Anybody With Slow Weight Gain? Or Long Lulls In Growing?

[MarsupialMama]

Most people i have found have a quick growth catch up time of a few months up to about a year. We have been gluten free for a year, minus 6 months in there where we had accidents that set us back for those months. So no accidents for 6 months. We had an initial growth spurtand my daughter (who is almost 3) at the beginning and went from 16 pounds to 20 pounds in this past year. So she has gained 4 pounds. Butshe has stayed at that 20 pounds for 6 months. I realize children get spurts and have growth lulls, but ...you know how stressing this can be. She is not growing much in height though her brain and abilities are perfectly fine, and she is bright and imho beautiful.

I was like this when I was little (i'm celiac too) but she is just SO tiny. She is also dairy and egg free and pretty m uch soy free because we can't find uncontaminated soybeans. Trying to get some nuts and protein into her, but she doesnt digest them well. Trying digestive enaymes too.

My question: any experiences of children with slow weight gain (success stories!) , tiny children, etc would be soo appreciated. I stress over this a lot. I dont want to be a stress mess or neglectful either, but i have never had much support from doctors. They have always been ignorant and condescending, unfortunately. Where are the TINY kids???

[taweavmo3]

I have a tiny girl....she is healthy now, but still tiny. She was on the growth charts briefly about a year after she was diagnosed (at age 3 ), but now at age 7, she has fallen off again. She looks healthy though, and everything else seems okay, so maybe it is just genetics this time. I'm small, I'm only 4'10", hubby is average height at 5'10", so maybe she is just taking after me. My two boys are average height, but my girls are tiny.

Our ped mentioned seeing a pedi endocrinologist just to be safe, which we might do this year. She is 7 years old, and can still wear all of her clothes from last year, which are mostly 4's & 5's. I just feel bad for her, b/c the kids at school treat her like a baby, try to pick her up, etc. She is just now starting to notice how much smaller she is than the other kids. I have read that low vit D can affect growth, so I give her a calcium supplement w/ vitamin d. I'm hoping she has a growth spurt soon so we can avoid any more doctors...she's had enough, lol.

[g1gg1e]

We have a tiny kiddo here. Our ODD is really big for her age...we got the over feeding guilt trip with her and now with YDD its she isn't getting enough. The both eat health foods , can't keep them out of the garden! We don't eat allot of processed foods here because ODD has a dairy allergy...YDD has always eaten better then her larger sister as far a quantity at her age...so i just roll my eyes at the tiny comments.

YDD is developmentally normal and happy. We have had some exposures that have resulted in weight loss ( dog food and a cookie this spring) but we are on the recovery path now and she is doing well IMO. Dr's love their charts!

[Pattymom]

I have two tiny kids ( and two skinny but not so tiny) My dd just turned 5 in July, is 38 inches and weights 29.5 lbs. We have been trying to hit 30 for some time--actually she was 30 at the endocrinologist in the spring, but seems to have dropped a little again. She has been gluten and mostly dairy free for 1.5 years. She had an initial spurt, and slowed and sprut and slowed. Its frustrating. She has been worked up by the GI and the endocrinologist and no one can find anything wrong with her other than the lack of growth--even her celiac tests weren't clear--negative biopsy this past spring, though it as after a year gluten free, and only one month of limited gluten before the test. While the test was negative, the month itself was fulll of symptoms, so we are staying clear ( I am diagnosed with celiac)

so, we have no real answers and gluten free didnt' produce dramatic results. She is healthy otherwise and perfectly normal to precocious developmentally.

My dd, 8, weighs about 45 lbs. He weighed 42 when he turned 6, lost a lot due to Lyme disease, and while he gained back, he neve really too off again. He is also gluten free, though hasn't been worked up like her. I sometimes think we should, but then think of the costs and hassles we went through with her and ended up with out answers. though I am glad we ruled out lots of scary things that would have needed more intervention.

The comments are hard--and she gets very annoyed at other kids picking her up or patting her head. She wears a 3T, and looks like 2-3 year old, so people are constantly commenting on well she talks. Sometimes I tell them she is really5, sometimes, I just say yes, she'svery gifted. I need to have some fun.

No answers, but you aren't alone ( I also supplement calcium and Vit. D-which did show up low in one of her tests, also tried zinc supplements, and dig. enzymes, nothing really made a difference, though she likes the vitamins.)

