The heading should actually read 4 year old had surgery 2 years ago.

I just read about this online and have mixed feelings about it. Figured I would share.

http://www.foxnews.c...iatric-surgery/

4 year old had surgery 2 years ago.

JerseyGirl

OMG

the little one has to be monitored with his food intake, liquids, et al

parents must totally supervise such a youngun for many years

if they hopefully follow the proper rules..............

why couldn't they have done that before???

its not like "us" who have trouble eating out of control et al

in his case - his parents shouldn't have been feeding him so much

or did i miss some thing.............

was he born morbidly obese

hard situation for a yougon to have to continue for the rest of his life

then again.............

if he learns to eat/drink the way "we all" do

he won't realize that "normal" people usually eat more

????????????

kathy

Wow. Im curious how it will work out for him. With us, we personally have to eat slow, watch our drinking before/after meals, etc but in a childs case, the parents have to monitor all that which bears the question, what were they feeding him in the first place to get him to be so obese. He didnt exactly go to Burger King on his own. I hope they give an update in a few years.

Just read this article on Yahoo... I cannot imagine WLS on one that young. I was really taken aback by the mom who was (is?) getting sleeved with her teen in Mx.

http://health.yahoo.net/articles/obesity/obese-2-year-old-gets-weight-loss-surgery

It says he had surgery in 2010 and is now at a healthy weight/BMI with sleep apnea resolved.

Not a doctor, but I worked in metabolic physiology research labs for many years, and I disagree with this idea. Children grow. It takes enormous amounts of calories to grow, especially during times like puberty. Not to mention nobody has studied the potential long-term consequences of this surgery on children.

It's possible he had a genetic mutation that prevents his body from making the hormone leptin. If this is the case, injections of leptin would have been just as effective (if not more so) than any bariatric surgery.

Note: leptin injections are extremely effective for people that are truly leptin-deficient. The results are usually more robust than any weight-loss surgery. Turns out that most obese people actually do make leptin, so the shots wouldn't help most of us.

JerseyGirl

OMG

the little one has to be monitored with his food intake, liquids, et al

parents must totally supervise such a youngun for many years

if they hopefully follow the proper rules..............

why couldn't they have done that before???

its not like "us" who have trouble eating out of control et al

in his case - his parents shouldn't have been feeding him so much

or did i miss some thing.............

was he born morbidly obese

hard situation for a yougon to have to continue for the rest of his life

then again.............

if he learns to eat/drink the way "we all" do

he won't realize that "normal" people usually eat more

????????????

kathy

Yeah Aside from the "what the hell are these parent's thinking!!" initial feeling I had, the followup concerns me too. Vitamin deficiency mostly.

I read this on two different websites, one stated that he was born a normal weight. They could not tell if the parents followed the diet plan he was put on, but he gained 17lbs instead of losing. Maybe he'll learn better habits as far as portion control, but man, that is pretty severe for a two year old who cannot even voice what he is feeling and when. If the parents couldn't monitor him effectively, and yeah I blame the parents completely for this one, How will they post-op?. Hopefully someone stepped in to monitor him going forward. I'll be interested to see what happens years out too.

Unless he has a thyroid problem or is leptin-deficient (see my earlier post,) I'm also confused as to how his parents weren't able to restrict his eating. I'm sure it's tough to deny your child food when he's hungry, but certainly the parents would have known that it was in his best interests, from a health perspective, to restrict his calories.

Especially given how young he is/was, don't the parents basically call the shots about food then? I don't remember having much autonomy about what I ate until I was older....for the most part is was "eat what mom and dad put in front of you." As as a younger guy, I was fine because mom and dad only gave me reasonable portions of healthy food, plus I was growing, and that process requires an enormous amount of calories.

This is extreme but when his legs are bowing etc, perhaps it's better to sleeve this little guy. I have seen other programs where a 4 year old was always hungry due to some medical issue and would continue to eat, eat, and eat and they had to lock all the food up. Perhaps this is one of those cases. As for the parents.....my heart goes out to them....who knows.......

blame the parents completel

JerseyGirl

i totally agree!!!!

as OP said (me too earlier)

if parents "misfed" him before - let him eat whatever, fast foods too

but such a quantity for a kiddo i can't imagaine to weigh so much

curious if his parents are overweight??

its true - a 2 year old can't drive to kentucky fried chicken, taco bell et al

parents are responsible

unless there really is some sort of medical prob that allows him to keep gaining weight

if the parents step up to the "plate" .............

teach him all the rules, Water, portions etc. he has a chance

at his young age, if this lifestyle is instilled in him, that will be his new life (eating healthy and correct portions)

hope his recovery was ok

i don't know about this, some of us have problems with WLS - hope he didn't have vomitting issues et al

kathy

This article has a bit more info and whatnot. Beware of the comments tho. They are, as usual, brutal and full of a bad fattitude.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/20/living/parents-2-year-old-weight-loss-surgery/index.html?hpt=hp_bn11