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Lisa,... i know throwing up concerns me too. I have.... talked to his doctor and he did have an upper GI test to check things out. The test showed ok but the doctor does suspect something to do with the flap going down to his stomach. He is hoping he will grow out of it as he grows. There is a surgery that can be done but he is hoping it will settle in time. Hence why i don't "push" him when i know the gag thing is going to happen
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I think what you are talking about is gastric reflux and I understand that one well. My youngest daughter had it pretty bad until she started walking well (projectile spit ups and all) but even then it persisted until she was about 3. The doctor said not to worry too much about it since she was obviously keeping enough down to gain weight on (your son, too). I do hope he mentioned to you to avoid anything with red dye in it since it is a muscle relaxant and will make reflux much worse.
Having said that, reflux is a very different issue from gagging on a food that you don't like (either because of taste or texture). One has a physical cause and the other has a psychological cause. The
type of food you eat doesn't have a great impact on reflux so I wonder if this is ever a problem with foods that he likes? Another thought, and you would be the best person to judge whether this may be a factor or not; is it possible that you son uses vomiting to "punish" you for making him eat something that he would rather not? Kids are a lot more wiley than we often give them credit for and it doesn't take them long to figure out what will get them out of doing something they don't want to do. It may be that your son has figured out that if he makes himself gag and vomit, it gets him the foods he wants and gets him out of eating the foods that he doesn't want; it's a form of manipulation. Of course, that may not be the case but it's something to consider.
Regarding cutting the carbs. If you want to do it gradually, try making only one or two changes a week and try to give your son some choice in what that change will be. Maintain each change when you make the next one. If you can get him to participate, the chances of making those changes permanent will be much greater than if you simply dictate them and definitely explain in a way that your son can understand why it's important for him to make these changes.
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But tell me how you say to a child... "your not going to eat at that birthday party at mcdonalds like the other kids"?........... or tell me how you say on hot dog day and pizza day at school you are going to have chicken salad and celery?...... It centers a kid out even more when they can't be like the other kids. It is unfortunate that some motabolizums (sp) can handle it and some cant. Summer is coming and the neighbour hood children are playing outside and moms give freezies etc... again No you cant have that?...... it is not me constantly giving him those things. It is school and friends that don't see the problem as they have average weight kids who even if they do eat that stuff don't gain.
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You know, juzame, as much as we sometimes don't like it, it's our job as a parent to sometimes have to be the bad guy and tell our children, "I'm not going to allow that this time because it's not a good choice for you and it's my job to help you make good choices until you are old enough and mature enough to make them for yourself." This doesn't mean that you have to say no all the time, but neither does it mean that you are a bad parent if you sometimes do say no regardless of the tantrum that the child throws and it especially means that you are not required to always say yes to whatever it is that your child wants.
I let my kids get pizza on pizza day, but that doesn't mean I have to allow them to get 3 pieces when 1 with sending along a healthy side will do.
Same things with birthday parties at McDonald's or Chucky Cheeze. I'm sure you son isn't invited to a birthday party every week, so if he is making healthy choices the rest of the time, it makes saying yes to the party (and allowing him to have whatever he wants) a lot easier.
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tell me how you say on hot dog day and pizza day at school you are going to have chicken salad and celery?......
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It may be different with boys, but when I switched my girls over to eating lower carb, a lot of the kids commented on how lucky they were to get such yummy lunches and often tried to trade the junk that they had for the healthy stuff my girls had...like fruit, yogurt, sugar-free jello, sugar-free pudding, nuts, pepperoni slices, carrots with a cup of ranch dressing to dip in, etc...
I still make them sandwiches, but use "light" bread (7 grams of carb per slice instead of 14). Yes, it made them stand out and the other kids noticed, but instead of teasing them, they were wanting what
my kids had.
It isn't necessary (or even advisable really) to put very young children on very low levels of carb, so he won't necessarily be relegated to chicken salad and celery for lunches. There are a lot of lower carb options out there that he may find he likes.