Failure to Thrive Toddler Solutions

[Rebecca]

Posted by AriG (here)
Eleven years ago, we were asked to provide therapeutic care to a 16 month infant who was also failure to thrive. He was 22” tall and eight pounds when we met him. Your feeding plans are fantastic and kind and spot on but there may be a bit more to this than just diet

“JJ”, prior to coming to us, lived a horrific short little life. His mother was schizophrenic and he had four other siblings, with the eldest being an eleven year old sexually active girl. Their home environment was filthy and violent. They had no structure and no sense of permanence and safety. We had JJ and his four year old brother.

Food was a critical component to his recovery, but more important was a sense of security and that the person looking after him was stable. And there isn’t much stability in a shelter situation or in the events that lead them there.

Perhaps in order to heal this little man, you and/or counselors, need to work on healing his Mom? Children know more than they disclose and if his Mom has eating issues and severe trauma that brought her to a shelter that are unresolved, he could be by proxy (of his own choosing or not)? it might be worth a try? They are a closely bonded pair. Perhaps he cannot be well until she is well?
.

This is a good point to bring up. His mother looks someone emaciated herself, I thought she was a teenager at first glance.

Sometimes she is very disrespectful towards him and I've seen her try to make him eat Top Ramen (terrible additives are in that stuff).

There is a counselor who offers free services at the shelter. I just signed Vinnie up so I'll tell her about the program and see if she's interested.

The little boy used the word 'heck' the other day which is somewhat alarming to hear from a toddler.

[AriG]

Posted by Rebecca (here)

Posted by AriG (here)
Eleven years ago, we were asked to provide therapeutic care to a 16 month infant who was also failure to thrive. He was 22” tall and eight pounds when we met him. Your feeding plans are fantastic and kind and spot on but there may be a bit more to this than just diet

“JJ”, prior to coming to us, lived a horrific short little life. His mother was schizophrenic and he had four other siblings, with the eldest being an eleven year old sexually active girl. Their home environment was filthy and violent. They had no structure and no sense of permanence and safety. We had JJ and his four year old brother.

Food was a critical component to his recovery, but more important was a sense of security and that the person looking after him was stable. And there isn’t much stability in a shelter situation or in the events that lead them there.

Perhaps in order to heal this little man, you and/or counselors, need to work on healing his Mom? Children know more than they disclose and if his Mom has eating issues and severe trauma that brought her to a shelter that are unresolved, he could be by proxy (of his own choosing or not)? it might be worth a try? They are a closely bonded pair. Perhaps he cannot be well until she is well?
.

This is a good point to bring up. His mother looks someone emaciated herself, I thought she was a teenager at first glance.

Sometimes she is very disrespectful towards him and I've seen her try to make him eat Top Ramen (terrible additives are in that stuff).

There is a counselor who offers free services at the shelter. I just signed Vinnie up so I'll tell her about the program and see if she's interested.

The little boy used the word 'heck' the other day which is somewhat alarming to hear from a toddler.

At this shelter, is food provided? If not, does the mother have money for food. Ramen is every undergrads meal of necessity. And honestly? If you don’t add the msg packet , but perhaps use some olive oil in place, it’s not that unhealthy- in fact, my favorite Vietnamese restaurant uses ramen in their Pho 🍲. When JJ and Jeremiah refused to eat, I would give in and take them to McDonalds. Horrible? Yup. Better than starving? Absolutely. You have to pick your battles with new humans. And remember that children are super tasters. Less is more spice wise. I would like to know where you are located - can you PM me that info? I might be able to offer resources. Keep strong Rebecca. Karma will reward you!❤️

[Rebecca]

Posted by AriG (here)

Posted by Rebecca (here)

Posted by AriG (here)
Eleven years ago, we were asked to provide therapeutic care to a 16 month infant who was also failure to thrive. He was 22” tall and eight pounds when we met him. Your feeding plans are fantastic and kind and spot on but there may be a bit more to this than just diet

“JJ”, prior to coming to us, lived a horrific short little life. His mother was schizophrenic and he had four other siblings, with the eldest being an eleven year old sexually active girl. Their home environment was filthy and violent. They had no structure and no sense of permanence and safety. We had JJ and his four year old brother.

Food was a critical component to his recovery, but more important was a sense of security and that the person looking after him was stable. And there isn’t much stability in a shelter situation or in the events that lead them there.

