no appetite

my three year old daughter was a 1 month preemie and has been in negative percentile of the growth chart since her birth. she weighed only 4 lbs at birth. she can talk fluently now. but she never feels hungry. doctor advised to got feeding clinic; didnt help. she used to vomit with almost every feeding when she was smaller. she is not gaining any weight in last one year and still on bottle. because otherwise she does not drink any liquid, we feed her milk with bottle when she is sleeping at night. because when she is awake she wont eat or drink. please advise...

[Renee Radenberg]

I just answered your last question, however, this is different circumstances altogether. Suggest giving Pedisure in place of milk at all times you give her a bottle and adding ice cream to make milkshakes for extra calories and protein. So if she is not eating the food then she will have the Pedisure milkshakes to give her the needed calories and protein for her to gain weight and grow. At the ‘feeding clinic’, had she been evaluated on how to chew food? Some children have to learn to chew. If not, then suggest getting her evaluated and start therapy so she starts to eat regular food.

[worriedmom210]

Thanks for your response. No, the feeding clinic did not evalute her eating, they said they don't work on children that keep spitting up so frequently. Is that true? We are planning another visit by end of May...We tried Pediasure earlier we thought 8 oz or a bottle is the daily max limit. And she didn't want the general milk (currently giving Horizon omega-3 DHA organic whole) when we introduced pediasure and was vomitting so much those days that we took her off from pediasure. But I will try it again. I have been giving her PolyViSol with iron, should I discontinue that when I give her pediasure? ...she sometimes likes ice cream but would take only couple of spoons. I am managing to give her one to a few spoons of white rice as dinner these days but takes about two hours to feed that. She would play and I have to distract her with stories, barney dvds etc. Thanks a lot for your advice.

[Renee Radenberg]

You can keep her on the PolyViSol while on the Pediasure, if she tolerates it. If she does not, then add ice cream to the milk that you give her now. That will give her additional nutrients, protein, calories, and fat that she would not normally get. Best of luck to you.