3 Yo Undergoing Tests... Low Bmi, Possible Celiac - Help!

[balmerhon]

This is a bit of a long story, but I'll keep it as short as I can.

My DS plateaued on weight around 1 yo. He had always been 'below average' but not hugely so. For about 4-6 months he gained very little. At the time, we were living in the UK where he was born. We were referred to a pediatrician who ran celiac, cystic fibrosis, and absorption tests. All came back fine. Aside from poor weight gain, he had diarrhea. Other than that, no symptoms. He then began to gain some weight though he was still small for his age.

The diarrhea continued with the diagnosis of 'toddler diarrhea'. In the UK, they wait until the child is 3 before they consider further investigations. But we moved to the US back in November.

The diarrhea has persisted (always once a day, often 2, rarely 3). He was retested for parasites in January as the ped here was intrigued that a round of antibiotics he took for an ear infection seemed to improve things. Again, all came back negative. Still, she referred me to a ped GI at the University of Maryland for further investigation as she felt things had gone on too long. She knew I wanted to start potty training in order to get him into preschool and diarrhea, as you know, makes that a bit hard.

A couple days ago we had the appt with the ped GI. She was very abrupt with us and I was not pleased with the whole dept. That said, the first thing she noted was that his BMI is below 5%. His height and weight are low (esp weight) but it's the BMI that is off the chart. No one has ever done his BMI before!

She took blood to rerun all the tests including celiac. She sent a dietician in to see if he's getting 1300 calories a day (depends on the day!). We're now waiting for the results.

Here are some other points about him:

he has no symptoms of abdominal pain, bloating, gas, etc.

his father is 5'11 with a 31" waist and a low BMI

there is a short gene in the family though neither his father nor I are short

he is very energetic and is a dream sleeper

he eats though he's picky and doesn't have a big appetite

there is no celiac in the family that we know of

however, I have mild IBS and there is autoimmune disease in the family

I don't know how long the test results will take to come back. Meanwhile, I am now stressing about getting more calories into him and how on earth we will cope if he is celiac. A gluten-free diet in our current situation will be very difficult as we live with my mother, cousin, husband, and my youngest son (who is only 26 months but weighs more than DS#1, eats well, and has little diarrhea).

As I pointed out, this will be the second test for celiac. Any thoughts on what will happen if this one also comes back negative?

To be frank, he is a happy, energetic kid. I'm not sure how worried I should be!!

[Genna'smom]

Hi and welcome. I had an almost 2 yr old at the time stop eating and drinking totally. She had no symptoms of Celiac and it does not run in either family. She ended up in 2 hospital for FTT but no one ever did a BMI on her that I know of - just that her weight was off the charts. While in the hospital looking for things they did blood work for tons of stuff which all came back negative and then they did an endoscopy to check her esopgas (sorry spelling>?) as she has acid reflux and was wondering if that was the problem but while in there they did biopcies and when the test came back she had early warning stages of Celiac...

On another note - blood tests are often false at this age.......

Bonnie

[swalker]

How many ear infections has he had? After antibiotics he should be on probiotics for a month to repopulate his good flora.

In my family, ear infections are one symptom of our milk intolerance. I'd probably take out milk for four days (rice milk is a great replacement, soy is also a highly allergic food) and see if that cuts the D. If not then I'd remove gluten for four days. The next likely candidates are soy, corn and nightshades.

[balmerhon]

How many ear infections has he had? After antibiotics he should be on probiotics for a month to repopulate his good flora.

In my family, ear infections are one symptom of our milk intolerance. I'd probably take out milk for four days (rice milk is a great replacement, soy is also a highly allergic food) and see if that cuts the D. If not then I'd remove gluten for four days. The next likely candidates are soy, corn and nightshades.

He's had only one ear infection in his life. This was in October of 2008. He'd had D before then and it started up again after the antibiotics wore off. That said, his poop was still soft when on the antibiotics, just not as soft as before! So far none of the medical professionals we've seen think he has milk issues - though I'm aware the symptoms can vary pretty widely?`

[swalker]

They do I my family. We have symptoms ranging from chronic ears infections, red cheeks and ears and late bed wetting to self limiting to dairy and autistic mannerisms.

It only takea four days for a food to completely clear the body. Then when you eat the food, first thing on an empty stomach, the reaction is very obvious.