Looking for Opinions on Appetite Stimulants and Feeding Programs for My 2 Yr Old

My sister works with CHOP as an occupational therapist and does NICU/feeding clinic. From what I know, I will share my opinion. I definitely do not think that CHOP is using your child as a guinea pig or just wants copays... They are recommending this treatment because they truly think it will be beneficial for him. That being said, their program is VERY intensive and if it were my kid, I would want to make sure I exhausted all my options before going through their program. There is no doubt that they are effective but could be difficult for you, your family, and your son. Good luck and I hope this has helped.

sorry to hear about the issues with your son. My daughter is on the pt team in chop. She has her doctorate in pt. The hospital is cutting edge and is the best you could want. Let me assure you they have plenty of patients to meet their need of copay. They are there to help and have many years of education under their belts. You have an oppertunity to correct this problem with only a few days of inconvience. I went through a similar problem with a foster baby several years ago. If it means a better life for your child then give it a try. What do you have to loose? Maybe you could enlist the help of your daughter to help out with the animals and all the chores for the good of her sib.???

my daughter is in a similar situation as your son. she's about 27 months old and she has just been boosted to just under 24 pounds (about 10th percentile) thanks to a calorie booster called Duocal. it's non-prescription, but was recommended by our gastroenterologist. it's tasteless and can be added to anything with some liquid in it.....even a glass of water! you just can't tell it's there! the stuff rocks and i swear it has saved my daughter! she still has reflux at 2 years and has been through feeding therapy, had the milk scans, etc. she also has texture issues, an immature chew, she didn't lose her infant gag reflex, and has a slow-emptying stomach. she's doing well now, though, and i really feel it's due to the duocal. i would ask your doc. good luck. i know it's so scary feeling like your kid might starve. so scary. good luck. let me know how it goes.

Have you tried testing for gluten intolerance? It's different than food allergies. If you haven't done so, you can request the test from your pediatrician.

My son is also extremely small for his age (20pds at 22 months). We've been through a number of tests and screenings at CHOP (CF, nutrition, GI testing, etc). We did find that he has an enzyme deficiency and are working on getting him increase enzymes before we move on to other testing. That being said, going through all this we ask LOTS of questions to make sure we need to do everything that's suggested (our son was a preemie and has been through a number of surgeries and tests so we want things as minimally evasive as possible). The issue with weight and height is that if growth is stunted early on for whatever reason your son will never be able to grow to his full potential. If neither you or your husband are extremely short/small and there's no history of this in the family, if you don't take action your son may end up being small his whole life even though he has the potential to be taller/larger. As for co-pays/money, we've never had a problem with the doctors not listening to our concerns and delaying tests/procedures if we have concerns and they felt that we can try one thing, see if it works, and then try the next.

If you want to chat more about this or have other questions, feel free to send me a private email.