иконикухненски диваниSince going Gluten Free I have not had to be so careful with ZQ. He gained 15 pounds and grew 2inches and was happily eating. We also had switched to a mechanical tooth brush to help desensitise his mouth. Well first thing I forgot to pay attention to is the toothbrush, it ran out of batteries and when he went back to the normal kind I didn’t think anything of it. He slowed his eating about 4 weeks ago and I did my usual nagging but now I don’t shower/dress him didn’t realise there was too much to be concerned about. THEN he got the flu and gave up eating all together. I noticed he was really gaunt and when I put him on the scale at the Dr he was down 10 pounds!!! He should have been in hospital he was so underweight. He is now not even adverage for a 5 year old and he is 9!!! In a panic I have started force feeding him again to prevent having to have a feeding tube inserted. I hate this. It is such a painful experience force feeding a 9 year old having a full melt down, screaming and flailing his arms and gagging on the food you give him NO MATTER WHAT IT IS. I am forcing his protein smoothies into him too. Who ever heard of a kid fighting drinking an ice-cream smoothie??? Man he had a fit about ice-cream and cookies the other day!! This is nuts! Sigh. I am paying him $5 per pound he puts on and in 4 days we have gained a pound and maintianed it. The fact that he hasn’t put on more is kind of scary considering the ammount of calories I have forced down him. His body was definetly starting to eat itself!

I was so relieved when I reached out to the aspie group and discovered there were other 10 year old aspies with the same issues. One even has a feeding tube and still weighs the same as zq AND still fights eating.

Recently I was talking with Adam’s chef and metioned that she is so lucky that she can cook for people who appreciate it. Her response to me, “your children being fussy and not eating your food is your own doing” OMG!!! I am so sick of people being so quick to tell me that my child starving himself to death is somehow my fault! You are all so blessed that you have normal kids! News flash people, 1% of human children do not have a functioning hunger response and those who have physical swallowing complications on top of that CAN AND WILL starve themselves to death without intervention!! My 5 week old baby stopped eating for 24 hours!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOW WAS THAT MY FAULT????? Try forcing a boob/bottle into a tightly clamped 5 week old jaw THEN judge me!!!

I am so grateful that eq is somewhat normal when it comes to eating. His grandmother did make him go on a hunger strike when he was 5 because she said he was getting too fat but he listened to reason after a while. Aq however has similar issues to zq and has many aspie traits. So her too I often find myself forcing food in. Especially if she spends any time with the Grandmother telling her she weighs a tonne. She is 100% muscle from all her hours in the gym and yes she is solid but that is a good thing.

The last 2 weeks have been rough with worrying about zq and having the flu run through the family.

On a good note Zilla has been a wonderful addition to the family. She is especially good for zq. He is infactuated with her. 100% useless and awkward when it comes to caring for her but it is good for him to have practice in nurturing.

Ok off to sit with my sick boy and watch Merlin.