Swelling & Not eating

We are currently in the hospital with our 13 month old daughter who has been previously diagnosed with Failure to Thrive. They aren't  sure why she has this and she's been in and out of the doctor offices for the past two months. Yesterday we went to her GI, and we explained she is refusing to eat and/or drink (again) and is now beginning to swell, then de-swell and swell again. She's a very thin child who normally doesn't have any rolls, when she swells she ends up with rolls EVERYWHERE. The swelling isn't local, but more predominant in her legs and feet. They aren't sure what is going on. She's miserable, and doesn't stop whinning. She also has a moderate sized ASD (hole in heart) with right valve dilation which will need to be eventually closed. Any ideas what could cause the swelling, and not eating?

[sweetpea03]

Swelling in that location tends to be from kidney problems. Have they looked at the kidneys or liver?

[zazou]

I'm sorry to hear that about your girl. Are there any other problems in your families? How was the pregnancy? Uncomplicated? Was your daughter born prematurely? Swelling does occur in FTT, that is one symptom. My husbands nephew was FTT (stature, weight) and then last year he had a growth spurt. My daughter was a fussy eater and lost / didn't gain weight, but that was due to teethig, being mobile. In order to stimulate her appetite, when I was at home in Sydney Australia, I started giving her something called Incremin, it is a cherry flavoured iron supplement which stimulates the appetite. I ordered some more about 6 weeks ago as it worked on my husbands nephew (although I think he is just small in stature) and he is eating better and so is my daughter.

Try and give that a go. An appetite stimulant might not be a bad idea (I also took it as a child, I was a fussy eater).

[Heathmcmi]

They've checked both liver and kidneys and levels have come back normal, which leads them to be stumped...again.

There are SO many problems in our family ranging from cancer, diabetes, thyroid, heart disease, you name it someone has had it! My pregnancy was rarely normal with a bout of a stomach thing they never diagnosed.

They found out the not eating may be caused by a hernia in her esophagus and mulitple ulcers in her small intestine and possibly further down as well. She's on two anti-acidds right now which seems to slightly help. They're still looking into the swelling though. (i hope)

[zazou]

I guess it's a waiting game, they will probably treat the hernia and ulcers and it will slowly and hopefully get better after that. Good luck.