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Help! My Son Is Eating Dirt

bear6954

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bear6954 Apprentice
bear6954
Posted

At the end of Feb, we went for my sons 1 yr check up and found that this liver was 13 cm and that he had non fasting hypoglycemia (51mg) and liver enzymes were 700 and 1400. He grew 5 inches but only gained one pound, so he actually lost weight. He is the size of a two year old and is not on the growth chart. We started him on EO 28 Splash and he is doing ok. However, before the EO 28 and after, he is eating dirt in our backyard - by the spoonful. I know that he is malnurished, thats the reason for the EO 28 Splash. I know I read somewhere that eating dirt means you are missing some type of vitamin, but I don't remember which one. Has anyone ever had this happen to them or their kids and what vit did they need?

A little background. I just found out that gluten is passed in breastmilk - thats what happens when you live in the middle of nowhere and no one to answer questions!. So I went gluten free, since my son refuses to wean. This was done after we got the recent results back from the GI. Guess I was glutening my son and did not know it.

Thanks so much,

Lisa

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MaryJones2 Enthusiast
MaryJones2
Posted

I associate it with iron deficient anemia. Look into pica (craving and eating non-food items). It could mean something else in kids though.

GlutenGalAZ Enthusiast
GlutenGalAZ
Posted

When you mentioned eating dirt the first thing that came to me was low iron/anemia too.

When I was reading up on low iron last year I remember it mentioning eating things like dirt, paper etc. Some people with low iron also crave to chew on ice.

Hope you can figure things out. Good Luck.

Juliebove Rising Star
Juliebove
Posted

I believe the dirt eating is called Pica and is from an iron deficiency. Can he eat spinach or Swiss chard? You can mince these really fine, put in hamurger gravy, meatloaf, meatballs, or layer into lasagna.

bear6954 Apprentice
bear6954
Posted
  • Author

I will do that. I know they pulled a bunch of blood work on Ray, but I don't know if they checked his iron levels. I cook everything in cast iron and he gets iron in EO28. He is a very picky eater and mostly eats whole grain rice pasta. I will have him tested and see if we need to add other supplements. Thanks a ton.

RiceGuy Collaborator
RiceGuy
Posted

If memory serves, a deficiency in zinc can also make a child want to eat dirt.

  • 2 weeks later...
purple Community Regular
purple
Posted

I ran across this link today:

Open Original Shared Link

It mentioned craving to eat soil could be caused by hookworms.

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      Desperately need a vitamin D supplement. I've reacted to most brands I've tried.

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    • Jane02
      Desperately need a vitamin D supplement. I've reacted to most brands I've tried.

      By Jane02 · Posted

      Thank you so much @knitty kitty for this insightful information! I would have never considered fractionated coconut oil to be a potential source of GI upset. I will consider all the info you shared. Very interesting about the Thiamine deficiency.  I've tracked daily averages of my intake in a nutrition software. The only nutrient I can't consistently meet from my diet is vitamin D. Calcium is a hit and miss as I rely on vegetables, dark leafy greens as a major source, for my calcium intake. I'm able to meet it when I either eat or juice a bundle of kale or collard greens daily haha. My thiamine intake is roughly 120% of my needs, although I do recognize that I may not be absorbing all of these nutrients consistently with intermittent unintentional exposures to gluten.  My vitamin A intake is roughly 900% (~6400 mcg/d) of my needs as I eat a lot of sweet potato, although since it's plant-derived vitamin A (beta-carotene) apparently it's not likely to cause toxicity.  Thanks again! 
    • MichaelDG
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    • knitty kitty
      Desperately need a vitamin D supplement. I've reacted to most brands I've tried.

      By knitty kitty · Posted

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    • Scott Adams
      Desperately need a vitamin D supplement. I've reacted to most brands I've tried.

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      I do not know this, but since they are labelled gluten-free, and are not really a product that could easily be contaminated when making them (there would be not flour in the air of such a facility, for example), I don't really see contamination as something to be concerned about for this type of product. 
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