How to Gain Weight on Failure to Thrive

Is she going 2 hrs from end of meal to begining of next meal? if not try spacing out her meals a bit. It may improve her appetite. try some solid food like toast with peanutbutter(if not allergic)My 2year old stayed 12lbs for 2&1/2 months. Then I started solids as he was breastfed and it was the thumb or Mom. He eventually decided a bottle wasn't so bad to the point he weaned himself at 9 months. He is still only in the 22nd percentile and he EATS more than my 2003 DD.

Don't worry about it. I am a mother of 4. My first three all were very small. None of them were on the chart at all. At 1 year they weighed 15 lbs. I was fortunate to have a pediatrician who realized that they were jsut petite and developing normalall within and beyond their level. My fourth we call the chubby one, she will be 1 and already weighs 18lbs! As long as your child is doing everyhting else on schedule, I wouldn't worry about it. Good Luck!

Hi- I am the mother of a "peanut" as well, my daughter is 14 months old and 16 lbs 7 oz. Like your daughter, she is also a very healthy and happy girl, meeting and exceeding all other milestones. In addition to making sure there isn't an obvious underlying problem, through the tests your pediatrician might make- it is good to get some tips on feeding strategies, too. I found that my pediatrician wasn't too interested in getting much info about what exactly she ate, how much, how often or when- which I thought was strange. And overall- he never was concerned about her being small until her growth curve dipped a bit in percentiles between 10 and 13 months- that it was ok as long as she was consistent. And they never really took into consideration that my husband and I were both really small babies/kids for a while (I am 5'8" and husband is 6'2").

But enough of that- I know how frustrating it is to feel helpless when you are doing all you can to promote weight gain for your baby. Here are a few strategies that are working for us (we had good weight gain at our checkup today!)

1. you know this already- but of course the avocados, bananas, whole milk products and soft pasta (soft is easier to digest than al dente), and meats.

2. snacks- a couple of snacks per day, in between meals may help to fit in more calories- crackers and cheese, grapes, cereal and milk.

3. We have had success by feeding her "2 meals" per sitting, instead of just one. She used to just eat each meal with us- but now I serve her food first so she gets to eat as much as she wants- then she gets down to move around a bit, then we all sit down to eat. The food settles a bit, and she is interested in OUR plates of food so she then eats more.

4. Whenever my daughter gets pokey, or starts to refuse food (if it happens early in feeding), I don't make a big deal of it but just do something else nearby for a few minutes, or prepare food or snack for myself. Or offer her a sip of milk or juice/water to help her swallow what is left in the mouth. She usually asks to then be fed.

5. sometimes I feed my daughter while she is "on the go." I don't know how safe this is to do, in regards to choking hazards, but sometimes she really just needs to move around before she can eat more. And I stick to soft, pureed foods if she is moving around while eating.

6. If she refuses one thing, I may offer her something I know she likes- and then sneak in spoonfuls of the other things in between bites- works for her!

7. I load the spoon and then let her hold it, or just let her spoon it herself- she loves to feel more in control, and will eat more when we do this.

8. Lastly- check out "Happy Baby" frozen organic foods- they are really dense in calories (especially that baby dhal one) and very tasty- my daughter loves to eat them straight or topped on whole grain bread.

Hope this helps, it is an issue I have also spent a lot of time with.

Hi B.!
My daughter was/is tiny as well. At a year she weighed 15.6lbs. She was sent to an endocrinologist and everything was found to be normal. She hit all of her milestones early as well. The pedi gave us a bunch of high calorie/healthy recipes to give to her and some she liked but others she didn't. I just tried to incorporate fattening things (healthy though) into every meal like adding cheese to veggies, buying the whole milk yogurt, peanut butter etc. My daughter is now almost 7 and still very small (she weighs 34 lbs). But she is healthy, just small. At this point the doctor has said she has no worries about the weight as long as she is growing on her curve (meaning that she is getting bigger every year even if she does weigh 20lbs less than her peers). My daughter has never been on the weight chart but continues to grow at least some every year. If your daughter is eating as much as she can and growing (even slowly) and all the tests have come back fine I wouldn't stress about it too much. Just make sure that she eats healthy foods, gets the right amount of fat in her diet and then let nature take its course. Some people are just small. If your family is small she probably will be too. Now that my daughter is older I find myself glad that she is not overweight as many of her friends are already (at 7!!!) on (healthy)diets because they are overweight which is not healthy either. Good luck!

