Failure to thrive babies

My son was very tiny to the point they were thinking of giving him steroid shots, and we had to give him protein shakes all the time. He ended up having a parasite….. once that was cleared he was perfect. He’s now 12 years old and already 5’7 180lbs. I know it’s scary, but please try to stay positive. ❤️❤️❤️

Try lots of healthy fats. Avacado, peanut butter, etc, it will cause healthy weight gain and those healthy fats are also healthy for the brain. If he won’t eat it try mixing it in milk in a sippy or making a smoothie :)

Have you spoken with your pediatrician about supplemental nutrition, like toddler formula/Pediasure? Sometimes that can be helpful for weight gain, especially super picky toddlers - but I wouldn’t start anything until you speak with the pediatrician first! If the labs don’t give any answers, you could ask for a referral to a GI doctor and/or nutritionist and they may be able to give more advice. I know how stressful it is, one of my kids was very tiny (less than 10th percentile) for ~2 years and has finally settled more in the 20-25th percentile range. Sending you a virtual hug!

Ayden has remained relatively small. At his 15 months visit he was 19 pounds 1.8 ounces. He's always been small in height and weight. Though he started out long and seems long torso/long boy relatively. Focus on feeding proteins and lots of healthy fats.

He's not been picky actually aside from occasionally. He's just small, my son I mean . But he's always been small overall

@Alyson ohhh myyy goodnesss! How did you find out? In the US (and other developed nations), doctors never think of parasites!

@Kassia I kept noticing he would hold his tummy every time he ate. He couldn’t talk yet so he couldn’t tell me, I just picked up on the cues that he was in pain. I didn’t think any thing of it at first because he is sensitive to dairy. Then one day he went #2 and there was blood. So I took him right to the doctor and that’s when they did a fecal test

When my older kids were younger I had to use pedasure for them to gain weight now they only weight 57 and 67 lbs and are 10 and 11 my youngest is 4 and weights 45lbs all my kids are tiny but the doctor say they are ok for their weight

@Alyson oh my goodness! That’s wild. I’m glad he is ok

@Kassia what’s even crazier is we lived in NJ at the time and the parasite that came back “thrives in a humid hot environment” so they asked if we traveled.. we didn’t. Then they tried to blame my dog, my dog was clear. Turns out he got it in preschool, a child there traveled and got the same thing. Next day, I was a SAHM!

@Alyson crazy!! I’m going to keep this in mind when my child interacts with others 😭🤣 What did you give him to treat it? Ivermectin?

@Kassia to be honest I can’t remember, my son is 12 now and he was roughly 2-3 when this happened. I do remember having to keep bringing poo in to be tested for a couple weeks, that was pleasant 🤣