How Soon After Starting A Gluten Free Diet...

[andersonfam06]

I am just wondering what everyone's experiences were as far as weight gain goes? DS is not even on the charts he is so small. He was in the third percentile, but has lost over a pound in the last 9 days, which put him below the charts. After we start a gluten free diet, how long do you thing it will take him to start gaining weight?

[mommida]

You didn't say how old. I think that will make a difference. My daughter was about 17 months and gained a pound the first month and a half. She gained three pounds by the next appointment she had, I think it was about 2 or 3 months after that. So her gain was about a pound a month.

L.

[mamatide]

I am just wondering what everyone's experiences were as far as weight gain goes? DS is not even on the charts he is so small. He was in the third percentile, but has lost over a pound in the last 9 days, which put him below the charts. After we start a gluten free diet, how long do you thing it will take him to start gaining weight?

My DD is 5 years old and we are 3.5 mos gluten-free. She's gained 1.5 lbs so far. More importantly however, she just LOOKShealthier - her shape is changing. No more bloated belly, and a sold 1/4" on each thigh. The other changes make us pay less attention to the scales. Incidentally, she was completely beneath the curve at 1yo as well. It took us until age 4.9 to figure out there was something wrong...

Keep a diary - it's easy to forget all those weights and measures...

mamatide

[andersonfam06]

we do log his weights, at least weekly, since he has been dropping so badly... he didn't look that unhealthy before, but he is really starting to look rough... i feel so bad. today is our appointment with the ped GI doc, so hopefully we at least start to figure something out.

[Esther Sparhawk]

Annie is 3 and half. She's been on the gluten-free diet for almost one year now. She has gained a little bit of weight (maybe one or two pounds), but the interesting thing is that she's a bit taller, not wider. She still wears the same clothes she wore all winter long.

Still, she acts healthier. No more fearful shyness. No more moody crying spells over super-sensitivity issues like sunlight or music. Her skin problems have completely gone away (finally)!

Her hair is growing in more normally now.

But it has been almost a year, before every symptom began to recede. Even this past spring, Annie was still having skin problems and occassional D.

[GFBetsy]

Another thing that you may want to consider doing is keeping a record of everything that he is eating. When going gluten free, we must avoid foods that contain gluten, and sometimes we forget that we need to add an equal number of gluten free calories back into our diet. Especially when just starting out on this diet it can seem like there's nothing to eat.

One of the things that can really help you with that is to make a list of all of the things that your son CAN eat . . . from pureed cooked carrots (if he's still really young) to baked potatoes, popsicles, and hamburgers for older children. Lists of okay snacks are especially important, because children tend to get hungry in between regular meal times. Then, when he expresses hunger, you've got a great list of alternatives to turn to. The record can help you to make sure that he's getting enough calories, and it can also help just in case he continues to lose weight. Then you will have a record that will show the doctors that he SHOULD be gaining weight , providing you with the evidence you might need to show that there are issues that still haven't been resolved as far as his health goes.

Hope this is helpful!