How Do I Get Her to Eat?

I once worked in a daycare and there was a little boy there that wouldn't eat real food - only babyfood being fed with a spoon by an adult. I realize this is a different situation because it sounds like your neice doesn't eat anything at all. This little boys parents found an Occupational Therapist who worked with the little boy twice a week at lunch time at school. It took about a month and then he was eating like all the rest of the kids. He got really thin in the process because we had to stop with the babyfood and offer the food that the other kids were eating but eventually with the help from the OT he was doing it by himself. I know that she had to make the regular food really moist, like mixed with soup, and feed him with a spoon. The she gradually got him to pick food up off his tray and do it with out being fed. This was in a classroom of 12-18 month old children. I don't know where you live or if you have access to any services like this (I lived in Pheonix, AZ when this happened) but it would be worth a shot to check into getting a referral for some sort of service like that if available.

I don't have any specific advice to offer, except maybe your sister should find a new pediatrician. Doctors, I think it's safe to assume, encounter problems like this far more often than the average parent. Her doctor should have ideas, referrals and support for her.

Hi S.,

I have no expertise in this area. I am only a sister of a mom who spent years looking for help for her son who was "failure to thrive" due to what seemed like not eating. Our whole family was desperate for any lead that might help. What if your neice's dysphagia (failure to swallow) isn't related to her surgery but to some other issue. Has everything else been looked into and thrown out. My nephew ate well his first year but as table food was introduced he started to refuse to swallow. His weight and height fell off the charts. I will throw out two stabs in the dark that you can research and see if they fit your neice's situation.

1)Abnormally large tonsils - children can literlly feel like they are suffocating while eating in many cases. Therefore many children don't eat.

2) Mitochondrial diseases result from failures of the mitochondria, specialized compartments present in every cell of the body except red blood cells. Mitochondria are responsible for creating more than 90% of the energy needed by the body to sustain life and support growth. When they fail, less and less energy is generated within the cell. Cell injury and even cell death follow. If this process is repeated throughout the body, whole systems begin to fail, and the life of the person in whom this is happening is severely compromised. The disease primarily affects children, but adult onset is becoming more and more common.

Depending on which cells are affected, symptoms may include loss of motor control, muscle weakness and pain, gastro-intestinal disorders and swallowing difficulties, poor growth, cardiac disease, liver disease, diabetes, respiratory complications, seizures, visual/hearing problems, lactic acidosis, developmental delays and susceptibility to infection.

My nephew has mitochondrial disease. His only symptoms are muscle weakness and swallowing issues. It took years to get a diagnosis. I don't know if any of this information will be useful. But having been in the situation of looking for an answer for my sister who was struggling to help her child my heart goes out to both you and your sister.

M.

my god son has the same problems, he has a feeding tube and has trouble eating and every thing..hes been in and out of the hospital since hes been born.