fussy eater

[beca74]

my dd has hypotonia and finds it really hard to chew food because the muscle tone in her mouth is very low tone still on 4 month jars really worried she doesnt eat enough she's 14 months and she gets tired very quickly

I don't know anything about hypotonia, but just assuming she has a paed that she is seeing - what have they recommended?

Beca - if it's any consolation at all - and i'm doubting it, my DS3 has swallowing issues and is still on stage 4 month puree at age 4.5 years . His brother has hypermobile joints, SPD and dyspraxia, his other brother has poor sphincter control.
DS3 cannot move the food to the back of his tongue, so it has to seep round the side to get down. We do exercises to move the tongue - but in fairness this wasn't started til he was nearly 3 - when he knew what he was doing.
I first went to my GP when my DS was 11 months old with concerns. It took til he was 4 til GOSH took up his case. So stick with it. Your DD needs to be referred to see a SALT with a specialism in eating and swallowing, they can work out a plan to improve the situation. Involving SALT is also a good idea as if children are not using their muscles to eat/swallow/chew, they may find making the correct mouth/tongue shapes more difficult. This could show in a delay in speech acquisition or unclear sounds
Re the growth side of things. I would make sure that you go to the hv/gp etc to keep a good record of both height and weight. See if your GP can refer you to a dietician. If like our PCT, they only take on cases where there is a failure to thrive (moving down several centiles - change in growth pattern etc) - you will have an official record of her growth to provide.
Diet wise, there are things you can add to puree to make it even more nutritious for health. If she has no food intolerances, you can add egg yolks, extra dairy products and extra carbs in the form of mashed potato, blitzed rice etc.
Hope this helps

she has paed but not due to see him for a while she's the perfect weight for her age so hv isnt too bothered thankyou for your help

Perhaps you could contact the paed and ask them if they could recommend who you could speak to regarding these concerns. He might have a recommendation - just explain that you're trying to prepare for how to handle this as your DD grows and you'd like more information on the best things to do.

Depending on the advice you have previously received from the hv and how trusted she is - i would go over their heads to gp and get the dietician referral. The hv i saw told me to 'get over it' and that DS3 would always be small . I think that sometimes they try to 'pacify' mums into accepting a situation because some mums are very pfb with their baby and just need to be told that everything is fine. The hypotonia might be too much for her and is treating your dd like any other case.