Hi,
Yeah, I'd love to find something better as a "filler" between meals. But I give her apples, sunflower seeds, almond slivers, garbanzo beans ( I think they contribute to her bloating/gas problem), etc. All of the ideas are great, except that a lot of them are not handy to walk around the house eating, or travel in the car with (I won't give her celery sticks, for example, as she puts so much in her mouth at one time that I am afraid she will choke). She eats rice cakes dipped in hummus, almond butter on everything, hard boiled eggs, etc. But if I give her egg, for example, she will be done with it in 5 min. Then she wants another one. Then another. If she wants 2 dozen in one day, do I just let her eat 2 dozen eggs? If she wants an entire pound of sunflower seeds in a day, do I let her have them? I just wanted something that she could feel like she could control, and eat, and always have with her, and feel like she will never run out. None of this is about HUNGER. She isn't hungry after the meals I give her. She really couldn't be, but she doesn't recognize that. She needs to learn it, and learn that she can stop when she's full and there will be more food at the next meal/snack time.
I don't know-I could be going about this all wrong. I'm giving her plentiful meals with all of the foods mentioned, but no matter how much I give her, or what types of food, she still wants to eat and not stop.
I'm going to try to upload a picture of her distended abdomen, which for a long time led me to believe she was hungry, or gluten intolerant, or lactose intolerant, or something else that would make her want to eat like this. But I wouldn't even know what kind of doctor to try now, because they have all said she doesn't have parasites. I took her off of gluten and dairy and peanuts in the hopes that it was contributing to the distended abdomen and the hunger. But it has been almost 2 months, and no change. I have spent $600 in the past 2 months on supplements (an excellent expensive probiotic, digestive enzymes, homeopathics for parasites, etc., etc.) And there is no change in her belly, although for a while it seemed like there was. So obviously the gluten and dairy are not the issue.
Her belly button looks weird because she has an umbilical hernia. And her stomach is about half this size in the morning, and swells up like this throughout the day. It is not fat, for the most part. It is hard, and looks terribly uncomfortable. How horrible is it that I wished she actually had parasites that would explain the swelling and the hunger. I still have in the back of my mind that I should take her for further testing for parasites, but I wouldn't know where to go since the doctor at the International Adoption Clinic said her tests were negative.
She is lethargic, apathetic, has a distended abdomen (but not the weight loss associated with parasites), irritable, etc. I'm at a loss, and I don't know where else to go or what else to try. I have exhausted all of my ideas, and I'm just trying to ignore the distended abdomen as a symptom and dealing with the hunger. But when she is also so lethargic, etc., I don't know what to believe.
By the way, she is almost 28 months old, and weighs 29 pounds and is 33 inches tall. No, she is not extremely overweight, but IS chubby. I have absolutely no problem with her being chubby, but when her extreme hunger is coupled with her other symptoms, I suspected there was something else going on She has risen from the 10th percentile in weight to the 50th (?) in the past year, while dropping from the 50th percentile in height to the 5th percentile. None of that seems right. She is ONLY gaining weight, but not growing.
There is the story in a nutshell.
Thanks for listening.
Oh mama, I wish I could give you a 1000000000 hugs and then send you out to your favorite coffee shop/restuarant with a good book while I watched your kids for a few hours!!!!
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