2 year old with multiple food allergies refusing to eat

[taygensmom]

Just reading through and thinking about you both. Hope James is feeling better...

[Jimbob]

Thank you for all your replies.

Jenny I am sorry that India is not having a good time at the moment.

Marisa's Mama - Yes I have read up on eosophageal disorder but despite yalking about this to James's consultant he still does not want to do further testing at this stage.

[Mom to M&M]

I'm glad to hear that he's at least drinking Neocate and eating raisins. IMO though, if he ends up in the hospital again (and I pray that he doesn't), I wouldn't leave without them doing the testing. At this age, why not rule things out for certain?

[Jimbob]

James was weighed yesterday and is now 12.68kg. I had them weigh him twice as I could not believe he had gone from 11.4kg to 12.68kg in one week. I even waited for the next mum to have her baby weighed to make sure the scales were not playing up. I know the scales at the hospital were right as they weighed him on 2 sets to make sure as he had lost so much weight in less than a week.

[Jimbob]

James was weighed on Wednesday and had gone from 12.68kg to 12.56kg. I am not too worried about this as he had such a good gain the week before. As long as he does not keep loosing weight each week again then he will be doing well.

[jennyh]

how is james doing at the moment?hope he is well...jenny

[Jimbob]

James lost a little last week. He is now down to 12.5kg. The dietician first of all did not return my calls, then when she did we were out. I have to admit she was very apologetic for not ringing sooner but that did not get my question answered and she is now on holidat untill next week. James has not been weighed this week as with one thing and another we could not make it. That is not really a problem as it is me that chooses to get him weighed each week. I wanted to speak to the dietician as I wanted a way of getting more calories into James through the formula as he is not showing any signs of wanting to eat anything new yet, which I did not expect. I have read on a different site how one mum made the neocate with rice milk instead of water and this helped her 2 year old put on 3lb in 3 months. That sounds great so we are going to give it a try. I know this is not an answer long term but at least it might boost his weight short term.

[Jimbob]

I spoke to the dietician yesterday and she is now getting our GP to prescribe duocal for James. We should get the prescription next Tuesday. I am hoping this will boost his weight as we had to stop using rice milk due to it flaring James's eczema up. He has had rice milk before but only in small quantities. Luckily his eczema seems to be calming down quickly since we stopped the rice milk.

[jennyh]

hope that helps .is he eating any better?....jenny

[Jimbob]

James's eating is still the same . Hopefully this will at least bulk him up a little as long as he is ok with it. I have read it can be constipating. Will have to see how it goes.

[Mom to M&M]

I hope the Duocal helps but I still do think it's a mistake for the doctors/dietician to be focusing only on weight gain. I still strongly feel he should be seeing an OT/SLP, etc for feeding therapy and also have an endoscopy done to see if there is EE present or any other issues. I don't say this to criticize you at all - you are a wonderful mother who is obviously trying so hard for your son. I say this because I'm frustrated with the medical advice you've been receiving and just want the best for you and your son. And like you said, the Duocal can be constipating... Big hugs.

[Jimbob]

Last week James had gone back to 12.5kg before starting the duocal. He has now been on the duocal for a week on a small dose. I had James weighed yesterday and he had gone down to 12.22kg. This was a bit of a shock as I had expected him to gain weight. I suppose it could be too soon to be seeing results. I have also noticed that James has only had 2 bowel movements since being on duocal. We have now got an additional challenge as James has started with hayfever and also a cold on top of that we think so he is now only taking a small amount of neocate. This started yesterday so don't think that would have anything to do with the weight loss. I was wondering if it is possible that James is not tolerating the duocal? He is also very itchy as eczema has flared a little but not sure if thats the cold or a reaction to the duocal. Any advice would be very welcome as our dietician just told me that it is very unlikely that the duocal would cause a problem and just to carry on with it.

[Mom to M&M]

I'm not sure myself but I know you also post over at infantreflux.org and some of the moms on there have experience with Duocal...

[Jimbob]

James has not drank much neocate advance onver the last few days. He only drank 8oz yesterday in total. THe only other think he had was raisins and water. I did not give apple juice incase he filled himself up on that. I have not been giving duocal the last day and a half incase thta was the problem but that has made no difference. Last night James was crying in pain on and off for a good few hours. I think he was probably hungry but was refusing the neocate. He finally drank 5oz this morning but that still is not much really. I am hoping to speak to the consultant and dietician today.

[Mom to M&M]

Good luck and keep us posted. Please continue to push them for an endoscopy with biopsies. Hugs to you both.