Question
My 7 year old son and his 9 year old sister were playing around while brushing teeth and somehow his tooth brush jammed into the side of his mouth. He needed oral surgery for a herniated buccal fat pad requiring three sutures and has been swollen and in pain. He is scared to eat and even when we force him he eats only very lil. He is drinking okay and peeing several times which leads me to believe he is not dehydrated but he’s definitely not eating enough to sustain life. He also seems so sad and doesn’t want to do things he normally loves like swimming and riding his scooter. I do feel bad because when it happened I was screaming at him and his sister to not play around and telling them that this is what happens when you don’t listen to o your mom and are playing around too much. He has missed almost a week of school due to this and is already behind the class on reading. We took him back to the surgeon who said the wound has healed and he should be eating normally with lil to no pain. It still does look a little swollen and he’s said the muscles surrounding the area feel stiff. We also had him see his PCP who said that he needs to go back to normal life and not to baby him or let him lay around all day. He is already very thin but lost 4 lbs in 5 days. We had him go back to school only to end up going to the health room two times that day. His teacher said he didn’t do much work and kept putting his head on the desk. His pediatrician was adamant about him being brave and eating and staying at a school all day. It’s the weekend now and he played well at his soccer game but refused to eat much after. I don’t know how he can get by on so lil food and worry he is going into a depression and could potentially starve himself to death. How do I get him to eat properly? We follow up with the oral surgeon again on Tuesday. Any suggestions to get him to eat and out of this funk? I want my happy, sweet boy back!