Patty

[Mom of a Celiac toddler]

My son is very small also (3%). He is however doing well after we recently started the gluten free diet. We became very mindful that every bite that goes into his mouth is calorie rich! We also cut out dairy to give him a chance to fully recover for a while. Even without dairy we were able to come home with a 7 oz gain after his last app. Great, considering he had lost a pound right before the diagnosis. Some things that are working well for us, that you may already be doing, is coconut products. Coconut milk, coconut yogurt, coconut butter and coconut oil. We cook everything with the coconut oil and put the coconut butter on everything we can. We also use lots of peanut butter, avocados, and eggs, real bacon bits, and other meats such as sausage. He gets coconut juice instead of empty calorie juice and coconut ice cream and coconut juice pops! (See the theme?!) If you or anyone else has some great ideas for getting fat into these little critters I would love to hear them! Good luck, but just try not to stress about the weight, I am sure it will come as it should.

[Pattymom]

We had a coconut phase too. It was yummy. alas, calorie pushing doesn't seem to help dd much. and Ds eats voraciously and continuously. that said, we also fry a lot of their food, eat bacon more than we should. I would love to hear more ideas to try.

Patty

[3groovygirls]

Hi,

My daughter is also tiny. I thought she'd grow a ton being gluten-free, but she's been gluten-free for over a year now but no big results. She's 2 years old (as of May) and still 22lbs. She's literally the size of most one year olds. I keep wondering WHEN she'll start to grow!

[Mom of a Celiac toddler]

Has anyone ever had their little ones testing for growth hormone deficiencies? I read somewhere that they are linking celiacs with growth hormone deficiencies.

[Pattymom]

Has anyone ever had their little ones testing for growth hormone deficiencies? I read somewhere that they are linking celiacs with growth hormone deficiencies.

My dd was tested and i being followed by a endocrinologist, everything was normal. The Endo seems to think that she isn't growing b/c of the lack of weight gain and sent us back to GI, who cleared here again fo other GI issues. She hits the minium 2.5 inches a year, though not a fraction of an inch more. She is off the charts in size and weight, but her curve is parallelling the line at this point ( 38inches, 29.5 lbs at 5 years) Seh was on the 15% line until she turned 2.

We don't know what else to test for, so are just trying to adjust to her being small. Seh is developmentally fine and has no significant symptoms if she is off gluten and dairy. I was also hopign for a great growth spurt, btu 1.5 years later it hasnt' come.

Patty

[DanAbimytwomiracles]

I would look for other food sensitivities, but also REALLY look for hidden gluten. Even foods labeled gluten-free might have trace amounts that are interfering with her growth. After the recent problems we had with Honey Nut Chex, we are stopping all Chex cereal and only going with companies that test to lower levels, like 10PPM at most. My oldest son had slowed down growing the past year, less than a pound actually form 6-7 years old, and I am wondering if it's the Chex cereal he's been eating 4-5 days a week. With the Honey Nut Chex it was a stronger reaction (pooping a lot and major behavioral issues), but I no longer trust General Mills and wonder if I'll see any improvement in a month or so with his weight.

I think as parents we get lax after a while because it's just HARD to maintain super vigilance all the time, and some really sensitive kids can have low-level reactions.

[jmjsmomma]

Has anyone ever had their little ones testing for growth hormone deficiencies? I read somewhere that they are linking celiacs with growth hormone deficiencies.

We did. We were under the care of an endocrinologist for my son's growth issues before the Celiac was caught. He was tested for growth hormone deficiency and it came back normal. It wasn't until we were under her care for about a year that he started complaining of belly aches and had a very distended belly. Other than that he was not symptomatic. His GI told us that the way celiac is presenting in my son is that it is blocking the bodys receptors to absorb the growth hormone that the body makes. My son just turned 6 this month, he is 40 1/2 inches and weighs 39lbs.

[amylopan]

Ah, I wish I had found this thread before I posted a new one! We have a tiny boy who is 36.5 inches at age four. His two-year-old sister wears that same size and can bench press the little guy!

He was dx at 15 months and responded great at first, but now his height is dropped off the chart again. I'm feeling awful tonight, as I stopped visiting this site after he was dx. I thought being gluten-free would be simple, but now I'm reading through these posts and realizing how lax we have gotten about his diet!

We are going to send him to an endocrinologist, as per the pediatrician's orders, but I honestly think WE did this to him. I feel awful and am promptly throwing out half the food in our pantry. No more fast food visits, either! Gah, bad mommy.