My tiny monster

Nolan had his first feeding therapy appointment and saw a GI specialist this week. As you all know, he has been pretty tiny ever since he was a few months old. Even though he was tiny, he was consistently gaining weight and stayed on his own growth curve. Right after his first birthday though, he lost weight and dropped off his own curve. He has never recovered from that and his weight has been very slow to increase. He is in the 1st percentile for weight right now and 45th for height. Since I'm somewhat skinny that would not have been too much concern to us except he has been having other issues. As I look back at pictures though, his baby chub, the little he had, is definitely gone.

He eats very small amounts and when he finally has a meal that is normal in size he has often been throwing it all up a short time later. We've also battled constipation and infrequent bowel movements. After trying lots of different things, our doctor referred us on.

Feeding therapy went great. Much like I knew, he has no structural issues and is perfectly able to eat just fine. However, it's another story getting him to actually do so. For now we are making meal time fun and working on distraction. These aren't things I'll want to do forever because I want him to have nice table manners but for now we play with toys while eating and even blow bubbles. It is working somewhat! We will probably only be going back for one or two more visits to work on getting Nolan to drink.

The GI appt. was interesting. It's the first time anyone other than our pediatrician has spoken about his weight and stomach problems. Nolan weighed in at 20lbs 4oz which meant they automatically labelled him as failure to thrive on all the paperwork and in their system. My own pediatrician looks at more than weight but technically any child under the 3rd% in weight or less than 20% if the weight to height ratio gets the label. It's still frustrating and hard to hear as a mom especially when your little one isn't having developmental issues besides his size. Nolan took his first steps days before his 10mo birthday and could go across the entire room less than two weeks later. He now runs and climbs everything. He is as active as can be and is starting to get more and more vocal everyday. It seems to me that being tiny needs a new label besides FTT if nothing else is compromised!! I was happy to hear the GI doctor comment on his level of activity and state that besides the weight and vomiting he appears completely healthy.

GI is sending us out for quite a few tests. We'll have those done over the next month and a half then return to discuss the results. There are a lot of unknowns right now but things being considered include silent reflux, irritable bowels, slow digestion, and the likes. Hopefully we'll get some answers and get his tummy back to normal!