It's good to be a girl:)

She had lots of fun playing with my ear rings.  You can see her fat lip in the picture:( Being a toddler is ruff!

Success, at last!

I had a good break in my research for Lana's eating behavior. I was so close to force feeding her so I typed it in the search box so see if there was anyone out there that supported it. I was so desperate, Lana has fallen off the charts for weight. Her height, which was in the 75th percentile at birth, was also almost off the chart. If that were to happen then she'd be labeled as failure to thrive. Yet, she's so healthy looking, active, and smart. She reaches all her developmental milestones just fine. But then again, she's not getting any better and the specialist and doctors so far have not had any success.

So I read one article that mention something about a primary disorder of appetite. I goggled it and found a bunch of research articles published various medical journals for pediatrics and psychiatry. I started reading one about infantile anorexia and bingo. Every bizarre behavior explained and not one detail was left out. I'm not a psychiatrist, but I was convinced. It said to feed her every 3-4 hrs with water in between. So I tried it, only this time they said to give her a small amount of food and step back and refrain from praising or saying anything. Then when she motions for more give her more.

I put her in her chair, gave her some pudding and walked away. She ate a lot! Then I gave her some zucchini bread and she ate it too! Ever since then I've had better success at her eating more. Tonight she gobbled down a whole chicken nugget and some pudding. I assumed she was finished, but not at all. She kept trying new things.

I talked to her speech therapist she saw a month ago about her swallowing and she said it is a food aversion. She calls what psychiatrist calls Infantile anorexia food aversions. Which makes sense.  It's so nice, now I can sit back and sigh and say "all will be fine." That's such a wonderful feeling! Thank you all for all your suggestions, helpful advice, love and support, and prayers. This research was found only after an earnest prayer with the faith you all helped me gain:)

Lana's Feeding Update

So, a month ago we took Lana into a new pediatrician because we wanted more done about her low weight and refusing to eat more solid foods. Come to find out-she at that time had dropped 1 pound when she should have gained. This 1 lb disadvantage threw her off the growth curve and put her below the 5th percentile for weight:(
The new doctor suggested we completely ween her to get her to eat the more calorie full solid foods. We went to a feeding specialist and she suggested we take away snacking and feed her solid foods every 3-4 hrs before nursing. We went along with the specialist for a few weeks-nothing happened:( Just a lot of wasted food and money. So then I tried the Dr.'s suggestion of weening-only the Feeding Specialist suggested nursing once at night. I took her to my moms for help the other weekend and the insanity began. It was soooo painful-but I had to keep reminding myself that she needs to grow and nursing isn't enough for her little body. She nurses just twice a day before sleep times now. The feeding solids part is still shaky. She's not eating very well. Her diet consists of pudding, eggs, cereal, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate, potato veggie straws, and french fries. If I don't let her eat the junk-she will never gain any weight-she'd rather go hungry. So after all this effort and work-even cramming yogurt in her mouth a few times in hope of healthier food choices-we took her in for her weight check last Friday. The nurse put her up on the scale and we anxiously awaited the results. She gained...........2 ounces:( That's it, that's all that work for the past 4 weeks! Not good enough. The doctor is switching plans and we are now working with a dietitian to get more calories in her. I guess we will worry only about calories for now and healthy food choices later.

Chocolate pudding....num.

We have discovered that Lana loves chocolate pudding. And she prefers to feed herself. Usually she does alright, but tonight I added homemade whip cream to increase the calories and fat. It turned out a little too runny.

Zoo

Here we are the petting zoo.

 

Jason had an injured hip so he walked around on his crutches:(

Feet Playing

 Lana loves to play the piano, here she is playing with her hands and toes. She also loves that dog.