Overcoming Toddlers Failure to Thrive Part 2

Our perfect little whirlwind was recently told she was failure to thrive.  No parent likes to be told that there is something wrong with their child. Every parent fears and prays that their child wont get some incurable disease or have some thing wrong with them that puts their health at risk.  When I was pregnant with each of my children I prayed every night that my kids would grow healthy, whole and happy. It breaks my heart seeing children with diseases that kill or hurt their small bodies.  I would wonder if I would have the strength to watch my child go through the pain and suffering that many children go through on a daily basis. I really don’t know how their parents keep it all together. I would be a major wreck! To all you parents going through this battle, I am praying for you and your babies. Where was I? Oh yeah, praying for my kiddos. When my babies were born with a clean bill of health I was so thankful, and still am. But when a doctor tells you that your child is failure to thrive you begin to question everything. What did I as a parent do wrong? When did I first screw up? Will we ever be able to fix our daughters situation? What the heck?!

    

  

Our little world was thrown for a loop. I immediately began to worry and stress. It’s what I do. When a problem presents itself, I stress. I took to the internet, Pinterest and books to find a solution. Yes I said Pinterest. You would be surprised at what you can find there. Seriously! I have found many health tips on that site!  After ready many different blogs, websites and forums, I found some answers. First off, I read that it’s not my fault that my daughter has these issues. I know you are probably thinking that it doesn’t really matter whose fault it is but as parents we tend to beat ourselves up over these things.  Secondly, I found a blog run by an Occupational Therapist who posted about children labeled failure to thrive. She described my daughters eating and other habits to a tee. Her solution? Read a book. No seriously. She suggest parents read “Helping Your Child with Extreme Picky Eating” by Katja Rowell, MD and Jenny McGlothlin, MS, SLP. It’s a step-by-step guide for overcoming selective eating, food aversion, and feeding disorders.

      

      This book was highly recommended and after doing some research, saw that it had helped many families. So I thought I’d purchase it and see what it had to say. Our doctor also recommended we see a specialist. Hey I’m willing to try whatever it takes (within reason) to help my child overcome her issues. So now we are going to be seeing an Occupational Therapist in the hopes that he or she can shed some light on what we are doing wrong or need to improve upon. I wish I could just do the I dream of Jeanie nod and make my child eat everything I put in front of her. Until then we are going to keep presenting her with different foods and try to keep her calorie count up. So far Pediasure and juice are the main go to sources for some easy calories. Sometimes she will eat fries and chicken nuggets. As always I'd love to hear your feedback! Tell me your success stories or how you are faring on your journey with FTT!