Feed refusers – strategies and options

Managing a feed refuser can be a tough assignment and quite exhausting work. And everyone has their bit of advice to give. Its made that bit more tricky with kids who are also allergic or intolerant to a variety of foods so please take all of these hints and tips with a grain of salt and consult your doctors / dieticians and other medical professionals with regard to new foods that might be an issue for your child. Please also take into consideration the developmental milestones of your child.

Chrissy and Evie’s Story

My daughter, Evie is 3 and a half years old. This is her (medical) story. Evie was born in June 2009. Right from the beginning it was a rocky start. My milk failed to come in adequately and she failed to gain weight. We had to give her formula or we would be staying in hospital. I battled on trying everything to increase supply and meanwhile, supplementing so that she gained weight. At about 5 weeks, she became VERY unhappy. She cried for almost every waking moment for 3 days. The only thing that stopped her crying that weekend was me breastfeeding her (although I think she was using me more as a dummy) and walking her around outside, talking to her and holding her very upright.

Tanya and Rachael’s story

We didn’t have a failure to thrive (FTT) baby, or a baby who needed to be hospitalised, however the first twelve months with our first child Rachael were the most difficult in my life. As everyone said parenting was hard, I just thought that it was normal to never be able to put your child down without them screaming, to scream inconsolably for hours and hours and to only sleep upright.

Trudi, Samuel, Millie, Patrick and Jorja’s story

Samuel projectiled his first ‘milk’ breastfeed onto the wall. I didn’t know what was happening but soon got used to the constant vomiting. He had several apnoeas in the first week, and began screaming. As a first time mother, I had no idea what had hit me. Sam thankfully slept most nights from sheer exhaustion but I struggled with the idea of routine; going out was difficult and I had extra cleaning as well.

We tried positioning/rocking, diet (off dairy but not soy), chiropractors, GPs, paediatricians and medications. I also joined a reflux support group. Sam improved dramatically at around twelve months; however, he still vomits and gags easily, gets car sick and dislikes milk products and raw vegetables/salads (tickling feeling in throat).