Height/weight Loss

[yudsmom]

Hi. My son dropped from the 75% at age 6 months eto 10% at one year. He then began getting mucusy diarrhea and was tested for celiac. (Which came out positive.) We also found out he could not tolerate most other foods. After putting him on a very restricted diet, he shot up to the 50% in height after about 2 months. However, he is now back down to the 10% in height (at age 28 months.) This worries me as my husband is 6' and I am 5'7''. He is extremely active, isn't too interested in food, and burns off everything he eats. he is still on a very restricted diet and has had no signs of stomach pain or mucus in his stools. He is generally very happy. Do you think there is something else in his diet (I reintroduced soy, eggs, etc.) that could be causing this weight/height loss?

Thank you for your help.

[mart]

Hi Yudsmom. We're in the same boat. My son started out great on the gluten-free diet, but now (9 months later) I think he's lost some weight. Ocassionally, he'll complain of a stomachache, and I don't know why. We're definitely 100% gluten-free (from makeup, shampoo and toothpaste to crayons and glue). We don't even eat out. This is all so confusing and stressful. I wish I had some answers. Some here will probably advise you to have him tested for other allergens. That's what I plan to do. I'm getting ready to order the Entero Lab test.

Good luck, and welcome aboard!

[yudsmom]

Mart,

Do you think its possible to be sensitive to a food (so much so that it causes malabsorption) without any signs of malabsorption in the stool? I used to be able to tell which foods my son was sensitive to; when he ate them, he had very smelly, fatty stools. But now, he has no signs of malabsorption. Just extreme weightloss/heightloss.

[key]

I don't know what to tell you. My son was very tiny at a year old from undiagnosed celiac. He was not even on the chart for weight, but height was on the chart barely. Now his weight is on the chart barely and his height just seems to stay the same. It is very frustrating. He is not even on the chart for height and he is 26 months and looks about a year old. He acts his age and does everything he should. My husband and I aren't tall though and his brother is only in the tenth percentile, so my doctor thinks it is just him. He has been to an endocrinologist, but they didn't find anything. My son's stools are very normal. he doesn't eat meat, but eats dairy and soy and eggs. He eats a TON now. It is great that he does, so I know it is the consumption of calories for us.

You could have his growth hormone tested. It does sound odd that his height has dropped when it had shot up. It is hard to know sometimes.

MOnica

[AndreaB]

I would recommend the enterolab tests also. I am having my family tested even though no one shows any symptoms because I tested allergic to wheat/soy/dairy. We haven't sent in our tests yet. Enterolab can at least rule in or out some of the main allergens. I can't have my infant son tested yet but he will be in the future.

Mart,

Let us know how your test turns out.

[yudsmom]

The test:

why is this test better than the blood test given at the doctor?

[AndreaB]

Has he had a recent food panel allergy test done recently? Was he borderline on some things that may have increased? Does he eat eggs/dairy/yeast/soy. Enterolab may not do you a lot of good check out there site www.enterolab.com to read more about it. Is your son in preschool/daycare where he might be around or eat some of his allergen foods? I'm not an expert at any of this. Just trying to narrow down some things. From what I have read soy can cause intestinal damage as well. I believe you stated he tested positive for celiac which I assume means he had intestinal damage. If he has been eating a lot of soy he could be incuring more damage which would result in more allergies.

[TCA]

I know I may get kicked of this site for saying this, but I've done a lot of checking into enterolab and none of my daughter's drs. think it's credible. I'm not saying they're right, but it does make me wonder. Plus, our insurance for labs is very good. I'm trying to use conventional tried and true methods, like skin testing and RAST testing first. I may be on the enterolab bandwagon soon, but I just want to try other things first. It just concerns me that out of 8 specialists and 1 pediatrician, that not one of them thinks there is any validity to it.

Have you tried traditional allergy testing. The prick testing sounds bad, but our daughter has had 2 rounds of it and didn't even wake up during it. The RAST test is a blood draw, but it yeilds pretty trusted results.

I have seen posts on here that talk about how dairy can cause malapsorption, but I don't know the direct link. You could probably search for it. Carriefaith I think is the one who explained it.

My pediatrician has a pretty good common sense theory that if a child is happy that tells you a lot. Kids give signs when something is wrong - rashes, irritability, etc. Maybe his avoidance of food is a key for you, but maybe not. My son used to be that way, but eats like a horse now that he's gluten-free and feels better.

good luck!