can a 2 yr old have an eating disorder?

amother

Sun, Oct 07 2007, 4:47 pm

My son just doesnt eat. When he was 1 1/2 he was weighed and found to be 26 pounds. When he was 2 he was still 26 pounds. They (nurses) werent worried because at least he didnt lose weight and he's still in the 50th % (while up until then he was at the top of the charts). He is so so so skinny and doesnt eat AT ALL. If I can get him to eat a handful of anything the whole day it is a lot. I sometimes think maybe I am not organized enough about my meals but let's say Fri night I had: soup, salad, shepard's pie, potato kugel, eggplant kugel, stringbeans. What does he eat? a few croutons.
When he sees me making a meal he tries to get a snack out of me bc that will be enough to tide him over without eating the meal. So I dont give into it. Yet there are times I do give in... LIke I start making dinner and he didnt eat all day and he is starving. You could tell bc he is throwing fits and it's a clear sign of hunger. I dont want to make him wait 45 min if he is soooo hungry. I know it's not good of me to give into.
But anyway what worries me is once in a while when he eats, he packs it in... like the other day he was eating grapes. He stuffed it in his mouth and then of course chokes and spits it all out. Ok that makes sense. But today he ate a ton of ...croutons again (all I can get him to eat is carbs). And then he threw it up. It doesnt happen often but it already happened at least 3 times that he has thrown up food.
I will take him to the dr but any advice?
I have tried reverse psychology: "oh dont eat my kugel." Doesnt help. I have tried "should imma eat that, or you?" He'll say Imma should. I've tried just making food and putting it down. He wont eat it. I have tried telling him he must eat before playing. No go.
HELP!!!! He is skin and bones. I cant get his pants to stay up. Even with a belt they fall down!!

HooRYou

Sun, Oct 07 2007, 4:57 pm

I don't have any really specific advise but I do know someone who had a similarly aged child with a similar problem and they worked with someone (sorry, can't remember if it was a nutritionist or some kind of therapist) who put the child on a strict eating schedule. Much like you said there were no snacks but probably a lot more than 3 square meal opportunities a day. I think they also had planned what a meal woud be so that it wouldn't just be croutons or grapes.

Defintiely take him to a really good and sensitive Dr since while it could be nothing it could also be something that is a lot harder to diagnose in a toddler like acid reflux that makes him feel bad or get sick when he eats.

Hatzlacha!

shoshb

Sun, Oct 07 2007, 5:44 pm

My guess is that the answer to your original question is "no". But the groundwork can certainly be laid for eating disorsers later in life.

First and foremost, I would rule out a physiological problem. Take him to a GI specialist, and have him completely worked up.

Once you are certain he has no digestive or other problems, I would say this. 2-year olds are notorious for being "control freaks". That is why they tantrum on the supermarket floor, and can be so challenging to toilet train. They are in control of very few things in their little lives, but one of them is food. And boy is he getting a reaction out of you!!!

I would have an abundant supply of healthy food available, and offer it to him casually throughout the day. At 2, I don't think he needs to stick to rigid mealtimes, but others may disagree. I would not expect him to "finish the plate". Don't worry, he's not going to eat croutons for the rest of his life.

Oh, and one more thing. Is he drinking bottles? How many per day? I have seen many parents complain their children are not eating, only to discover that the kids are getting 6-8 bottles a day, and are legitimately not hungry!!!

amother

Mon, Oct 08 2007, 4:16 am

green-
It could be he is picky but it's to an extreme. Like we ate at someone's house last night. They had soup, roast beef, chicken, corn, a zucchini and mushroom dish, salad. What did he eat? Only a little bit of corn after a lot of coaxing. And we were happy he ate even that!
The throwing up is also what got me concerned enough to think about going to the dr. But it is very rare. Like it happened yesterday, I think it happened about 4 months ago and one other time before that.
Why not give him something earlier- I do but he doesnt take it. he just decides when he sees me making a meal that he wants a snack. And then all of a sudden he is starving and throwing tantrums bc of it. I do offer throughout the day.