Perhaps in order to heal this little man, you and/or counselors, need to work on healing his Mom? Children know more than they disclose and if his Mom has eating issues and severe trauma that brought her to a shelter that are unresolved, he could be by proxy (of his own choosing or not)? it might be worth a try? They are a closely bonded pair. Perhaps he cannot be well until she is well?
.

This is a good point to bring up. His mother looks someone emaciated herself, I thought she was a teenager at first glance.

Sometimes she is very disrespectful towards him and I've seen her try to make him eat Top Ramen (terrible additives are in that stuff).

There is a counselor who offers free services at the shelter. I just signed Vinnie up so I'll tell her about the program and see if she's interested.

The little boy used the word 'heck' the other day which is somewhat alarming to hear from a toddler.

At this shelter, is food provided? If not, does the mother have money for food. Ramen is every undergrads meal of necessity. And honestly? If you don’t add the msg packet , but perhaps use some olive oil in place, it’s not that unhealthy- in fact, my favorite Vietnamese restaurant uses ramen in their Pho 🍲. When JJ and Jeremiah refused to eat, I would give in and take them to McDonalds. Horrible? Yup. Better than starving? Absolutely. You have to pick your battles with new humans. And remember that children are super tasters. Less is more spice wise. I would like to know where you are located - can you PM me that info? I might be able to offer resources. Keep strong Rebecca. Karma will reward you!❤️

Hm, from what I understand the Ramen is refined wheat with high levels of glyphosate though it is better than nothing. The shelter does provide some food, such as the Top Ramen... but cooking is limited. There is a rice cooker, conventional oven and microwave. Most people won't use the rice cooker and conventional oven because it doesn't always get thoroughly cleaned by the previous guest. People also worry about tasting residual flavors.

I know there is also a food bank nearby. The mother may get benefits as a single mother with two children, especially one with a health crisis, but I'm not certain. I thought of raising money from shelter staff and guests to buy more ingredients for the child's smoothies if necessary.

[Fellow Aspirant]

Hello Rebecca

"Failure to thrive" is one of the key early symptoms of a rare disease called 'cystic fibrosis'. The other two are chronic cough and sticky, especially smelly feces.(see description below) My daughter had all three when she was diagnosed at the age of three. Even then, the doctor who ordered the diagnostic test was doubtful that cystic fibrosis was the cause. There remains a lot of ignorance among the medical community about this genetic disease, despite the fact that 25% of people with European heritage carry the gene.

I strongly suspect that this boy is a victim of CF, and strongly urge you to get his caregiver(s) to have him tested. Immediately, as the longer he goes without proper treatment, the smaller his chances of survival. In the 1960s, before the advent of improved treatments, the average age of death for such a child was 4. Today, its possible for these kids to make it to middle age, but only with some drastic and long term intervention. It's a complex, incurable and always fatal disease that cripples most of the organs in the body, but, I must stress again, there are treatments that will really help.

The "failure to thrive" aspect is caused by the gut's inability to digest, which is the result of the blockage of key digestive enzymes produced in the pancreas. The "fix" is to take enzymes with each meal to help the body digest the food. That, and a switch to a diet that is heavily oriented toward fat (fried foods, butter, ice cream - a dream diet, I used to call it.) It's the lack of fat absorption that literally starves the child, and makes the feces so foul:

Infant Foul-Smelling or Greasy Stool

Changing diapers usually isn’t the most fun part about caring for an infant. However, it’s not only a necessary part of caring for a baby, but it’s also a way to keep track of normal urination and stools.You need to know if your child is passing food normally, if there is anything abnormal about the state of the stool, and if so, what’s causing the issues. Abnormalities to look out for include blood in the stool and stool in various colours and consistency.

One of the important things to look out for in your baby’s poop is whether it is foul-smelling (outside of the normal foul-smelling baby poop) and whether it is greasy. If either of these things match your baby’s stool, take a look at the other symptoms to see if your baby’s body is trying to warn you about another sign that something could be wrong.

As you have not mentioned a cough, he may not have any lung involvement (yet) which would be welcome news (if such a thing is really possible in these circumstances).

I really hope that there is no cystic fibrosis in the diagnosis, but if there is, it's imperative that the kid be diagnosed and properly cared for. If it is CF that is ruining his gut's operation, no amount of nutritional superfoods will save him.

