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


albauer94

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albauer94 Apprentice

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.


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ravenwoodglass Mentor

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 Apprentice

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 Contributor

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 Rookie

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 Contributor

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 Apprentice

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.  


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  • 1 month later...
foam Apprentice

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 Enthusiast

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 Enthusiast

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.

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Is it realistically safe to eat food my mom cooks, if we get separate pans/ and boards even if gluten is still used in the same kitchen? There will always be low risk of cc chances like that she will still touch stuff that was touched by her and my siblings after they ate gluten. And as there are gluten eaters in the house and she also prepares and eats gluten. So would opening the fridge then getting the food and touching the food be okay? So basically what i am doing, washing my hands multiple times while preparing food, she would only wash it once before, then touch anything else (for example water tap or handles) that were touched with gluteny hands, then also touch the food. I dont know if I ever could feel safe, I could try telling her how important cc really is. And I trust her so she wouldnt lie to me then be careless about cc, but idk how safe it really can be if she and everyone else keeps eating gluten and touching stuff in the house after eating. 2. Do I need to worry about touching doorknobs, fridge handles, light switches, etc. that family members touched after eating gluten? What about public places like bus handles or school desks? Or like if i went to the gym, I would be touching stuff all the time, so there will be small amounts of gluten and those would get transferred on my phone if I touch my phone while in the gym. But I want to knos if it would be enough to do damage. 3. Is an endoscopy (without biopsy) enough to tell if my intestines are healed? I’d pay privately if it could help and if i dont get a refferal. Or do i need a biopsy? 4. Could my job (powder coating, sandblasting, etc.) expose me to gluten or damage my intestines through air/dust? 5. Do I need certified gluten-free toothpaste, hand soap, shampoo, or moisturizer? (For example: Vaseline and Colgate don’t contain gluten ingredients but say they can’t guarantee it’s gluten-free.) 6. Is spices like pepper with “may contain traces of gluten” safe if no gluten ingredients are listed? Or does everything need to be labeled gluten-free?  7. Is continuing to only eat my own food the better choice, or could I eventually go back to eating what my mom cooks if she’s careful? 8. is cutlery from dishwasher safe if there are stains? Stuff like knives is used for cutting gluten bread or fork for noodles etc. I often see stains which i dont know if its gluten or something else but our dish washer doesnt seem to make it completely clean. 9. I wash my hands multiple times while preparing food. Do i need to do the same when touching my phone. Like if i touch the fridge handle, I wash my hands then touch the phone. I dont eat while using my phone but i leave it on my bed and pillow and my face could come in contact with where it was.  10. Do i need to clean my phone or laptop if theyve been used by people who eat gluten? Even if no crumbs fall onto my keybaord, i mean because of invisible gluten on their fingers. 11. Does medication/supplements have to be strictly glutenfree? One company said they couldn‘t guarantee if their probiotics don’t contain traces of gluten.  12. I had bought supplements in the past, some of them say glutenfree and some of them dont(like the brand „NOW“ from iherb). I bought them and used them when i wasnt washing my hands so often, are they still safe? As I touched and opened them after touching door knobs, water taps etc. It was like a year ago when i bought those and even though i was eating gluten-free, I never worried about what i touch etc. I know this post is long. I’m just extremely overwhelmed. I’m trying to protect myself from long-term health damage, but the OCD is destroying my quality of life, and I honestly don’t know what’s a reasonable level of caution anymore. Thanks for reading.
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