HooRYou-
Anyone who tries to tell my son what to do can be sure he wont do it. He simply wont eat - forget about what someone tells him or what diet they put him on. He wont have a problem literally not eating. I dont plan for a meal to be croutons or grapes either. But the fact is that I have to have my own normal meals and when I have salad or soup on the table I also have croutons (and if I dont then he just wont eat anything) and sometimes grapes for desert. Grapes are surely not unhealthy. So why not have them on my table? I cant do anything that that is the one thing he agrees to eat.
I do plan on taking him to the dr. I just dread it bc I know he'll send us for blood tests and my son will go wild. He doesnt seem to get sick in general from eating. He will say no before he ever tasted a food, or if he doesnt like the texture etc.

shoshb-
I dont think I am going the GI route. They'll do who knows what to him - snake this tube in and that tube and since I dont see indications that it has to do with that I dont see why I would put him through all of that. If a regular dr sees some inidication and can show me reason for concern I would think about it. I think it's extreme to have a full work up like that.

He is challenging and a control freak but with other things we know how his mind works and know how to deal with it (note - he is 2 yrs and 2 months, and toilet trained).

I can assure you I dont expect him (or any kid his age) to finish his plate. Starting it would be nice!!
And no, he has been off all bottles for well over 1/2 yr.

HindaRochel

Mon, Oct 08 2007, 6:06 am

amother wrote:

Take him to your doctor and have a through check up. Get your pedeitrician to recommend a good child psychologist.

Till then. Make healthy snack food, or leave out healthy snack food; pretzels, crackers, grapes, pudding, ice cream (yes pudding and ice cream can be healthy, stick with the whole milk pudding you make yourself, in terms of ice cream, go for whole milk, sugar and not a lot of anything else). It should be a for everyone type of thing. Get some for yourself and if he asks give him. Don't worry about times etc. Don't coax him to eat, don't make a production of it at all. Don't set the food down surreptitiously, just set it down take some, enjoy. Take a bowl of ice cream and ask "want some?" casual as you can...if he doesn't shrug and don't say anything else, don't talk about how good it is or anything. Have others over that you can offer food to...ask "Who wants?" but don't ask anyone specific... maybe set up a play date and offer fun treats.

Have him help you make food. Let him snack while you are cooking...slices of cucumber, a piece of cheese. Taste test the food in front of him and offer him a taste as well.

He might need a lot of little small meals rather than three big meals.

I think the measure is one tablespoon of food per each year of age.

drumjj

Mon, Oct 08 2007, 6:36 am

hi I watched a program on tv about children that are like ur son that are very picky and hardly eat anything and the pyscologist bribed them like if u eat this I will give u a sticker and everyone clapped and made them feel like they had done an amazing thing and if u have a bit of this say a few bites then u will get what u want ie a few croutons ive seen amazing results with this maybe its something to try with him. about the throwing up thing my daughter does that sometimes she eats and eats and then eats one more thing too much and then throws up and then is fine afterwards and it happens every few months. but def meal times are important and having proper food. do u have any other kids. its important to sit at the table together with him dont pressure him too much but try what I said above. you cant lose anything by trying. good luck

amother

Mon, Oct 08 2007, 10:14 am

to the OP.........
I know that you're not too crazy about the idea of taking him for a GI workup, but maybe you should consider it. I really could have written this post. my son is EXACTLY the same age as your son, and by the time he was a year and a half, he literally refused to eat anything. I mean literally nothing. he never drank a bottle and had weaned himself from nursing. he did have reflux, and everytime I tried to feed him something he would vomit. it got to the point where he literally refused all food. nevermind the fact that he was only 12 pounds at a year and a half.......we took him to get bloodwork and his body was pretty much shutting down. his malnutrition led him to become severely anemic, and his liver was failing him due to malnutrition. he wasn't crawling, wasn't saying any words, pretty much had no energy at all. the only choice was to put a tube in him and have him be tube fed, which he still is to this day. since then, he has gainedaround 15 pounds, has started walking, his development has progressed so so so much, and he's so much happier and full of life. he still won't eat a thing by mouth and still has a whole host of other issues which Gd willing will be worked out soon......but it just needed to be done. now your son seems like he's developing just fine, so I'm guessing his issues are not as severe as my son's are, but it wouldn't hurt to go to a GI and see of he maybe has some reflux, which is making eating uncomfortable for him and therefore he refuses to eat. also, you might want to consider getting some blood work done, because when I saw how severely malnourished and ill my son had gotten, I was completely beside myself. I'm not saying that they're going to put tubes in him, but if he has any vitamin or nutrient deficiencies, maybe the GI could give you tips on how to fix that and even put you in touch with a nutritionist.
anyway sorry for the long post......didn't mean to scare you.......but just to be on the safe side, please just check things out. I know your son will hate it, but us mothers gotta do what's best.
hatzlocha rabba