When Will Growth Go Back To Normal? Do All Kids Have Catch Up Growth?

[albauer94]

My 3 year old son was diagnosed with celiac at the beginning of May.  He went from 75th percentile in height and weight to the 10th percentile since he was around 18 months old.  Between 2 and 3 he only grew about 1.5 inches and actually lost a half pound.  Since his 3 year appointment in March until today at an appointment with his regular pediatrician, he has only grown 3/4 inch but gained 2 lbs.  She was pleased with the growth and weight gain but I guess as a mom, I'm still concerned.  He had a bone scan at 3 and it showed his bone age was an entire year behind.  I'm guessing this is a good thing since it means that he will most likely catch up to where his body is supposed to be?

 

Does catchup growth really happen?  He has been strictly gluten free for almost 3 1/2 months and we've only slipped up once or twice getting accidentally glutened by something that was supposed to be gluten free.  Am I just being paranoid and it's still to early to see a major difference in height?  He did go up a shoe size and by the looks of it, he will size up again within the next month or so.

[ravenwoodglass]

3/4 of an inch in a couple of months when he only grew 1.5 inches in a year sounds like not a bad spurt.  He hasn't been gluten free for very long and chances are good that he will catch up in time. Try not to worry too much as you caught celiac early but it will take some time for him to heal.

[albauer94]

Thanks.  I suppose I should think of it as only 3 months instead of 5 since he was not gluten free for the first two months and I'm sure he wasn't absorbing any nutrients.  And as much as it sucks that he was diagnosed with celiac at 3, you're right, I'm glad it wasn't five or ten years from now after it triggers who knows how many other problems.    Maybe I just expected a miracle overnight and need to get a bit more realistic and celebrate small victories

[africanqueen99]

My youngest was DX at 18 months.  When she went in for her 2 year check-up she hadn't grown yet.  At her 3 year check-up she had gained SIX POUNDS (!!!).  Her Ped said the average for that span should have been 3 pounds, but she is catching up.  I practically danced in the office.

 

Point of the story - it took 18 months to see that growth.

[absullivan6]

This post is so reassuring.  We are one year gluten free and while my almost three year old has grown, he's still incredibly small for his age.  He's noticeably smaller than his classmates and just wearing 2T stuff.  We go in for our one year appointment a week from today and I'm so anxious about it.  We did our bloodwork last Friday so hoping for great results and that his growth catches up.

[africanqueen99]

Oh, yeah, my kid is still small.  She's long and lean (just like her sister - and my body before the kids blew it out!).  She's now 3.5 and wears 18 mos shorts.  Still short, too.  Like I said, she's got a killer catch-up coming along.

[albauer94]

I feel better knowing that his growth is normal for a celiac child.  At his doctor's appointment this week for an unrelated matter, the growth chart height for weight came up that he is now in the 84th percentile for BMI and he is by no means even the least bit chunky other than his belly that has not quite gone away since going gluten free but it's about half the size as it was before and not rock hard anymore.  His doctor was confused with the chart and even said that it must not be right.  

 

He is definitely the smallest boy in his class and I'm not sure what to do with pants this winter.  This will be the third winter wearing 2t.  

[foam]

Catch up growth is a real thing but its something that happens strongly early on with kids that got low quaility/not enough breast milk or not enough sleep in the first 6 months. My son was below the 5th percentile from 2 months to 6 months but had huge growth once he started solids. At age 2 hes above average and continues to grow at a 100th percentile rate. Having said that he would have been bigger with a good start and weve been pretty excessive with his nutrition ever since. He ate at least one avocado aday from age 6 months to a year and eats eggs every mornig, he drinks  1 litre of goats milk now everyday. He wears size three tops at the moment, hes never eaten anything with dubious nutrition (grain free). So you can increase rate of growth(both parents are under average btw). But youll get less growth from an older child just because they are growing slower at that age. Still you have 17 years left to push his height so dont waste any meal.

[StephanieL]

Catch up growth is a real thing but its something that happens strongly early on with kids that got low quaility/not enough breast milk or not enough sleep in the first 6 months. 

 

Can you site this research?

I'm sure there are some children who fit this but we are speaking of Celiac disease here and kids under 6 months wouldn't have been getting a ton of gluten if any.  One of the reasons it is difficult to dx kids is because they don't typically have substantial damage at a young age.  

[mommida]

I just want to reassure you moms.

My daughter was diagnosed with "probable" Celiac when she was 16 months old.  (She was too sick for the endoscopy, One positive on the Celiac panel, positive for both DQ2 and DQ8 genes)  She went gluten free and her health improved and she was growing.

 

The fall she was turning 6 everything went bad. It seemed like glutening symptoms but worse.  She was getting pretty tiny again and was still wearing stretchy 2T shorts under her uniform romper.  She was diagnosed with Eosinophilic Esoophagitis and was put on an elimination diet for all top 8 allergens including peas.  She wouldn't drink the amino formula.  I don't know if you can really understand the panic of trying to feed her enough calories and nutritients let alone, but keep her growing too.

 

As soon as she healed, she was growing again!  She is 12 years old and taller than me.  In fact she is 5' 4" (average adult female height) 

 

Just focus on a healthy gluten free diet and let your child bloom into their body.