Why not look into Reliv International's children's product, Now For Kids? It has full nutrition in a fully-absorbable form, it's patented (so there is nothing else out there like it). A lot of people haven't heard of Reliv yet, but it's been around 20 years, is a researched-based food science company, and has been very highly rated by many business magazines likes Forbes, Fortune, Business Week, and Success. Reliv has a whole range of products - some are just basic nutrition, but then there are others for special problems (heart, women's issues, joints, etc.). The head of Research & Development is Dr. Carl Hastings, who was part of the team at Mead Johnson who developed Enfamil and ProSoBee formulas, so you know that he knows his stuff. Reliv is coming out with a new product in November which apparently is going to make medical history - and this is from a company which has not advertised over the past 20 years. I'd love to share more with you to see if we can find a way to get better and more efficient nutrition into your daughter in the short period of time she eats. I can connect you with other moms whose kids have had FTT and done fabulously. Also with pediatricians who have had great results and can vouch for the company. We can do this by phone anytime!

Hi B.,

My daughter is 13 months old and only weighs a little over 15 lbs. She has been tested for several things. She eats everything you put in front of her. She is meeting all of her milestones. Right now, she is in the 8th percentile for weight.

My conclusion. She is fine (if she wasn't meeting her milestones and hadn't been tested for everything major) then I would be concerned, however she continues to gain weigh (just not as much as the doctors would like). In the US there are a lot of obese children and this 'tips' the charts. Our children are not obese and therefore the doctors have to assume that somethings wrong with them.

Oh... my son was also 'underweight' and he is now 4 years old and in the 50% percentile for weight.

lots of great advice already. I had a preemie (28 weeks) with feeding issues (mostly gone at 3 yrs) as well as digestive issues (still here and not going away). I feed him a combination of breast milk and super allergy-free prescription formula. He nursed some, but also had bottles - that had concentrated formula to make them higher calorie. There are specific recipes for each formula (and if mixed with breast milk or water) - ask your doctor about that possibility.
The two biggest things that helped - skin to contact before and during feeding and me being calm. So I'd take off my shirt and bra and his shirt when feeding bottles or nursing (or both as was often the case - nurse then bottle to follow up). Snuggle up but NOT play, just sing and talk softly. My baby could tell when I was stressed and wouldn't eat well. With a baby on oxygen for a year, lots of delays, weak immune system, etc - it was hard not to be stressed. But I had to make that a priority. Easier said than done.
Your baby is not gaining weight and of course you're concerned. But she's thriving in other ways and maybe it would help to look at that part of her development more than the weight issues.
Ask for a second doctor's opinion - if both think she's okay, then I wouldn't worry so much (with a 3 yr old and 23 yr old - I know we moms have lots of times we worry and being told not to worry can be frustrating - sorry if it's not a help).

To B.,
When my little one was born and up to about the first nine months, she gained very slowly despite eating all the time. I worried until I realized that while she was not gaining, she was thriving. Now her weight and height is in the 95th percentile. If your doctors are not worried and she is hitting all her milestones, try not to worry. Babies are great at reading our feelings. I think if we are stressed, they are too.

Hi B.,

One thing that pediatricians are seeing more these days is kids who are getting FTT because they aren't getting held enough! With the car-seat that can switch to the stroller and be used to carry the baby into the house and even for them to nap or hang out in, a lot of babies just aren't getting the physical holding and body-contact they need to thrive. I'd suggest, if you don't carry her much already, that you try to hold and carry her more--in a sling, a baby bjorn, on your hip, whatever. Try that for a couple of months and see if it helps. We really did evolve to be held as babies, and a lot of them are just not getting enough touch!

