What are they going to do? Re fail to thrive.. - Pregnancy, Birth & Baby Forums ~ BellyBelly

Ellibam · #1 (**permalink**) January 4th, 2009, 01:41 PM

we have been seeing a pead for Miss A since she was 8 months old about her weight gains(or lack of)
she has been on a high fat/high sugar diet(which has worked for me! haha)since her last check up at 14 months but still hasnt put on much weight.
i havent weighed her because i dont want to see how bad she is(iykwim)! we have another appointment on monday 12th where i have decided to tell him to do all the tests(we now live 450km away from the pead) because i only realised the other day when she was sleeping naked how tiny she looks and it was scary to see her ribs poking out.

so my question is what test will he do? i know some might be invasive but i need to be prepared.

im worried about what might come out of it all.....

Trillian · #2 (**permalink**) January 4th, 2009, 04:55 PM

You know, I always wonder what they will do if after all their tests show nothing wrong (if that's what happens, maybe there is something?) and all the diets don't work, do they just accept that this is how big they are meant to be? (purely rhetorical thinking that is) I don't know what sort of tests they would do, or what action for treatment would be taken if anything is found though, but I hope it doesn't distress her at all (or you)

Mother Goose · #3 (**permalink**) January 4th, 2009, 05:23 PM

Often they do a gastroscopy which is a special camera that goes through the mouth. The have a look at the gut and a few other bits. Sometimes they take biopsies which are small snips of the lining of the stomach etc. They are so small they don't require stitches or anything like that and are not painful. They are smaller that the nail on your pinkie finger... infact, sometimes they are difficult to get off the snares (which they use to take the biopsy) with the tip of a needle.
A gastroscope is a fairly quick procedure - usually about 30 minutes long. It is a day proceedure which means you can usually go home a couple of hours after the proceedure. All the peadeatric gastroenterologists that I know (the docs who do the scope) use an anethetist and children are given a light anesthetic throughout the proceedure (where as adults usually get mild sedation). So your child will be asleep for the proceedure. The drugs used have an amnesic property which means she won't remember much of the day and certainly not the bit just before she goes in or when she is waking up.

What they do for failure to thrive will depend on what the cause is or what they think the best mode of action is going to be. I'm sure Schmickers will have many more answers than I do - the only things I know of are nutritional supplements, nasogastric feeding (which is a tube that they put through the nostril and into the stomach - it stays there until not needed anymore) so the food goes right to where it needs to be, and PEG feeding which is where they put a port (access point) into the child's stomach (this is surgically done - again a day proceedure thing) and special food is used through this site to feed the child. PEG feeding is usually a last resort.

It is probably a good idea to take a list of quetions to your pead's appointment and ask them.

HTH

MG

Ellibam · #4 (**permalink**) January 4th, 2009, 08:12 PM

i forgot to put in that its not due to her ot eating... she eats more then Mr M its just not getting absorbed..so im hoping it wont end up being a nasal tube...

trillian i asked him that last time and he jokingly said then your just not feeding her enough....

dh and i were both tinytiny children but not this small...last time she was weighed she was 1.5kg under the 5th pertcentile for weight but in 75th for hieght..

i was going to cancel this appointment until i saw her sleeping naked...it has scared me thet maybe there is something not quite right... which i have been trying to get out of my mind by reminding myslef it must ne genetics....but surely on a high fat high sugar diet she would be putting some weight on

Ozstar · #5 (**permalink**) January 4th, 2009, 08:17 PM

I have no advice and no clue what tests they might do but just wanted to say that I hope everything comes back fine.

Mother Goose · #6 (**permalink**) January 4th, 2009, 08:34 PM

Elli - it may be a case of playing around with the qty and types of supplement she is on. Or it could be hormonal. I know it is scary and frustrating but hang in there - your pead will work through this with you. Keep the appointment and try to get to the bottom of it. Let us know what happens.

MG

Trillian · #7 (**permalink**) January 4th, 2009, 08:49 PM

I know Christy had problems with Matilda from absorbtion issues due to her allergies, I'll give her this thread link and she can give you her insight into it.