14 Month Old Not Hardly Eating...

Updated on July 29, 2010
S.B. asks from Birmingham, AL
7 answers

Hi mamas,
I have a 14 month old little boy and he is not hardly eating and this started around last wednesday, and I thought he may have been teething or just had an off day or something. But then it continued on and on, so I took him to the doctor. His doctor says he has hand, foot, and mouth virus. But the thing is that he has had this before and he was absolutley miserable he had sores all in his mouth, around his mouth, on his hands, broke out in a rash all over his body, had a pretty high fever, and everytime I tired to feed him anything he would scream at the top of his lungs and hit at his mouth and get the food out because it hurt so bad to eat. But this time he doesnt have any of those symptoms except the not eating part. He will only eat a few things and I would think that it would bother him to eat these things is he really had sores in his mouth. He will eat all vetables, french fries, cheese puffs, apple sauce, pretzels, some cookies, and yogurt. He wont eat anything else. I dont know what to do because I've looked in his mouth and I dont see any sores anywhere and he's not teething, doesnt have an ear infection. He drinks just fine and the doctor said as long as he is drinking enough fluids he should be ok. But how can he survive without food if this continues like this? I wish I could go get a second opinion, but our insurance wont allow. But if it comes down to it and if this continues I will pay out of pocket. Has this ever happened to any of your kids? I need advice bad! Thank you in advance.

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D.W.

answers from Gainesville on

14 month olds really don't require a ton of food to keep them going. If he's drinking his milk and eating yogurt he's getting fats, vitamins and calories. If he's eating veggies he's getting in some fiber and more vitamins.

Kids are amazingly resilient. Did you ask your doc how long he/she thinks this will take to run it's course? Look at that time frame then you can make decisions about how to proceed with his care if he's still not acting like his normal self after that.

1 mom found this helpful
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L.B.

answers from Baton Rouge on

my son has had this twice as well! first time, symptoms were seen as yours were.. second time, i noticed a small blister on his tongue- looking in his mouth because he did not want to eat either.. my doctor is the BEST and says when they are hungry, they WILL eat. you cannot force feed a toddler; i have tried. it hes not better in a week, i would take him back.. in the meantime, continue to give him ice cream, yogurt,oj, soft cool foods he might easily swallow ( mashed potatoes, too.) at least hes getting somethign down.. i think mine has had this because he puts EVERYTHING in his mouth.. hes now 22 months old and getting better.. GOOD LUCK!

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S.C.

answers from Oklahoma City on

First off I am sorry your baby is sick. Unfortunetly yes it probably is a entrovirus. Which could be 1 of 14 virus'. My duaughter 11 days old stopped eating. Took her to dr and they said change some stuff up. The next day it got worse. We rushed her to childrens. She stopped breathing. After days of test, antibiotics, only iv for nurishment. She was diagnosed with a entrovirus which encludes hAnd foot mouth along with menengitis. They only thing you can do is do continued support as the dr's have done for her. Foods, sleep, drinks, and watch for labored breathing or flat out lathargy. If any of that get him to hospital. It will get better.

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W.B.

answers from Tulsa on

Maybe hand, foot and mouth is one of those viruses that once they get it, they usually don't get it again, but if they do it's milder. ?? I would think that the foods you listed are enough to get him by for a week or 2. Give it a little more time, maybe?? Good luck, and I hope your little guy feels better soon!

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F.B.

answers from Fort Collins on

Actually, my daughter has gone through similar periods where I can't tell how she's getting enough food to maintain her high energy level all day. Eventually she starts getting hungry again and starts eating full meals. I usually don't have a good explanation for why she wasn't hungry, although I do look at how much she's snacking between meals.

Also, an illness doesn't always manifest exactly the same way. If your doctor thought he had hand, foot & mouth, that might be what it is. When we went through that it was much less severe than what you describe.

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P.O.

answers from Harrisburg on

I think he is probably traumatized by the first episode of the sores, that he is probably afraid now to try anything new. It's hard to say because at 14 mos they don't usually eat much anyway. I try to get one thing he likes from each of the food groups and feed him those every time, let him choose which ones he is in the mood for at that time. Try a variety of ways in preparing it too. I know my son used to eat scrambled eggs, all of a sudden he doesn't like that anymore, so I boiled the egg and he likes it that way. They are picky at this stage. At the next growth spurt he will probably start eating more. Good luck.

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S.A.

answers from New York on

Vegetables,applesauce,yogurt, milk...sound good to me. I think he's eating better than most kids his age.

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