Alexander’s weight is plummeting. He lost four pounds in three weeks so we went to the pediatrician last week. Since then he’s lost another pound. He’s not hungry and when he eats he says his stomach hurts so the doctor wants us to try Zantac for 1.5 weeks to see if it gets rid of the stomach pain and ultimately allows him to eat more.
We have an order for blood tests including a complete blood count, comprehensive metabolic panel and two different thyroid levels. I didn’t want to taint his first week of Winter break with the trip to the lab so we’ll go next week, probably on Tuesday. Last time we had bloodwork done he was OK until shortly after the tech called his name. He walked halfway to the doorway and then freaked and turned around and sprinted into the parking lot.
I was able to catch up with him and we got him into the room. As soon as the tech placed the little butterfly needle he immediately calmed down, giggled and said “Oh, that’s it?” I reminded him of that so hopefully next week won’t be as rough.
As of this morning, he is 40 pounds and 47 inches tall. He’s seven. According to the CDC BMI Calculator, this puts his BMI at 12.7% which is under the 1st percentile for boys his age. When Alexander turned five, he was 38 lbs. He was about the same at six. At seven he was 43 lbs and a month and a half ago he finally reached 45 lbs.
What we’re faced with now is constantly asking him to eat, drink a smoothie, drink a Boost, etc. If we don’t say anything, he just will not eat. Not only is he not eating much, but he’s started to cut out what were once acceptable foods. He used to love smoothies with fresh fruit, now the texture of the fruits drive him crazy. He no longer eats strawberries, cheese and some nuts. He has started to turn down my offers of a trip to the ice cream parlor even – this boy loves ice cream, especially strawberry ice cream with bananas mixed in. Not any longer.
I’m starting to worry about my little guy…really worry about him.
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Melissa, has your pediatrician considered a gastroenterology consult? I’m wondering if an EGD would be worthwhile. I’ll keep your little guy in my prayers. Hope you all had a happy holiday season.
Thanks Jenn – it’s been a pretty mellow holiday, thankfully. Hopefully yours was joyousas well.
I think that I’m going to ask the ped for a GI referral and a RAST for him. She’s an awesome doctor and works with me instead of just for me, if that makes sense.
I hope you can find out some answers as to why a) he’s lost his appetite and b) the weight loss. I can understand your worries; I am sending good thoughts your way.
Thanks Heather, he was down another pound today. We aren’t trying to watch the scale but the doc wants us to keep an eye on it. My dad brought over a large shake from Jack in the Box (1200 calories) for him – he drank about 1/4 of it and then ate a PB&J – hopefully he gets hungry again and eats more!
My autistic son stopped eating many of his “regular” foods when he turned four and it was a sensory issue. Lactose products made him sick too. It was as if all of a sudden all that was “routine” just made him sick.
Hang in there, try crunchy foods, apples instead of bananas, popsicles instead of ice cream, broccoli instead of potatoes…have you considered going gluten free?
Hope it takes a turn for the best. I’ll be praying for you,
hang in there! B=)
Thanks Brenda. We tried GF a few years back but didn’t see any noticeable results – it was hard because he definitely had a high-gluten diet. Good idea to try going to crunchy now instead of smooth!
Now that is not good. I remember when my son’s diet dwindled until we were on only Goldfish and dry Cheerios. When he also stopped drinking milk I was in freefall panic.
I hope that it turns out to be a minor medical issue, or do I? I wonder which would be worse, a medical issue or ‘merely’ oral defensiveness? I sincerely hope you don’t have to wait too long to find out. Our thoughts are with you.
Best wishes
Thanks Maddy! I love how you put it – ‘merely’ – some people don’t get the level of problems that oral defensiveness can cause.
He ate a donut today – woo, fattening!
My son has always been pretty much emaciated. He is 9 1/2 and has finally reached 45 pounds. He got to 45 pounds briefly last year and then lost 4 pounds rather suddenly for no apparent reason. His doctor says that linear growth is the most important, so since he continues to gradually grow taller and he eats pretty well and isn’t sick a lot, we’re trying not to stress out about it.
I hope you find an answer though. If you do, please update!
Thank you all for sharing your stories, it does make me feel a bit better about it. Right now our interim solution is something called Boost Plus. He likes the vanilla and says it tastes like chocolate. They are 360 calories, have 14g of protein and a host of vitamins. He’s drinking one at breakfast and one at dinner now so we’re guaranteed 720 calories.
He was drinking them alongside a normal meal but now he’s dropping food and basically doing a liquid diet except for lunch. He’s regained a few pounds though – so we’ll cross the “eat more food, drink less Boost” bridge when he gets a few more pounds on him.
I’m also awaiting a referral to a pediatric GI doc for him. Which reminds me, I have to go to the lab to get the stool sample kit – that is so going to be daddy’s job!
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