My DS is bearly eating at all

[Guest guest]

Dear Parents,

As you may remember I joined the group recently and at the time I said I am

having a few challenges for which I was looking for help and support. Here is

the first and the most stressful one.

My 14-year old son, ADHD & NVLD, with a full developmental assessment scheduled

for February that will most likely confirm the AS diagnosis, has a hard time

eating. He was always a picky eater, but in the last year this has developed

into something that drives me for therapy. Our paediatrician does not seem to be

too concerned, despite the fact that is below the 0% line on that chart

that doctors use to keep track of the children’s physical development. is

about 5% below the 0% line for both his weight and his height. The dr. says that

as long as the two of them are in sync I shouldn’t be concerned.

With it all comes down to his ability to swallow. It seems to me that he

has some kind of mental blockage that doesn’t allow him to send the food down

his pipe. He chews the food forever but simply refuses to swallow. I had him

checked by and ENT doctor and they could not find anything wrong with him, so it

has to be mental. I took him to two different psychologists but they could not

figure out what is wrong.

takes Adderall 15 mg for his attention issues. As you all know, this drug

cuts your appetite, so this could be a reason why he doesn’t eat as well.

Usually, in the summer vacation and the winter vacation, I give him a drug

holiday and with that I see his appetite returning. Now the school started again

and he needed to go back on meds, with all the side effects that come from here.

I should also mention that he refuses to eat foods that are too chewy. Even some

textures are making him refuse the food. For example, the peel from peppers and

tomatoes will make him spit the food out of his mouth. Fruits are another food

group that is a struggle to put in his organism. Again, there are consequences

from here. He gets constipated all the time and to fix that he needs to take a

daily dosage of MiraLAX, a stool-softener that helps him.

Both my fiancée and I are coming from families that love food. My fiancée is a

foodie and she always tries to cook the most incredible meals in the hope that

may eat better. It’s really disheartening to see him throwing all sorts

of tantrums over a little bit or red pepper peel, after we worked all day to

prepare the food. And going out to a restaurant with him is the worst imaginable

experience. He takes forever to eat and most of the time he barely touches one

quarter of the plate in front of him. I have to smaller kids that are OK and

they eat like normal kids do. Is that challenges us on a daily basis. In

all honesty, I am running out of ideas on what else to try with him. I am deeply

concerned with his physical development. He is 14 but when I buy him cloths I go

for size 12 and even those are sometimes too big.

Is anyone else on this amazing group of people that deals or dealt with the same

kind of problems? Can you guys share some ideas on what else I should try to get

my son to eat and not hinder his development in such a destructive way?

All the best,

Eddie

PS: This message was sent to two different groups, so I apologize in advance if

you received it twice.