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Child. No Appetite, Eats Only Ground Food Without Chewing. Spitting, Gagging Or Vomiting Solid Food. Suggest
I have a 2 year old son and its a challenge to feed him. He only eats food that is grinded and does NOT chew his food at all. If we give any small lumps of food he sometimes chews but spits it out or gags and vomits.
Brief History: He was not a premature baby and everything was normal when he was born and weighed 6 pounds at birth. when he was 6 months old he had blood in his stoll. The GI doctor;s told that he is allergic to milk and put him on a special milk (similac alimentum). It was a challenge to give him that milk during his young days as he refused to drink more that 2-3 oz. When he was 9 months old as he was not gaining weight and challenge in feeding milk, our pediatrician suggested to go and see a GI specialist. Also, he used to throw up frequently. We took him to see a GI and they asked us to do a upper Endoscopy. The test result of endoscopy showed that he has EE and acid reflux and inflammation of the tube that connects the throat to stomach. He was put on a steroid medication (don't remember what it was) and acid reflux medication. We also did the barium test and everything was normal. Also, as he was not taking the special milk they advised us to switch to Similac Sensitive formula. Feeding milk was always a challenge and he never sucked from the bottle. We used to pump the milk by squeezing the bottle nipple and he just swallowed it. after a while slowly he stopped vomiting. We did couple of more upper endoscopy as that was the only way to see if his EE and acid reflux improved or not. the last endoscopy done in Nov 2012 showed that he is out of EE and acid reflux also went down. We are not giving him any more medications for the past 5-6 months.
Now, the challenge we face is he is not chewing his food and only give him puree food. He seems to have food aversion and does not cry for food we have to distract him (by showing him iphone/ipad or toys) to feed him either solid or milk....he would not eat if we do not distract him. His weight gain has been minimal (21 pounds) so he is on pediasure lately. Our GI doctor asked us to take to him to an Occupational therapist OT for his feeding and chewing habits. We are also buying lot of vibrating tools to de sensitize his mouth. the OT told that he is not moving his tongue which is important when we chew food to move the food from one side of the mouth to other and they are going to work on that aspect for now....we take him to therapy twice a week and it seems to be a long process....we are also trying to give different food textures so that he can get used to tastes. He usually does not like to taste any new food stuff. We try to make it a fun atmosphere while eating and try to do our best. he is able to talk small words and his speech is not a problem....he is very active and interacts with everyone and seems to be perfectly normal in all aspects. He is a very active kid and does not like to sit any one place and actively plays with his elder brother who is 4 yrs old.
Will he ever be able to chew food like normal kids and if so how long will it take to come to normalcy. In your experience did you ever come across any case like this?
why does he not crave for food and hunger? do i have to do any other tests to ensure everything is normal with my son.
what should we do to make sure he starts chewing food?
Brief History: He was not a premature baby and everything was normal when he was born and weighed 6 pounds at birth. when he was 6 months old he had blood in his stoll. The GI doctor;s told that he is allergic to milk and put him on a special milk (similac alimentum). It was a challenge to give him that milk during his young days as he refused to drink more that 2-3 oz. When he was 9 months old as he was not gaining weight and challenge in feeding milk, our pediatrician suggested to go and see a GI specialist. Also, he used to throw up frequently. We took him to see a GI and they asked us to do a upper Endoscopy. The test result of endoscopy showed that he has EE and acid reflux and inflammation of the tube that connects the throat to stomach. He was put on a steroid medication (don't remember what it was) and acid reflux medication. We also did the barium test and everything was normal. Also, as he was not taking the special milk they advised us to switch to Similac Sensitive formula. Feeding milk was always a challenge and he never sucked from the bottle. We used to pump the milk by squeezing the bottle nipple and he just swallowed it. after a while slowly he stopped vomiting. We did couple of more upper endoscopy as that was the only way to see if his EE and acid reflux improved or not. the last endoscopy done in Nov 2012 showed that he is out of EE and acid reflux also went down. We are not giving him any more medications for the past 5-6 months.
Now, the challenge we face is he is not chewing his food and only give him puree food. He seems to have food aversion and does not cry for food we have to distract him (by showing him iphone/ipad or toys) to feed him either solid or milk....he would not eat if we do not distract him. His weight gain has been minimal (21 pounds) so he is on pediasure lately. Our GI doctor asked us to take to him to an Occupational therapist OT for his feeding and chewing habits. We are also buying lot of vibrating tools to de sensitize his mouth. the OT told that he is not moving his tongue which is important when we chew food to move the food from one side of the mouth to other and they are going to work on that aspect for now....we take him to therapy twice a week and it seems to be a long process....we are also trying to give different food textures so that he can get used to tastes. He usually does not like to taste any new food stuff. We try to make it a fun atmosphere while eating and try to do our best. he is able to talk small words and his speech is not a problem....he is very active and interacts with everyone and seems to be perfectly normal in all aspects. He is a very active kid and does not like to sit any one place and actively plays with his elder brother who is 4 yrs old.
Will he ever be able to chew food like normal kids and if so how long will it take to come to normalcy. In your experience did you ever come across any case like this?
why does he not crave for food and hunger? do i have to do any other tests to ensure everything is normal with my son.
what should we do to make sure he starts chewing food?
Thu, 6 Jun 2013
Dear Mm,
Your child is 2 years old.
He is 21 pounds means 9.5 kg approximately.(A little less than normal but not significantly under weight, could be attributed to highly active child not sitting for single minute to one place)
'he is very active and interacts with everyone and seems to be perfectly normal in all aspects''.He is a very active kid and does not like to sit any one place and actively plays.he is able to talk small words and his speech is not a problem.
These all sentences are self explaining that he is not suffering from any disease or anomally .
Every caring mother wants a chubby, fat baby. This is what she thinks about a healthy child. And that is why she wants to feed him/her more and more, In this way she makes her child allergic to feeding habits/feeding person/food. he learns to say no for food, even if he is hungry he still says no-no to food. Many times babies are not given space to feel the 'Hunger'.That is why they does he not crave for food and hunger .They don`t know what is hunger'
Mm healthy child does not means a fatty voracious eater. a healthy child should be active. intelligent,socially active child.
So in my opinion he is a healthy child. let him feel the hunger , only then he will crave for the food.
Hope i have explained your problem and solution in a different manner .you have to think in cooled biased manner, many times you have have to think keeping your self in place of your baby.
Thanks
Your child is 2 years old.
He is 21 pounds means 9.5 kg approximately.(A little less than normal but not significantly under weight, could be attributed to highly active child not sitting for single minute to one place)
'he is very active and interacts with everyone and seems to be perfectly normal in all aspects''.He is a very active kid and does not like to sit any one place and actively plays.he is able to talk small words and his speech is not a problem.
These all sentences are self explaining that he is not suffering from any disease or anomally .
Every caring mother wants a chubby, fat baby. This is what she thinks about a healthy child. And that is why she wants to feed him/her more and more, In this way she makes her child allergic to feeding habits/feeding person/food. he learns to say no for food, even if he is hungry he still says no-no to food. Many times babies are not given space to feel the 'Hunger'.That is why they does he not crave for food and hunger .They don`t know what is hunger'
Mm healthy child does not means a fatty voracious eater. a healthy child should be active. intelligent,socially active child.
So in my opinion he is a healthy child. let him feel the hunger , only then he will crave for the food.
Hope i have explained your problem and solution in a different manner .you have to think in cooled biased manner, many times you have have to think keeping your self in place of your baby.
Thanks
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