I wish the very best for all concerned.

Namaste!

Brian

[CurEus]

Posted by DNA (here)
I can't help but to see a correlation with this and vaccine damage. I see so many frail and hyper skinny young kids these days and my thoughts always go to vaccine damage, especially because of how prevalent it seems. It's gotten to the point where a fat healthy cherub like baby is becoming a rare sight any more.
My suggestion with the weight thing would be that goat's milk is far easier for a child to digest than cows milk. In eons past if a woman had problems producing milk she would use goat's milk and that would work as formula and is far healthier than most formulas.

Very much agree with DNA children with vaccine damage often have truly terrible digestive and nutrient absorption issues. He may not tolerate dairy very well.
The GAPS diet is quite good for this.
Children generally require a very high fat diet which is hard if everything is going into a blender and dairy is not an option.

So very nice of you to help the family, kudos to you!

[AriG]

avocado, walnut oil, fish oil, cod liver oil, all good for children with non European dna. For Northern European DNA, stick with fish oil and dairy from A2 Jersey cattle, plus meat. Good non gmo meat. Ground for little ones. Also add winter squash and root veg. Easily digestible.

[Bubu]

Posted by Joe (here)

It is not your responsibility to care for or spend energy caring for anyone else besides you and your son.:

Obviously not and also obviously she feels good doing it. And I am happy for her. I am happy for the boy and mother being help and I am happy I guess the only one that is not happy is big brother. Rebecca is doing the opposite of what big bro wants. Big bro wants us to destroy ourselves. And the solution of course is as what Rebecca is doing.

[Rebecca]

I stopped writing on this thread because the boy's mother didn't give him the second smoothie I made for him... I told her about it, where it was in the refrigerator, and it has remained untouched. I do not know why she didn't offer it to him, she didn't say. But it's remained untouched for days and is no longer drinkable... I haven't brought myself to wash out the container yet.

I had poured it into a new child friendly bottle I bought, put it in a labeled plastic bag with several straws, wrote his name on it... and it went untouched.

I'm wondering if she doesn't like something about it and isn't telling me.... It's odd that she said "Thank you" when I told her about it, but he hasn't received it yet. I regret not taking it out myself and bringing it to them before it went bad.

I had refined the recipe, added coconut milk and more cocoa powder and honey. It tasted really good and he didn't get any. I'm not sure what to do now.

[Rebecca]

Posted by Fellow Aspirant (here)
Hello Rebecca

"Failure to thrive" is one of the key early symptoms of a rare disease called 'cystic fibrosis'. The other two are chronic cough and sticky, especially smelly feces.(see description below) My daughter had all three when she was diagnosed at the age of three. Even then, the doctor who ordered the diagnostic test was doubtful that cystic fibrosis was the cause. There remains a lot of ignorance among the medical community about this genetic disease, despite the fact that 25% of people with European heritage carry the gene.

I strongly suspect that this boy is a victim of CF, and strongly urge you to get his caregiver(s) to have him tested. Immediately, as the longer he goes without proper treatment, the smaller his chances of survival. In the 1960s, before the advent of improved treatments, the average age of death for such a child was 4. Today, its possible for these kids to make it to middle age, but only with some drastic and long term intervention. It's a complex, incurable and always fatal disease that cripples most of the organs in the body, but, I must stress again, there are treatments that will really help.

The "failure to thrive" aspect is caused by the gut's inability to digest, which is the result of the blockage of key digestive enzymes produced in the pancreas. The "fix" is to take enzymes with each meal to help the body digest the food. That, and a switch to a diet that is heavily oriented toward fat (fried foods, butter, ice cream - a dream diet, I used to call it.) It's the lack of fat absorption that literally starves the child, and makes the feces so foul:

Infant Foul-Smelling or Greasy Stool

Changing diapers usually isn’t the most fun part about caring for an infant. However, it’s not only a necessary part of caring for a baby, but it’s also a way to keep track of normal urination and stools.You need to know if your child is passing food normally, if there is anything abnormal about the state of the stool, and if so, what’s causing the issues. Abnormalities to look out for include blood in the stool and stool in various colours and consistency.

One of the important things to look out for in your baby’s poop is whether it is foul-smelling (outside of the normal foul-smelling baby poop) and whether it is greasy. If either of these things match your baby’s stool, take a look at the other symptoms to see if your baby’s body is trying to warn you about another sign that something could be wrong.