The growth charts drive me nuts. My daughter is 11 months and we just had a similar experience. At a check up at 10 months she was in the 1st percentile. I left the office so upset, even though I know/knew that she has a great diet, has been hitting all of her milestones and is a healthy kid. I went home & did some research and found that the World Health Organization recommends a different chart for breastfed babies and on that chart she's well into the 30th%.I brought that to my pedi, and now she's not concerned. Don't panic and look at your baby instead of the chart. Does she eat a well balanced diet? Is she active & happy? What did you and your partner look like as toddlers? I have 3 older children, they were all bean poles. My eldest is now 19, 5'10 and if he weighs a 140 soaking wet I'd be shocked. Seeing a nutritionist isn't a bad idea. They'll be able to go over her diet with you & see if there are areas you should change. She should also be able to give you more ideas for meals that will appeal to your daughter. But again, don't beat yourself up over this. Some kids are just small. The growth charts were established in the 70s based on a 100 healthy, formula-fed kids. If you line up 100 normal healthy kids at your daughters age, the smallest would be the first percentile the largest the 100th- all of them would be "normal". If a child is in the 90th for height and the 10th for weight, then perhaps there is some call for concern- but panic & guilt is still not called for.
Hope this helped- best wishes to you & your growing family.

Hi B., my son has been dx with FTT since he was about 9 months old, he is 3 1/2 now. We have been going to GI in boston for a few years now and have seen several nutrionists and feeding teams so I diffinately know what your going through. My son has food allergies and Gerd aswell. basically all they ever tell me is to add oil to everything, the avacado, and high fat foods like pasta, potatoes things like that. He has also been on Neocate Jr, which is high caloric and it has all the vitamins and minerals to suppliment most insurance companys pay for it. Good luck I wish I had more info for you.

When my son was two months old I had a problem with him also Failure to Thrive.I told my Dr at the time when he was just a bay and I was having this problem that I could not force to eat,he would only eat a very little bit and push the bottle away.They called the state on me and put my son in a foster home which I thought was wrong.my son is 27 now and we a very good life together now.He is married with two chuildren of there own now they are 2 and 4.He finally starting eating better when I got him back from the state when he was two.Try to start with something soft like babyfood and puddings.Please let me know if that works.

Hi B.,

I have an eight year old daughter who recently was diagnosed with eosinophilic esophagitis. (an inflammatory condition in the esophogus, which is treated with an oral steriod for 6 weeks) She has food allergies, has all of her life and around six years old she stopped growing. It has taken us over two years to determine why she doesn't like to eat.
Its been a very frusterating process trying to figure out what is wrong with her, we have been to numberous doctors and are now working with a whole team of doctors at the Manchester division of Dartmouth Hospital.
She is a very happy healthy little girl and you would never know to look at her that she has these issues, but because she hasn't thrived in over two years she is the size of a six year old. Its very heartbreaking to know somthing is wrong and not be able to figure it out, your little one seems young to have this but I thought I would share this with you as I know how frusterating it is to find answers.

Good Luck,
B.

