boanerges1989
New member
(I also posted on r/askdocs)
My 12.5-month-old daughter has a gross motor delay (as per the pediatrician) without diagnosis, and a poor appetite.
She was about 1.5 months late to hit each of these milestones: late to roll, crawl, and stand. She stands with support now and just started cruising occasionally along furniture. Whilst she can climb the stairs, she only uses her right foot to push up. Her pediatrician insists on just taking her to physiotherapy and stated she has the delay. I’ve taken her to 3 different physiotherapists. The last one recently said that my daughter is less strong on her left side, and has tension on the right side of her body… she just wants us to do exercises at home to try to strengthen her left side so that she utilizes both sides of her body equally. So far there is lots of resistance with the exercises, and as soon as I’m not doing them with her she reverts back to using mostly the right side. What could the cause be of this? No professional will give me any idea as to a cause or potential issues in the future. Let alone any potential diagnosis.
The second major issue is her appetite. She was born with mouth ties (that were treated) and a poor latch. She has always been tall and thin, and never underweight but always just at the cusp of what is considered “normal” or acceptable for her age. She gains weight very slowly. She refused formula and/or the bottle at 4 months so I couldn’t even top up her feeds anymore.
At around 6 months she started taking teaspoons of food but would turn her head in refusal. By 7.5 months she maybe ate about 1 tablespoon of food per meal. By 9 months there was a slow increase in the amount she would eat, but I had to offer a lot of variety for each meal, presenting her with 5 options so she could only take 1-3 bites of each. Also at 8.5 months I introduced finger foods which took her months to actually eat on her own. By 11 months she’d take a few bites with her hands. All this to say, she eats way under the recommended amount of food per meal for her age. The pediatrician and people at the health food store keep telling me this is “fine” and “normal” but this is starting to seriously worry me. So she isn’t losing weight, but she is not chubby and calm, either. Meal times are rarely happy times for her. Often screaming angrily and throwing the food at the floor, not liking her hands to be dirty, and yet she seems hungry. She does not have a favourite food that she’ll eat any time I offer it. She likes eggs, homemade broth, homemade chicken nuggets, pork ribs, fresh fruit, baby rice crackers, pastas, the occasional steamed veg and the occasional pureed fruit pack, of which she’ll eat half of on a good day… but like I said, she’ll take maybe 10 bites of these foods at most on a really good day. 10 bites being the entire meal. 1/3 of meals per day she eats “decently” (10 bites or so). 2/3 meals per day she has 3 bites of food and it’s over. If I present the same food that she liked more than twice in 2 days she refuses to even have 1 bite of them until a week or so goes by. Yogurt was her favourite at around 8 months, and a month later she literally cries if I try to give her yogurt. She hates it.
She has dark circles under her eyes. Her pediatrician said to not breastfeed her 1-3 hours before each meal, which I have followed since she was 8 months old. Still no real improvement. People at the health-food store do not suggest to give her an appetite boosting syrup.
Could there be a link between the gross motor delay and her poor appetite? What other professional is worth going to see over this? Could there be a medical issue? Should I push for certain testing/bloodwork? Could this be a sensory issue?
For genetic context: I have unexplained severe iron deficiency, and vitamin D deficiency, as well as possible sjogren’s disease. I also have a leg that is 1 cm shorter than the other. My husband is probably lactose intolerant, but never tested for it.
I know people are trying to be kind and telling me everything is fine, but these issues are definitely not typical, nor a good sign (especially the lack of equal strength on both sides of her body). Thank you tremendously for your opinions.
My 12.5-month-old daughter has a gross motor delay (as per the pediatrician) without diagnosis, and a poor appetite.
She was about 1.5 months late to hit each of these milestones: late to roll, crawl, and stand. She stands with support now and just started cruising occasionally along furniture. Whilst she can climb the stairs, she only uses her right foot to push up. Her pediatrician insists on just taking her to physiotherapy and stated she has the delay. I’ve taken her to 3 different physiotherapists. The last one recently said that my daughter is less strong on her left side, and has tension on the right side of her body… she just wants us to do exercises at home to try to strengthen her left side so that she utilizes both sides of her body equally. So far there is lots of resistance with the exercises, and as soon as I’m not doing them with her she reverts back to using mostly the right side. What could the cause be of this? No professional will give me any idea as to a cause or potential issues in the future. Let alone any potential diagnosis.
The second major issue is her appetite. She was born with mouth ties (that were treated) and a poor latch. She has always been tall and thin, and never underweight but always just at the cusp of what is considered “normal” or acceptable for her age. She gains weight very slowly. She refused formula and/or the bottle at 4 months so I couldn’t even top up her feeds anymore.
At around 6 months she started taking teaspoons of food but would turn her head in refusal. By 7.5 months she maybe ate about 1 tablespoon of food per meal. By 9 months there was a slow increase in the amount she would eat, but I had to offer a lot of variety for each meal, presenting her with 5 options so she could only take 1-3 bites of each. Also at 8.5 months I introduced finger foods which took her months to actually eat on her own. By 11 months she’d take a few bites with her hands. All this to say, she eats way under the recommended amount of food per meal for her age. The pediatrician and people at the health food store keep telling me this is “fine” and “normal” but this is starting to seriously worry me. So she isn’t losing weight, but she is not chubby and calm, either. Meal times are rarely happy times for her. Often screaming angrily and throwing the food at the floor, not liking her hands to be dirty, and yet she seems hungry. She does not have a favourite food that she’ll eat any time I offer it. She likes eggs, homemade broth, homemade chicken nuggets, pork ribs, fresh fruit, baby rice crackers, pastas, the occasional steamed veg and the occasional pureed fruit pack, of which she’ll eat half of on a good day… but like I said, she’ll take maybe 10 bites of these foods at most on a really good day. 10 bites being the entire meal. 1/3 of meals per day she eats “decently” (10 bites or so). 2/3 meals per day she has 3 bites of food and it’s over. If I present the same food that she liked more than twice in 2 days she refuses to even have 1 bite of them until a week or so goes by. Yogurt was her favourite at around 8 months, and a month later she literally cries if I try to give her yogurt. She hates it.
She has dark circles under her eyes. Her pediatrician said to not breastfeed her 1-3 hours before each meal, which I have followed since she was 8 months old. Still no real improvement. People at the health-food store do not suggest to give her an appetite boosting syrup.
Could there be a link between the gross motor delay and her poor appetite? What other professional is worth going to see over this? Could there be a medical issue? Should I push for certain testing/bloodwork? Could this be a sensory issue?
For genetic context: I have unexplained severe iron deficiency, and vitamin D deficiency, as well as possible sjogren’s disease. I also have a leg that is 1 cm shorter than the other. My husband is probably lactose intolerant, but never tested for it.
I know people are trying to be kind and telling me everything is fine, but these issues are definitely not typical, nor a good sign (especially the lack of equal strength on both sides of her body). Thank you tremendously for your opinions.