From Katrina, Child's Age 10 - 01/23/01  Click here to reply  
My daughter has Brittle Bone disease and has gained alot of weight in the last two years. It is hard on her body as well as hard for her Dad and I to lift her. She is a very picky eater so it has been very hard to encourage her to eat healthy foods. She enjoys all of those high fat foods. What can I do to help her trim down? I have looked at the OI (my daughter's disability) page but did not really get any solid ideas. I really want to do something for her that our whole family can be involved in. She is 41" tall and weighs about 70lbs. It is really hard to know because we would need a wheelchair scale to weigh her very often. I have tried to find out what her calorie intake should be for a person her size but all of the charts are geered towards women 5' or taller. I spent several hours in the bookstore yesterday looking for something to help us. We are now trying to get our doctor involved in a weight loss plan hopfully they will not look at me like I'm crazy, because I am really afraid that this problem will become life threatening for my daughter before to long. It has already made her afraid to be moved because she is constantly in fear of being broken. Thanks for any help you might be able to give.
Reply from Sue, Child's Age 12 - 01/24/01 
Katrina,
For your particular problem the doctor is probably your best place to go for advice and you are already doing that. I agree with what you say about it being difficult to find calorie intakes for children under 5 foot tall. My daughter is about 4 foot 9 and I searched high and low to try and find out what her calorie intake should be. I really did need to know in order to plan her diet. I came upon a blank and just guessed in the end.
You say you want something that the whole family can become involved in. Well, why not all cut down on fats and high calorie foods? That is what we did in our house, although we only have one child so it was fairly easy to do. Also, there isn't the tempting stuff in the house. We found low calorie lollies and crisps and every week I fill the fridge with Weight Watchers meals. It sounds terribly lazy - and it is - but I am a working mum and she loves these foods and can eat them happy in the knowledge that they aren't fattening.
Are there any support groups for parents of brittle bone children? Maybe they could offer some advice. I hope this advice helps.