My wife and I are very worried about our 3 year old. She got choked on a life saver at a after hours clinic. She could still breath and the doctor said to just wait and if came out. Not 2 days later, all 3 of us got a stomach bug and she vomited 5 or 6 times during the process. She ate a little bit right after that but then started refusing to eat or putting utensils in her mouth. Now the only thing we can get her to eat is pudding but she will only lick it off a spoon. She refuses to put the spoon in her mouth. We do mix her pudding with pediasure. We are worried that she is developing an eating disorder and she is getting so thin. What do we do to help our little angel?
You're probably going to have to take her to the doc and see if you can get a referral for therapy.
In the meantime, see if she will lick peanut butter off a spoon. It has a lot of protein which will really help while she's not eating.
well in order for her to get nutrition I would suggest doing what you can to just get her eating. Deal with the utensil issue later. IF she is losing a large amount of weight that quickly just focus on her eating. If it has to be pudding and ice cream and vitamins then so be it. She's scared and rightly so. Choking is one of the most scariest things. My oldest when she was a little over 1, loved fish. I was always super careful to get all the bones out. On New Years Eve we were invited to a party, where they were serving whole fish to each guest. Of course with everyone talking and drinking, and not paying attention, my daughter snuck fish off of someones plate, and got a large rib bone that pierced her tonsil. It wasn't cutting off any airway, but it was bleeding very badly and she was swallowing and choking on blood. We had to rush her to a near by ER, where it took 3 nurses and the Doc to hold her down, go down her throat with a metal forceps and pull it out. It was so traumatic, she didn't want to eat anything except liquids and soft foods. Took a few months to get her back on track again. She does still love fish despite the trauma.
ADDED: HE ANSWERED A POST DATED 2010 BUT IF YOU LOOK AT THE DATE OF HIS ANSWER IT IS TODAY! SORRY J., THIS BOARD IS PLAGUED WITH TROLLS AND PRANKSTERS AT TIMES SO COLLECTIVELY WE CAN BE SENSITIVE.
Kids this young can lose a lot of weight when they have the stomach flu. She may also be dealing with the virus and want "safe" foods. try to expand what she eats and have her eat things with her fingers. Start out with foods that won't hurt her tummy, rice, banana and things that she says she wants to eat. Usually if we say we want something it means we can handle it. gradually re introduce utensils. As others have said, you may want to talk to a doctor, a few pounds for a 3 year old (especially if they don't carry extra weight) is a lot proportionally so it's probably just the bug but if your instinct is telling you this is a bigger battle than a week or so readjusting then I'd go to the doctor for advice.
You need to take her to her pediatrician immediately. She has experienced a trauma (choking) and might need to be treated by a therapist in order to regain confidence in eating. The longer you wait the more serious her condition will become. It took a woman I know almost six months for her son to get back to normal after choking. He was seven at the time.
I would discuss food aversion therapy for her to get past this traumatic experience.
Sounds as if a call or visit to the doctor is in order.
Poor little thing. Will she use a straw? You can pack a lot of vitamins in a smoothie, with fruits, milk, yogurt, veggies, even peanut butter (not ALL mixed together of course!). Talk calmly with her about the cause and effect of being sick. Tell her that her throat is healing and it's OK if it takes a little while before she is ready to eat certain things but that her body is ready to eat soft things now. And call your doctor.
shes definatley scared to eat now because of the choking and then getting sick.. i had a friend growing up whos little brother used to eat a ton.. when he was between 3 and 4 he got really severley dehydrated twice in one summer(he used to love to eat but not drink much) the second time was worse than the first ..after that all he wanted to do was drink and hardly ate anything at all bcause he was filling himself up on liquids all the time.. he would purposly spill his food or say it tasted bad hed do anything so he wouldnt have to eat it .. he got pretty skinny, nothing they tried worked ..they didnt want to scare him again thats how he got in the situation in the first place but aftger being so frustrated for so long his mother say ya know "M" u can get sick and go to the hospital from not eating too its not just drinking... he cried for a while but it definatley helped i mean he stil drank alot of fluids but definatley ate more.. although his eating habits were never completly "normal" after that he gained some weight and his eating improved but he still (even now) was a skinny kid.. i really think some kind of therapy would be the right answer.. im sure for ur daughter it was a traumatizing experience
This needs to be brought to the attention of a doctor. It could be a medical or a psychological issue, but I would only trust the advice of a doctor, not people on the internet.
Does your daughter give an explanation as to why she doesn't want to eat? How long has it been going on? She could have sores in her mouth or throat that make eating uncomfortable or any number of other things going on.
I hope you find a solution!
