gp and dietitian.

PROFORM - comes in vanilla and white chocolate flavour. Mix it with water and/milk. Delicious drink and I give it to her all brought the day. She might have 3-4 of them in a day. It dies not give her enough calories but does give her enough nutrients, vitamins and minerals.

Beauty of this- I can mix other stuff with it.

Multivitamin - one of those chewy ounces

Parachoc- when she starts showing signs of constipation we mix it in her PROFORM in the morning until she starts going regularly and than another week and than slowly decrease unroll stopped.

Benefibre- once she is all empt and is going to toiled regularly I mix a little bit of Benefibre in her PROFORM .

Hope this might help.

We are also working on increasing the stuff that she would eat. She is very sensory. If you'd like some tips on that let me know. Good luck hope it will fix itself soon. It is do so hard and worrying.

[FuzzyMum]

Hi OP

Does your child have any underlying conditions or special needs that could be influencing her choices? An example would be if she has asd it could be sensory related (i.e. textures, colours etc). If she has apraxia/dyspraxia it could be due to low muscle tone like another pp suggested.

From my experience what you have listed is actually quite a a good list. People I know have children whose list features around two-three foods they will eat and that's it.

I would definitely seek assistance medically and include a nutritionist with experience in dealing with children with special needs. A nutritionist with this experience will tend to look at specific nutrient levels that could influence the way a child eats. They will look at zinc, iron, vitamin d levels and will also suggest making sure your child is getting enough magnesium and Omega 3. For example, if your child's zinc is low, this can affect the way foods taste (can be either non existent or taste different).

I found with my own DS that after we cleared an impaction, we were advised to keep him on probiotics to help prevent it from happening again. Has worked.

[undecided2011]

Have you tried a speechie?

NO! But i am going to talk to my GP about it now tomorrow. I've written a list thanks to you guys

A speechie or a dietician ASAP. A generalist paed is not likely to be necessarily that useful with this issue.. . . .

referral to a gastro. . .

The paed we are going to see is my DS7 (who has Asperger's, ADHD, ODD, CD and Anxiety issues) Paed. So i am hopeful he will be able to help us with this issue. Although if he can't is there another type of paed we can see for diet?
I have seen 3 Dietitian's, the best (and only one to really listen) was in NSW but we dont live there anymore and the 2 i have seen here we're not very good. one i only saw a few times before she moved clinic's , so then DD6 was sent to the other one who kept saying i was putting to much food on DD's plate, or i wasn't putting enough on her plate, she told me DD wont starve herself, send her to bed hungry she'd soon eat and the thing that made me stop seeing her was when DD was lost 500grams in a month and she asked me what i did wrong!!

***edited to add*** what will a gastro person do?

maybe consider someone psychologist/counsellor dealing with anxiety if she is fearful of trying foods that she is not comfortable with.

She doesn't appear fearful of trying new food, just looks at it/smells it and will (usually) take an instant dislike to it and refuse pointblank to eat it and when we try and make her eat it she will dry reach as soon as it touches her lips. However i will talk with the GP about this as well and see what he thinks.

Does your child have any underlying conditions or special needs that could be influencing her choices?

I asked my DS7's Paed a while ago about this (DD6 doesn't have the same father as DS7) and i think its something we might be looking into. I had a friend say to me a few times that DD6 and DS7 are very alike so either i refuse to see it, or my friend is seeing things

The GP said he would 'run bloods' if we couldnt see the Paed for a few months, what would this be for? I know i will find out tomorrow, but tomorrow is just so long away. LAst night all DD ate was the meat inside a rissole (which wasn't very much) and she didnt touch anything else, this morning she had half a wheatbix (no milk) and for lunch 1 peice of bread (no Margarine) and a small hand full of chips. . . its simply not enough

This post has been edited by undecided2011: 25/04/2012, 04:07 PM

[FuzzyMum]

I asked my DS7's Paed a while ago about this (DD6 doesn't have the same father as DS7) and i think its something we might be looking into. I had a friend say to me a few times that DD6 and DS7 are very alike so either i refuse to see it, or my friend is seeing things

The GP said he would 'run bloods' if we couldnt see the Paed for a few months, what would this be for? I know i will find out tomorrow, but tomorrow is just so long away. LAst night all DD ate was the meat inside a rissole (which wasn't very much) and she didnt touch anything else, this morning she had half a wheatbix (no milk) and for lunch 1 peice of bread (no Margarine) and a small hand full of chips. . . its simply not enough

You poor thing. I so feel for you. I know how anxious you are. Firstly it does sound to me like sensory issues are part of this. With the blood tests, your GP would be looking for iron levels primarily. They may look at other nutrient levels but GPs tend to just check for the main things. Do look at your child's zinc levels. Kids who are particularly poor eaters are often deficient here. Low levels can affect the way food tastes. You can test using a drink available through some pharmacies (no taste indicates a deficiency and a metallic taste indicates adequate zinc levels).

[CFMummy]

What tetra drinks have you tried?
My DD2 is on nutrini drinks as she is a non eater. Its very frustrating to watch them not eat

[wanting_more]

This post has been edited by wanting_more: 25/04/2012, 06:11 PM