Re: Safe weight Gain
Desigirl, I put in a call to my doc but I actually started giving him 10 mg zinc a day...I read in many places that this is a safe extra amount for a child his age so I just went ahead. We should (fingers crossed) see improvement in about 10 weeks. But once doc calls back with the extra OK, I'll post again.
LOOOOOOOONG story with my boy. He never ate well from the day he was born. He was full-term but like a preemie - even in-utero he always measured behind. At age 2, he was FINALLY diagnosed with GERD and gastroparesis (delayed gastric emptying which makes you always feel full). He has some learning delays and autistic tendencies and sensory issues - which are mostly oral. Poor thing - eating has been a negative experience for him since the day he was born and rather than look at HIM and what might be wrong, the docs always looked at ME and what I might be doing wrong. Anyway, at age 6, he was further diagnosed with a long-term infection of Giardia - an intestinal parasite which causes weight loss, loss of appetite, fat malabsorbsion, nausea. That was a year ago and he HAS been putting on weight a LITTLE more easily and eating a LITTLE more willingly. He is now at 19th percentile for weight (previously 3rd or lower) and has always been at 25th percentile for height - so he IS doing so much better. But still very thin and still pretty averse to eating, he only eats to make me proud of him, never because he WANTS to eat. I'm hopeful that the Zinc will help him want to eat cause he WANTS to eat!