Grrr... why won't this kid eat? So we took him to the pediatrician last week and walked her through everything and got him checked for anything physical wrong, ear infections and the like, and she found nothing. She said it's normal for kids his age to start rejecting milk in favor of solids - but the solids are somewhat of a struggle, too. So she mentioned that its possible that he could have developed an oral aversion - due to the trauma related to the strike and trying to get him to eat. So she recommended seeing the speech pathologist at Children's. We checked in with the CF clinic and they said that sounded like a good idea and recommended that rather than work on filling him up with milk (as they emphasized before), go ahead and work on solids first now if that's what he wants.
We made an appointment there for an eval - and they scheduled us with the occupational therapist. The hour allotted for the eval was not nearly enough time considering all of the factors here: cf, strike, acid reflux, enzymes, solids issues, milk issues, etc. We get in there and after we've gone over most of the history, she cuts us short so that she can watch him eat. We set him up in the chair and give him some solids to work on. Seems he's having a little trouble pushing food to the sides of his mouth to gum at, so he gets it caught and gags on stuff sometimes. Also she recommends not giving him mixed texture foods yet. Okay, makes sense, but what about the milk? Well, of course, we get out the bottle and he acts like a friggin saint and eats perfectly - no crying, no back arching, no sealed mouth, nothing.
So in spite of our major concern over the milk portion - which she says is supposed to be his main source of food - her only advice is to deal with the milk issues differently depending on what's wrong. Hmm...maybe she's used to working with older kids, but last I checked, that's next to impossible because he CAN'T TALK. If I knew what was wrong, I wouldn't be talking to you! I don't know if he's not hungry, or hungry and tired, or doesn't like the texture, or the flavor, or the temperature, or the flow, or the time of day or the shirt I'm wearing. If I did, I'd fix it. She didn't seem all that concerned that he's not drinking much milk at all. Overnight, he dropped from eating 25 oz. to 15 oz. a day (should be in the 25-30 range) and nobody but me seems to think this is a problem. Maybe I'm just overreacting.
The good news is that he's still gaining weight. At this point all we can do is hope that he's in that transition phase and that he's bored with milk and baby food and work on developing his skills with solids. It's just so frustrating to go through all of this and not get answers.
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You know, it's interesting. We struggled with this with Shira for the longest time, so I feel your pain. Doctors kept saying she's not eating enough, that we need to do more. It was really frustrating for everyone, including and especially her.
We spoke with Anna's uncle, who is a pediatrician, who took a look at Shira and said, "she's healthy and active, stop worrying about it." Life got a lot better after that. :)
I realize that each kid is different, and I have no idea how the cf affects things, but my non-professional opinion (after all the harassment from Shira's doctors) is something to the effect of: if the kid is making pee diapers, he isn't dehydrated. If he's putting on weight, he's getting nutrition. WTF is the problem, then?
But what do I know? I just break people's computers. :) Good luck!
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