My, now 7 1/2 year old, daughter was not ever diagnosed with failure to thrive, but she started falling off the chart in the second half of her first year. She was rarely interested in eating and never ate a huge amount at a time. I remember feeding her while playing music and pausing the music until she took a bite and then playing again while she was eating. I was bribing her bite by bite. It often helped to distract her with a toy, a book, eventually tv. All of our puzzles were covered with food. It was a crazy time. I was always concerned about teaching her to have a strange relationship with food. I was concerned about her gaining weight. She was also healthy in every other way. She was physically strong and cheerful and mentally sharp. It was hard to believe that it was really a problem that she wasn't gaining that much weight.
It took a while to find things she liked. I remember feeding her jars of organic baby food. She liked mixtures that had bananas in them. Of course she also liked carrots and peaches which had almost no calories. I think my husband and i gained about 20 pounds while trying to find the most fattening foods for her. She just always preferred low calorie food- carrots, ice, water over juice etc... I remember following her around the house with a half an avocado and a spoon. She would be playing and I would be spooning avocado into her mouth.
I would recommend doing whatever works. I had friends who insisted on their child only eating at the table. If we had done that our daughter would till weigh 20 pounds, I imagine. I would also take a breath and notice that your daughter is healthy and alert and take pleasure and pride in that.
My daughter now weighs 42 pounds. My husband and I were skinny kids. Her body doesn't surprise me and her appetite now is fine. I made a poster for her on our wall that declares she is NOT a picky eater. We then put all the letters of the alphabet and slowly have drawn pictures of foods she likes that start with each letter.
She is now a pretty good eater. I feed her more sugar than I would if she didn't need the calories. She gets ice cream almost daily. I feed her a lot of bread with copious amounts of butter. I feed her bacon. BUt she loves fruit and peas and corn and carrots. I now can say to her doctor when he tells me to feed her more. SHE IS FINE. He stopped bugging me when I told him the story of giving her a pop-tart. I found 90% of the pop tart lying on the couch. She just doesn't have a taste for a lot of high calorie food. That is who she is. YOu can't fight it too much or you will go crazy and she will end up having an unhealthy relationship with food.
As far as your second, I would not worry at this point. My second came out bigger and has remained bigger. He is almost 4 and weighs about 35 pounds. He has been a pretty good eater since birth. Just a different guy. So cross that bridge when you come to it. I feel like having a second child always presents the parents with an entirely new set of challenges!
Good luck with everything.

Hi B.: I am not responding as someone who has had this experience, but I had a thought...and maybe you have already thought about this. Maybe the FTT/slow weight gain is not about food or calories? If she is eating well, could it just be that she is a slow gainer? Have you tried more attachment contact with her, like carrying her on you, sleeping with her, bathing with her? I don't know if you like those ideas, but maybe she more physical contact could help?? I only know that this can help with newborns, but I don't know if this will apply in your case. Good luck!

While I have no experience with your situation, I just read a book called "How to get your kid to eat...but not too much" by Ellyn Satter. It covers eating from birth through the teen years. The author's basic premise is based on a division of responsibility: The parents are responsible for what the child eats and how it is presented. The child is responsible for how much and even if they eat. This takes the pressure off of the parent if the child is not eating as well as they "should". She has some really great ideas and case studies that illustrate her point. I would recommend you check it out. Best of luck to you, and enjoy your happy baby!

Hi B.,

From the responses that have already been written, it looks like you have more than enough information. Many people seem to have had this issue, or similar ones. I also have my own story which I will not go into here--only to tell you that after two children going through similar situations, previous posters are right on the money--two things I did not see were the possibility of a tongue-tie (my #2 had that), but, since your child is older and eating solids, I wouldn't think that this is an issue. The second thing is that my #1 had reflux which was so bad it prevented her from gaining weight--again, something that does not sound like your issue.
Thank you for posting this. For me, it was nice to see that I am/was not alone. It is easy to blame yourself--but it is NOT your fault. As my dietician would say--so she's long and lean?? There is nothing wrong with that. Focus on what is going well--she is hitting all of her milestones? From my understanding, a child is failing to thrive when they are not only having trouble gaining weight--but not being able to accomplish what is expected. It does not sound like your daughter is in this position. If everything is fine, she is just underweight, don't worry. Our pedi told us that what they first and foremost look for are the height and weight percentages to be close to each other--whether that be 25% or 75%. Sometimes you will just have a child whose percentages just don't match--like my #2 (even after we took care of the tongue-tie).

Lastly, I know that this can be oh so frustrating for you. Go to Starbucks (or the equivalent) and sit down to enjoy a vanilla creme, or hot chocolate, or whatever your pleasure. Do one of those 2 hour marathon feeding sessions with your daughter right there. Watch the traffic, the people walk by, listen to the mundane conversation of the table nearby. Listen to the music being piped in. Talk to your daughter. (Try to) Relax.

My daughter does not have FTT but she has feeding issues.
We use pediasure and also greek yogurt has a high calorie content. We see Early Intervention and the nutritionist is awesome with food tips.(like butter) They will come out to the house and help with her needs. Thats funny you say canola oil your only the 2nd person to mention it in all our feeding struggles.