As you have not mentioned a cough, he may not have any lung involvement (yet) which would be welcome news (if such a thing is really possible in these circumstances).

I really hope that there is no cystic fibrosis in the diagnosis, but if there is, it's imperative that the kid be diagnosed and properly cared for. If it is CF that is ruining his gut's operation, no amount of nutritional superfoods will save him.

I wish the very best for all concerned.

Namaste!

Brian

Thank you so much for this.

I actually have a dear friend who has a pancreas problem I didn't know about. Days ago I gave him a thick hemp milk with supplements and he threw it up! I didn't know his body has trouble digesting the fats. I thought I was giving him something really healthy and nutritious, but his poor body could hardly process it. He doesn't have a weight problem like the little boy, but the enzyme problems seem similar.

This makes sense now. I have never asked the mother of this boy about his stools, but I will ask her if he has cystic fibrosis. I see now that without the enzymes the super-foods can only do so much.

¤=[Post Update]=¤

Posted by Joe (here)

Posted by Dennis Leahy (here)
Wait a minute.

Rebecca, you have just broken free from an abusive relationship, and are in a women's shelter. Your own son has been ill. And now, instead of focusing solely on yourself or yourself and your son, you have chosen to help out some other kid at the shelter? Steinbeck was right.

You are my kind of people. Kudos to you for being you. :~)

Rebecca, it is very compassionate of you to look out for others. However, I am going to give you advice of a different kind.

It is not your responsibility to care for or spend energy caring for anyone else besides you and your son. It is because I read your posts in the narcissist thread that I am saying this. You just came out of (and still are) in a relationship with a narcissist, the other half of that equation is your co-dependency. Be very careful about setting boundaries in this situation, and becoming too involved.

Narcissists come in all shapes and sizes (and genders), you as a co-dependent are like honey to bees to a narcissist. I wish you the best, but maybe you can talk about this with a counselor.

Hm, the little boy's mother is now seeming disinterested in the assistance so I am not worried about it. Thanks for the concerns anyway. It was the little boy I wanted to help, it wasn't really about his mother.

¤=[Post Update]=¤

Posted by Bubu (here)

Posted by Joe (here)

It is not your responsibility to care for or spend energy caring for anyone else besides you and your son.:

Obviously not and also obviously she feels good doing it. And I am happy for her. I am happy for the boy and mother being help and I am happy I guess the only one that is not happy is big brother. Rebecca is doing the opposite of what big bro wants. Big bro wants us to destroy ourselves. And the solution of course is as what Rebecca is doing.

I appreciate the comment, but unfortunately the mother has been reluctant to give her son the last meal replacement smoothie I made. I am not sure why, I've been hesitant to ask as I don't want to seem pushy.

[Pam]

Posted by Rebecca (here)
I stopped writing on this thread because the boy's mother didn't give him the second smoothie I made for him... I told her about it, where it was in the refrigerator, and it has remained untouched. I do not know why she didn't offer it to him, she didn't say. But it's remained untouched for days and is no longer drinkable... I haven't brought myself to wash out the container yet.

I had poured it into a new child friendly bottle I bought, put it in a labeled plastic bag with several straws, wrote his name on it... and it went untouched.

I'm wondering if she doesn't like something about it and isn't telling me.... It's odd that she said "Thank you" when I told her about it, but he hasn't received it yet. I regret not taking it out myself and bringing it to them before it went bad.

I had refined the recipe, added coconut milk and more cocoa powder and honey. It tasted really good and he didn't get any. I'm not sure what to do now.

I'm guessing that the child has never had a shake that wasn't some fast food chemical concoction. Even though the healthy shake tasted really good to you, it probably tasted very strange to the child because his taste buds are used to msg and adulterated, refined food. A similar analogy would be people that don't like water any longer and prefer to get hydration from soda pop. The body can just get used to crap.

I just watched a documentary that talked about the microbiome in the gut dying out if natural fiber is not provided as a food source for the microbes. Legumes, nuts and veggies in a non refined state are needed to keep the microbes alive. I imagine the kid has a poorly functioning gut as well from eating a life time of cheap, chemically altered, refined foods. I think some kids can go quite awhile before they suffer the consequences of such a diet, while others, this child included simply can't.