Poor appetite and constipation

[Husky90]

My son has just turned 2 in March and since he was 3 month old he has been very fussy with food/milk, he used to refuse his bottles and lose weight so he was weaned early (medical professional instructions) he has never been interested in food and goes days at a time without eating. Obviously he is constipated because he is not getting what he needs to help him go, he is on movicol to help him but he still sometimes bleeds which is being put down to a tear with the poo being so hard, we have had him back and forth to the hospital and they were at a loss after numerous tests so referred us to a gastro specialist.
The problem is he doesn't seem as concerned as I am, I would never questions a medical professional but feel like I am getting no where, we also see a dietician and she has said my son will need to have supplement shakes as he is not growing and is slightly underweight but again the specialist says he will grow out of it and is just being 'fussy' but this has gone on nearly all his life so it's not just a phase.

My question is am I just over reacting being concerned as he is seeing a specialist or would you push for something else? I am a first time mam and have nothing to compare his eating or bowel movements to.

Thankyou for any advice x

My first thought is allergies? Have they been ruled out?

DS has cows milk, egg & soy allergies and had a rubbish appetite until we got on top of it when he was two. He didn't gain weight very well either.

My second though is coeliac disease. Have you seen a gastro pead?

He sees a gastro paeds, has had allergy tests, hasn't got celiac and also been tested for meckels diverticulum. He just won't eat unless he is desperate sometimes he turns white as a sheet and starts shaking which is when he will eat dry cereal.

We went to see the gastro team Thursday and he has said he has been seen 3 times (routine checks) and nothing has changed as in he hasn't increased or decreased with anything so he thinks he will grow out of it but I am really concerned, the Dr said it's unshakeable to be concerned but he sees this everyday and is really common so has discharged us, he said it's a control issue?

If that’s his diagnosis I would ask if you could get a referral to a clinical psychologist to help on how to approach the behaviour.

But you should question a medical opinion. Dr are not infallible and if you are concerned about your or your children health then you should (politely) raise your concerns with medical professionals.

Is the poo hard when he goes go?

What tests did they do to rule out allergies and coeliac?

DS has delayed allergies and these don't show up on tests, it's just exclusion diet for him which is why it took so long to get on top of it.

DS was tested for coeliac (I have it) via a blood test which was inconclusive which means it possible in the future but he seems fine so far.

I agree he should be referred to the feeding team which usually involves dietician, speech and language, OT, psychologists if that's his diagnosis. It's all about early intervention.

Agree it's fine to question the medics. Your his only advocate.

It's not hard now he has movicol but if he does get constipated he starts to bleed which they have said is a fissure so like a cut and it just keeps reopening when his poo is hard, it's not a lot of blood by any means.

He sees the dietician already and she was the one concerned and got a paediatric doctor to see him who then referred him to the gastro team.
We are still seeing the dietician so I will ask her for more advice aswell.

The coeliac test was the blood test and we done 9 months of different food exclusions, food diary etc but nothing came out of it.

Thank you so much for your advice, I am going to ask for a second opinion or push for some sort of plan to help him out xx

Has he been checked for a low anorectal malformation?

I don't think so, it has never been mentioned before

I've been using a product called nutrigen inulin. It's not a laxative like movicol but when he gets better it can help his bowel movement going

I will have a look at that thanks, movicol isn't a laxative it's a water retainer so it retains water in the bowel to soften the poo if that's any help

Oh, thank you, good to know :)