Hi. I am so sorry you are going through this. It is very hard. My daughter was 2 1/2 weeks late when she was born and weighed just under 10 lbs. She failed to gain weight according to the charts and was diagnosed failure to thrive as she approached 1 yr. I breast fed and was encouraged to give my daughter shakes w/ hagan daze (sp?) icecream as it had high fat content...and other high fat foods. She too was bright allert achieving her milestones and was just a sweet happy baby. She just ate a little bit, was never picky, but ate just the smallest amount!

I am of Italian-American herritage and food is love, I felt so bad that I couldn't get my child to gain weight. I felt that I was a failure and a bad mother. At one point one of the pediatriticians suggested that my milk was "skim" and that was why she was not gaining weight...talk about defeated. Here I was doing what I thought was the healthiest thing for my daughter and then was told my milk was not good, it was terrible.

Meanwhile my poor daughter was vomiting after her meals because I was forcing icecream shakes down after her regular meals in an attempt to put weight on her. This made matters worce as she was not keeping anything down!

We happened to move and got a new pediatrician. She said my daughter was not failure to thrive! She said her original weight was most likely elevated due to her being late. She also said that some people are naturaly skinny and don't eat as much as others! She said that since she was meeting her milestones, early, she was fine and I should stop worrying about it. To certainly stop force feeding her icecream after full meals!

Today my daughter is 9 and eats like a horse, she is thin and beautiful! So please think about your diagnosos and if it feels wrong to you get another opinion. Maybe your daughter will be small and skinny due to her natural body size. In this world of fat even morbidly obese children a small child is less often seen by peditricians and may be considered an anomoly.

My 11 month old was also Failure to Thrive, but now he's doing great. We had a very long period there with a doctor who wasn't listening to me. He even had us in the hospital for 5 days I think to keep an eye on us because he didn't think we were feeding him. It was such an awful experience. He'd tell me you have to make him eat and stuff and he was eating. I finally found a new doctor for him though and she determined that he had acid reflux. I kept telling his original doctor about his stuffy nose and how it always seemed like he had a cold and how he would spit up hours after eating, but he blew it off. As soon as I told the new doctor about that she said acid reflux. And he was put on meds and has been doing great ever since. He's over 18 pounds now at 11 months. No more weekly weigh ins. It's great. I have to say I would be concerned about why it takes her so long to eat though. I would keep pushing the doctors if I were you because something just doesn't seem right. Good luck. I know the guilt you are feeling around all of this. This was my third child and my other two were always in the 90th %tile so I couldn't understand what I was doing wrong with my son. Sometimes it just takes a new doctor to look at and listen to all of your concerns to diagnose something.

M.

Hi B.,
I have a 19 month old who was FTT from 6mo to 11 months & now has landed firmly at 15th-20th precentil for weight. He is allergic to Dairy( that was one of the issues). Have you met with an allergist? We met will all kinds of dr.'s but until we saw the Allergist we got no where.( I can give you his info( we live in Newington). Too keep weight on him I feed him Oil in his cerear 2 times a day, He has avocado mixed with his cereal for dinner & I also add Tahini( sesame seed butter)He is a good eater the allergy was his issue. What helped me not go crazy about it was I found a growth chart from 1970 & the #'s were alot lower then they are today. So she is probably on the growth chart from 1970. I hope this helps a little. I also let him snack alot but healthy stuff. good luck

B.,
Both of my daughters have had failure to thrive. My first outgrew it around 8 mo old, and is now a nice average sized 3 year old. Things were very difficult with her early on with numerous hospitalizations for her weight issues (she was born at 5lbs 3 oz and at 2 mo old she was 4lbs 9 oz despite eating more than double what children her age normally eat). My youngest on the other hand was born 4 mo early and her FTT issues have extended much longer. She was born large for gestational age, weighing just under 2lbs and was over 14 inches long (usually babies born at her premature state are 8 to 10 inches long and slightly over 1lb).

My youngest is now 20 months old, adjusted of 16 mo. She is still only 13 lbs. She has had all sorts of dietary interventions and we are followed closely by GI. She does have liver, kidney and pancreas problems, but to our knowledge none of them are directly related to her slow weight gain.

