Grandbaby not gaining weight

[Zoe Girl]

My grandaughter turned 2 in October. She has always been small, but now she is not gaining at all. She is being a total stinker to my daughter about eating, eating just a little and then throwing it, not seeming to have consistent things she likes, getting distracted, etc. They tried to draw blood to see if anything is wrong but they couldn't get it, she was was fighting it and saying help. How horrible for mom!

Dad takes her back tomorrow to the chidrens hospital to get blood drawn so we can find out what is going on. My daughter is of course really upset, I am assuring her she is doing a good job. They offer GD lots of healthy food and options, but she is simply not eating enough.

[Teacher Terry]

Wow that is scary. I was a fussy eater and my parents basically just fed me the few things I liked. I hope nothing physically is wrong.

[sweetana3]

We had friends who were really concerned about their daughter's size and the doctor was too. Eventually it did turn out she was a tiny little girl and had apparently inherited her Dad's smaller size. They will get to the bottom of it.

Amazing that a 2 year old can keep all the adults at bay when having blood drawn. But I suspect they didn't have the restraints needed.

[Chicken lady]

I have no idea if this is relevant or helpful, but my dd2 fell off the growth chart when she was two. She was still breast feeding and basically just wanted to nurse enough to take the edge off her hunger and then go run around like a crazy creature again. She wasn’t much into food. We identified two salty, high fat with protein foods she liked - bacon and cheddar cheese, and insisted on her eating a little of one or the other before nursing - along with the calories in the snack, the salt made her drink more. That might work with any high calorie nutritional beverage, not just breast milk.

she grew up to be 5’4”

[Zoe Girl]

I am hoping too, she is naturally small but not gaining at all for awhile is serious. Her mom had a deformity in her colon and had 6 inches removed when she was 10, but GD is not showing any signs like her mom was.

I think they had a hard time getting a vein, and she has a lot of feist in her. The children's hospital people will be better prepared. My son had a really hard with blood draws, when he is stressed his veins are harder to find.

[happystuff]

Plenty of good advice already, so just wanted to say good luck and hope all turns out okay.

[Tybee]

I experienced this with both my son at that age and his son, my grandson, at 18 months. It was worse with my grandson and they ended up having to go to a feeding clinic for therapy. I don't feel they ever quite got the bottom of the problem, but my son did do feeding therapy with him for a year and he is okay now at 5, small, but okay. I am so glad they are getting medical attention for her, really important.

[CathyA]

Is she also having G.I. issues?

[Tammy]

The tricky thing with two-year-olds with eating is that the harder we try the more they resist. It’s part of their developmental stage. I’ve heard of people having success by putting out the meal on the table and sitting down to eat and not inviting the toddler. And then the toddler joins them because they feel left out - but no one is telling them what to do so they feel free to “decide” to join the meal.

I’ve also watched parents talk to each other about how good the food is and they are so glad that it’s a food that is only for adults. And then the toddler says “me too!“ And decides to eat with them.

Of course there could be a physical reason for a kid not eating, but many times it’s the above dynamics.

[Zoe Girl]

I think it is more personality or age dynamics, however you would think she was getting hungry! I know thay have tried many ways to get her to eat like you said, so DR help is important now. She literally has no baby fat, ( at 23 months she is 21 lbs).

I saw a mom trying to get out of Target with a toddler throwing a royal fit, oh I don't miss that. They have no idea they could get really hurt by flinging themselves all over.

[iris lilies]

I think it is more personality or age dynamics, however you would think she was getting hungry! I know thay have tried many ways to get her to eat like you said, so DR help is important now. She literally has no baby fat, ( at 23 months she is 21 lbs).

I saw a mom trying to get out of Target with a toddler throwing a royal fit, oh I don't miss that. They have no idea they could get really hurt by flinging themselves all over.

I love toddlers from afar. This description of them flinging themselves around in hysteria makes me giggle. They are very entertaining when they are not angry.

[Float On]

My niece had food issues and was very one tracked at 2-4. She ate only carrots for a long time and actually had an orange tint. Then she moved to cucumbers. The Dr never seemed overly concerned.

[Miss Cellaneous]

The tricky thing with two-year-olds with eating is that the harder we try the more they resist. It’s part of their developmental stage. I’ve heard of people having success by putting out the meal on the table and sitting down to eat and not inviting the toddler. And then the toddler joins them because they feel left out - but no one is telling them what to do so they feel free to “decide” to join the meal.

I’ve also watched parents talk to each other about how good the food is and they are so glad that it’s a food that is only for adults. And then the toddler says “me too!“ And decides to eat with them.

Of course there could be a physical reason for a kid not eating, but many times it’s the above dynamics.

I think this was my niece at 2. She just didn't eat much, and the more her parents tried to make her eat, the less she would eat. For my niece, I also think it was a control thing--she is 16 now and very, very stubborn. My sister-in-law used to crawl around on the floor after her as she played, holding a spoonful of food and begging her to eat. And Niece would toss those pretty blond curls of hers and refuse. As a result, Niece was very underweight for years. She is fine now.

Mind you, when she had to spend a week with me, every other year or so, I did not mention food and just put food on the table at each meal--I did serve her food I thought she liked. But no snacks, unless you had eaten every bite at the previous meal. The first few days she was with me were a storm of temper tantrums because she refused to eat at meals and wanted me to crawl around after her with snacks. She would tantrum and I walk away. By day 4, she was sitting down and eating at least *something* at every meal. After that, every visit would start with a tantrum or two, and then she would remember the rules and behaved nicely and ate a bit at every meal.

Never told her parents though; I think it would have sent them over the edge, they were so wrapped up in her eating "difficulties."

[Tybee]

My sympathies are with the parents because I saw the power struggle that emerged, and saw that the doctor insisted that they do all these techniques to get food down my grandson--he was literally not growing because of his eating difficulties--I have always wondered if it was a swallowing problem because his dad had a swallowing problem and speech problem starting around the same age. But they ever got a good diagnosis of a physical issue, although they did a lot of tests.
But if they had not done the feeding therapy and just done the old fashioned he'll eat when he;s hungry enough, the doc would have reported them to child protective services and they would have put him in foster care. It's really serious stuff and you will do anything to get the child to eat. Some children never do get hungry enough to eat enough, I guess.

[frugal-one]

GD is in the 90% range for height and 25% range for weight. Parent will not give her sugar and basically feed her sausages, berries, kale, black beans and veggies. I don't think I would gain weight with a diet like that either.

[Zoe Girl]

We have an answer, she has RTA. That means due to acid in her system she has a higher metabolism and that is why she is not gaining weight. The DR told my daughter that kids usually outgrow it. So she will get medicine for 4-6 weeks and then re-evaluate.

My dd is actually glad there is something to treat, and she is doing all the right things. It sounds like it needs to be treated but may not be a lifelong serious issue.

[Teacher Terry]

What a relief!

[Tybee]

So good to have an answer!

[CathyA]

Good to hear and I hope she can outgrow it.

[JaneV2.0]

I'm guessing she got her fast metabolism from you, ZoeGirl?
Didn't you say you had one?
I don't see this as a condition one needs to treat, if so--especially if she's expected to outgrow it.

[Zoe Girl]

Jane, I did have a fast metabolism and my daughter did as well. She was on swim team and could eat so much it was crazy. However this does need to be treated or it can cause stunted growth. I don't know how long that is for, but they will check in about a month.