another tiny babe

[firegypsy]

I am very frustrated. Selkie is 15 months old and dropped below 5th percent on the growth charts. She's still meeting developmental milestones but everyone is VERY concerned about her. She just doesn't want to eat. A vegan diet isn't the issue because she doesn't want food AT ALL. I am super lucky if I can get a chik'n nugget into her. She'll occassionally eat two or three olives, maybe a bite of avacado. I can sometimes get her to eat blueberries. Sometimes a bite or two of noodles. I make smoothies that have coconut oil and cocnut milk as well as almond butter in them. My son loves them, but she won't touch them. I have supplemented her with b-12, zinc, iron (floradix) and essential fatty acids. She has a rash that suggests food allergies may be a very real problem...and her stools are black and oily. We got a blood draw to test for gluten intolerance which is the likely culprit. It will also test for dairy, which she doesn't get anyway so that's not really an issue. I was bullied into giving her cheese for a week by my ped who is a complete jerk and diagnosed her with failure to thrive. I was scared, but she didn't do well on dairy anyhow. Any experiences with this? How do I raise a gluten -free vegan baby? I feel very overwhelmed and out of my element. I have only been vegan for eight months now myself. I'm well read but feel stuck in a rut. Any help would be appreciated.

[Zoesmama]

I have a friend whos son was the same. He wouldn't eat food until about age 3. He only wanted to nurse. His dr. also said failure to thrive. He has sense been diagnoised with Autism but he is also on gluten-dairy free diet. Its rough from what she says but it is easy to get in a rut with those foods since you are sooo careful and its hard to find gluten free stuff at times.


Could it possibly be allergic reaction to the almonds? Or has that been given enough to know.

My dd also gets rash from dairy. No problem with gluten but dairy is issue for her.


Do you give soy milk or almond milk? Why was he pusing cheese? Lack of milk? or what?

[firegypsy]

Our LC said that she felt if we had chosen to vax she probably would be on the autism spectrum. We didn't, and it's just one more reason IMO not to. I think the dairy was more about the fat, and I have tried almond and rice milk, but she won't drink anything but water. Thank god she still nurses.

[Zoesmama]

Dr.'s can be clueless at times.

have you tired soy yogurt? My dd likes it but then again she doesn't mind soy milk either. She was breastfed nearly 99% until 10 months then refused to. I wish she had went longer. :( She was on soy formula until 12 months when I switched her to soy milk. DH was giving her soy formula when I was working when I didn't have enough bm pumped.

I think your doing what you can many toddlers don't want to eat and often even less in summer when its hot.

Its rough my dd ate lots of fruit and veggies but also like her cheerios. Multigrain are her favorite ones.

[vegma]

Thank goodness your babe IS still nursing! Definitely make sure you're still offering regularly if she slacks off at all! I've heard of other babies with food allergies that refused food. Its actually a good thing (as long as she's nursing!). I can't remember if www.kellymom.com addresses this or not, but its generally a good resource on breastfeeding, etc.

As for vegan and gluten-free, we are/were. I put it that way because we did a gf trial for several months. Ds and dh are back on limited gluten, but I continue to be gf. Its really not that hard once you get into the mindset. Whole grain brown rice, millet, cornmeal, quinoa, amaranath, and buckwheat are all healthy grains that are allowed on a gf diet. If you have specific questions, I'd be happy to help.:)

If the tests don't come back with a gluten sensitivity, you might want to try an elimination diet (you and baby) to track down the offending food(s).

[xmysticprincessx]

how about trying a second opinion from another doctor? are there any holistic doctors in the area? or one who has similar beliefs to yours (ie, vegan, non vax, extended bf)? check out the mothering.com discussion boards (finding your tribe) for a dr recommendation in the area.
i would do this asap to be sure there isnt a serious problem.

[firegypsy]

We did switch pediatricians and are doing food allergy testing. She said that Selkie looks like a classic celiac baby-so we're waiting on that. She has already been tested for several things. We are also working closely with an intuitive healer who is a PT (who does craniosacral therapy) and a homeopath. I just get so worried that she doesn't want to eat at all! Just wondering if anyone else has gone through this.

[xmysticprincessx]

maybe if your daughter is a celiac, then she might be afraid to eat, thinking that she sometimes gets sick when she eats but she never gets sick when she nurses.

[firegypsy]

That's what we're currently thinking. You're good!