Food refusal and faltering growth

[TheRealDamage]

Have NC as I have family on here and this is fairly identifiable.

My DD is 1 and has had a diagnosis of faltering growth since around 18 weeks, she has a fairly severe cows milk protein allergy which has caused a whole host of problems including weight losses, severe reflux and nursing strikes.

We have been on a fairly even keel for a while now with her following the 25th centile. Not ideal and still underweight based on her height and weight before the allergy kicked in, but we've managed to keep it stable so paediatrics have been fairly content.

On Wednesday her appetite disappeared. On Thursday night she started vomiting fairly violently and constantly through the night. Assumed some kind of stomach bug, but didn't panic as it had stopped by 6am. Still no appetite.

It's now Sunday. She has barely eaten a thing all weekend, the few tiny morsels we have managed to get into her have been insignificant and hard won. She is still feeding from me but it's not enough, to keep her at the weight she was she was on quite a strict feeding routine including fortifying other food wherever possible. I'm now starting to worry quite a lot about how to get food into her.

Does anyone have experience of anything similar? We will contact paediatrics or GP tomorrow but what are they likely to do?

Hi,

We had similar with DS2. He had severe reflux and was off the centiles, literally not even at 0.4% of weight for his age. He was a frequent food refuser and when he got ill it was alarming.

Make sure she stays hydrated, that's the main thing. Add Abidec vitamin drops to Dioralyte water. Then let her eat anything at all, however rubbishy or monotonous. DS sometimes ate nothing but Hipp blueberry baby rice for weeks on end. If she tolerates it, try and give a couple of teaspoons of mashed banana and avocado or similar, as they have very high calorie content er spoonful, and when every spoonful counts, that helps.

And, just to reassure you, DS was a skeletal scrap for about three years, then undersized for several years but by the time he was 10-11 he was one of the tallest in his year with strong, sturdy muscles and bones. They can thrive, despite really shakey beginnings.

Hope she gets well soon!