She is starting to fall behind developmentally, even for a preemie (but they also do not take into consideration what she is more advanced at which I'm sure makes her more normal than they think). The only part that is scaring me though is that her head circumference is not growing which can cause bigger problems as she gets older. Currently they are starting her on physical and speach therapy though they don't do anything different in her treatment than what I do at home so I find that both disturbing and refreshing (good to know I am doing the right things, irritated that I have to pay $20 in parking fees for something I already do at home).

FTT can be difficult when there is no known cause. The majority of people I've connected with who have children with FTT watch their children grow out of it as I did with my first. Sometimes it just takes babies some extra time to grow, and it can be hard for parents to be patient while you wait to make sure they are doing OK.

With my youngest daughter she has so many seemingly unrelated medical issues I can't help but think that there is more to her story than just FTT. We are waiting on the outcome of numerous tests and watching and waiting to see how things go with her. At least she has a good team of doctors.

She is still a tremendous joy and I try not to consider too much what we still have left to overcome. Instead I enjoy each day that I have with her knowing that even though she is small she is the biggest miracle to me. (I love my daughter's equally, but with my second we were told she couldn't possibly live and we are just so thrilled that the Dr's were wrong!)

Do not blame yourself for her FTT. Just love her and do your best to take care of her. Since she is developmentally on target try not to worry. Maybe she is just meant to be small :).

If you need someone to connect to please feel free to email me. Both of my daughters have had various treatments for alleged (and unfounded) allergies and enzyme deficiencies. Perhaps some of that information could be helpful to you.

Hang in there :) It does get better!

A.

If she is raaching all of her milestones when she should I wouldn't be concerned about her size some kids are just small. Are you and your husband big, average, or small are their ppl in your family that are small? My naighbors 2 yearold only weighs in at about 20 lbs but her mom and older sister are both tiny. I also have two cousins that are tiny but their mom barely is 5 tall and their dad is about 5'6 so of course they are small. small ppl have small kids. How much was your daughter at birth? If she was on the smaller side then she will be now. As for meals I let my son eat until he's done if he doesn't want to or is dragging it out w/ trying to play I put the food away and offer him something later He eats 3 meals and atleast 2 snacks a day but he's a tiny little man too. Kids will eat and drink when they are hungary or thirsty. I noticed you are pureeing her food maybe its time to start finger foods and other solids she's probably not interested in puree food at this age. Both my kids were eating whet we had by that age if she doesn't have many teeth start with soft foods like bananas and steamed carrots. Good luck.

B.,

I'm so sorry that you're having such a terrible problem with your beautiful baby. This is strictly my opinion, but I would try taking her to a natural doctor. I know of the D'Adamo Institute for the Advancement of Natural Therapies in Portsmouth, NH ###-###-####). They have a couple of doctors there that specialize in babies and infants. I've been a patient there in the past (mostly for overall wellness - no serious medical conditions) and I know many people with serious health issues who have benefited from going there. One friend of mine and a patient of the D'Adamo Institute has Cancer. His medical doctors told him he had about a year to live - that was over 5 years ago. He's doing great now. He did natural therapies in conjunction with other conventional medicine. I've heard of an experience of a baby being diagnosed with FTT and it turning out to be a severe food allergy that was preventing her from thriving. If the medical doctors can't find anything, don't stop investigating until you get an answer and keep an open mind. You really have to be an advocate for your child and do a lot of research. I really hope that it all works out for you and your family.

Jen

Hi B.,

So many parents are being scared today because the doctors think all babies are supposed to fit into the same mold. My husband weighed 14 pounds when he was a year old.... he is now 5'11'' and perfectly healthy. My son was also small at 10 months and the pediatrician tried to scare me so I just stopped seeing her.... of course now at 2 years he's tall and thin and he eats alot. Just love your little girl and offer her healthy food and don't make a big deal about food or stress about it. She will eat when she's hungry and she might be thin. Just remember that obesity had quadrupled in children in the last few years so what is the normal weight the your daughter is being weighed against and do you really want her to be in that normal weight.

