[SarahBethsMommy]

Not sure if this is where I should post this, but I hope someon can help me out!

A little backstory... My name is Beth and my DH and I have just been approved as a foster home. We plan to adopt through the foster system as well.

We have one bio daughter (Sarah Beth) who is 2. She was born 3 months early, so we've dealt with a lot of doctors and therapies (still are).

At our second homestudy, just a few days after we finished our MAPP classes, the resource worker told us she had a boy she wanted to place with us. I just met him yesterday.

He's 15 months old, but developmentally a lot younger. He was diagnosised with failure to thrive after he came into care. He is SO skinny!! Current foster mom has had him since he was 5 months old. Birth mom has not been in the picture for almost as long as he's been in the system. In fact, they aren't really even sure where she is anymore.

Current foster mom has had him at tons of doctors and even spent a couple of weeks in two different hospitals to see if they could figure out why he doesn't gain weight. Nothing was found. He' s 16 lbs. He doesn't crawl or walk... but he is sitting up.

I was wondering if anyone has experienced failure to thrive or kids that never gain weight? He's only eating Pediasure right now... and a very little bit of baby food.

[stinky_kitty]

Do you know if he has always had problems with gaining weight or is it something that occurred after possibly introducing certain foods??

A main cause of failure to thrive with young children is Celiac Disease and it couldn't hurt to look into that as a possibility. Good luck!

[greenrobin]

I've never heard that Celiac Sprue was a cause of failure to thrive. It's one booger of a condition, though and really could cause problems!

I've had 4 kids, 2 and under, in the last year and a half (not to mention the other 7 who were older!). All 4 came in with failure to thrive. Because I'm straight foster (which has turned into possible adoption!), I see kids as they enter the system. Failure to thrive has a whole bunch of causes and contributing factors. One of the factors is a failure to bond.

Just personal experience here, but Sissy had no physical problems, but she was emotionally unbonded. She was skinny, grayish, what little hair she did have was thin and brittle. She's been here nearly 9 months. She's gained weight, muscle tone, height, language, the attitude of a 3 yr old, and a sense of humor. She will probably always be small, but she's doing well.

What did we do? Loved her up, fed her regularly, loved her some more, made life stable. Oh, and loved her. Barring medical conditions that stop weight gain, I'm convinced that kids grow mostly on emotional well being. We've had the same experience with the other 3 kids we had, even though they were short stays.

Since you're foster to adopt, you might have more access to records than I have. Talk to the worker to make sure that your potential little guy has seen all of the right doctors for physical health. Then look into the mental health aspect of it. Yep, little people can have the need for therapy, too. Having the background that you do, you probably know better than anyone what kind of resources to seek out.

And by the way, I have 2 daughters who are grown. The oldest is Beth. The younger is Sara!

[athikers]

Our fson Teeter is borderline FTT and tube fed, due to his medical conditions. I would speak with the child's ped and work hard to determine why he is not eating. A 15 month old should be eating much more than he is and THAT is probably why he is small.

[jessnboys]

There are so many different reasons he isn't growing well. Keep pushing until you get the help! M is 8 yrs old and is finally at 50 lbs. The biggest problem I found while first dealing w/ the weight loss/not developing was feeling alone & discouraged. I have had M since leaving the hospital at 1 month. We've dealt with behaviors, aversions and just not enough strength to eat. We are still working on M not having the muscle strength to properly chew or swallow the food.
Feel free to contact me if you need support! Good luck and keep doing what you are doing. It does get better!

[SarahBethsMommy]

Thanks so much for that information! He has gained 1 lb in the 3 weeks that we've had him, so I think that is good. He has thrown up a few times, but I knew immediately that it was just me being too ambitious with the thickness of his food. I think the most frustrating thing is just hearing everyone say that he is ok. I know there must be something else we can try to help him!

[Lylac]

My daughter weighed 14 pounds at 25 months old. because of other medical reasons, she just couldn't eat/drink enough to gain any weight. It was taking all her strength just to live. We got a gtube in April and she now weighs a lil over 23 pounds, and is much healthier.

feeding extra foods etc isn't doing any good if he's throwing up and may acually cause more damage. I wouldn't give up!

[MassachusettsMom]

You might check out Early Intervention, if you haven't already. Your pediatrician can give you a referral. Our local EI had a weekly feeding class for kids with oral/eating issues. It was great--we learned exercises and techniques about how to introduce different foods and it was nice to meet other parents (bio, adoptive, foster) dealing with food issues and their kids. Good luck!

[momraine]

You also might try boost plus instead of pediasure. It has a lot more calories. My doctor told me pediasure is more of a supplement for kids already eating other foods not as the only thing. He said that when a kid is not eating if they are young enough he puts them back on formula or he will do boost plus since it's higher in calories. (ensure is good too, but the boost has the most calories of any of the nutritional drinks)