Hi B.,

"Failure to Thrive" sounds awful, doesn't it?! I gasped the first time I saw this written on my daughter's chart! Sure, she's tiny, but I consider her to be "thriving"!

My daughter is 19 months now and still under 20 lbs. EVERYONE comments on how tiny she is, but so am I (5ft. 95 lbs.) so it's not a surprise. My older boys are also on the small side, but not quite as much. My doctor has put my daughter through a lot of bloodwork and we're now seeing a Pedi. GI in Boston to determine if she has Celiac's Disease (gluten allergy). I'll be surprised if she does. I think she is just destined to be small. I try not to worry about all the "panic" from the doctors. She is not vomiting or having diarrhea on a regular basis, and she is quite a happy and THRIVING little girl.

If your daughter seems "sick" -- vomiting, diarrhea, crying for what seems to be no reason...then there might be something wrong. Otherwise, don't worry!!

Best of luck!

I also had one child diagnosed with Failure to Thrive. He was 13 lbs, 3 oz at 1 year. One thing we found was he was lactose intolerant. When we switched to soy milk and soy based products his eating and weight improved slowly. We saw many specialists. The GI determined he also had reflux. The nutrition doctors recommended pediasure, which is milk based, and he experienced terrible diaper rash which disappeared with 24 hours after stopping the pediasure. He is now almost 6 and still is only 36 lbs. But he is healthy, smart and physically active. He continues to have a lactose intolerance, but has outgrown the reflux. I recommend trying the soy, and keeping your GI informed. If you do not use UMass Medical, consider asking for a referal to their pedi-GI depatment. They are amazing.

Dear B.,

I feel your pain. My daughter (now 5) was FTT from 6 months to 2.5 years. We saw a GI specialist, ran all the tests (celiac, cystic fibrosis, allergies, etc) to no avail. She was also reaching her milestones and bright and happy but a loss in weight or no gain just wasn't okay, no matter how I tried to rationalize it. I joined a Yahoo group for parents of kids with FTT and the group was a great support and resource. I recommend finding a similar group and linking up with other parents.

The GI was finally pushing to put Siga on a feeding tube to get her weight up (we were doing pediasure, calorie enhancers, high calories foods - but it wasn't working) when I asked for her to be put on a med for anorexics to increase her appetite (trust me, this wasn't easy as I am usually against medicating for anything, even colds) but this was my last resort before the tube. It worked. She began eating normally and gaining weight. Most Dr's won't recommend this as it is prescribing a medicine for a different use than it was intended, but I spoke with many parents via the group and found that many parents saw success with the med.

When she was 2, we finally discovered that she had an abnormality in her intestines that was causing blockages. She needed emergency surgery and since then has seen no problems what so ever.

Keep searching for the answer. If "well, she's just small" doesn't feel right, then keep searching. I think in these cases, mother's instinct is incredibly valuable.

Best of luck.
~Liza

Single mom to 5 year old girl.

Hi B.,
I'm not going to tell you to not stress b/c let's face it you are going to anyway. But I can tell you that my son (now 4) had much of the same issue. And we as well went to the children's hospital for many visits with nutritionist and the like. I can tell you that at 3 he finally put himself on the growth charts. In all honesty I don't think playing around with any of the additives (adding oils, higher fattier foods, etc.) did anything either! My pediatrician did put him on pediasure, vanilla which I just screwed a nipple to the top of the bottle and he drank all of it. He had one a day. If anything "beefed" him up I'd put the credit to that. But my view is it was his nature. And rest assured...I also have a daughter now (2yrs)...and she is by far the opposite on the weight spectrum. Don't know how...did all the same things/schedules and whatnot. Back to my son...he did get to be a picky eater at 1,2, and even 3 but at 4 he eats just about everything in sight (including new foods he has never heard of). So yes my advice would be to just enjoy your little one and they do eventually get bigger:) My friend went through a similar situation with her son at the same time I was which was a little more comforting. I look at old videos of my son and just feel aweful especially after seeing the meat on my daughter. He was sooooo skinny and it looked unhealthy...but that was his body. Best of luck.