Rapid Weight Gain, Help

[Mizzo]

Unlike the majority of Celiacs, my girl was not underweight but in the 95th percentile on wt and ht before the diagnosis. which is one of the reasons for it taking so long to get the correct diagnosis.

She has been gluten-free since mid April and suddenly in the last 3 weeks has gained 4 lbs. This may be cause for a happy dance for most parents but I have been watching her diet for over a year now and am worried. She had a yearly checkup in June and lost a BMI point and that was good but now its probably back and up some.

It's summer she is swimming nearly everyday, riding her scooter etc.. Certainly getting more exercise than the previous months . Her diet is not great,but not horrible. She hates most vegetables but I force at least 2 servings a day into her, as well as 2 fruits. she loves her proteins and dairy/cheese. She gets snacks like all kids, and I have been playing with every homemade muffin/cookie recipe to include flax, fiber etc..

Usually she goes 2 hours without a snack and then wham, she wants to eat every 15 minute for like 2-3 hours. Is this normal ? I actually find myself yelling no more eating, take a break.

Sometime I can't seem to fill her up. Anyone else experience this voracious appetite at certain times of the day? It not always the same time of day either.

Does it level off?

Maureen

[starrytrekchic]

Oh yes. Sometimes I feel like I'm starving. (I'm also one who gained weight the worse I got rather than lost.)

It was worse before I went gluten free, but since (8 months) I've intermittently had it, usually in the days after being gluten.

I'd fill her up on high-fiber and high-protein food. Popcorn was especially useful for me for a midday snack that would actually fill me up with being too many calories. Stay away from the candies and sugary foods that will make her blood sugar crash 2-3 hours after eating. And above all, check and see if she's still getting gluten anywhere...like I said, it normally happens to me after getting glutened.

[catgriffith]

Unlike the majority of Celiacs, my girl was not underweight but in the 95th percentile on wt and ht before the diagnosis. which is one of the reasons for it taking so long to get the correct diagnosis.

She has been gluten-free since mid April and suddenly in the last 3 weeks has gained 4 lbs. This may be cause for a happy dance for most parents but I have been watching her diet for over a year now and am worried. She had a yearly checkup in June and lost a BMI point and that was good but now its probably back and up some.

It's summer she is swimming nearly everyday, riding her scooter etc.. Certainly getting more exercise than the previous months . Her diet is not great,but not horrible. She hates most vegetables but I force at least 2 servings a day into her, as well as 2 fruits. she loves her proteins and dairy/cheese. She gets snacks like all kids, and I have been playing with every homemade muffin/cookie recipe to include flax, fiber etc..

Usually she goes 2 hours without a snack and then wham, she wants to eat every 15 minute for like 2-3 hours. Is this normal ? I actually find myself yelling no more eating, take a break.

Sometime I can't seem to fill her up. Anyone else experience this voracious appetite at certain times of the day? It not always the same time of day either.

Does it level off?

Maureen

I don't know if the crazy appetite levels off, but I'd like to know! My 7 year old daughter eats ALL the time and is tiny. Well she is actually very tall, but is all muscle and bone. ?? (I do not have celiac but went gluten free in support of her and have gained weight!! Not fair.) But she is always hungry too so I see it is something to do with the celiac.

[Wolicki]

My son was eating like a crazy boy for months after his celiac diagnosis. He would eat a whole jar of peanut butter, then a giant bag of tortilla chips and 6 yogurts. This kept going on and on. His thyroid went wonky, then we ended up getting a million blood tests.

Thankfully, I figured it out: DAIRY. He was intolerant of dairy, and had malabsorption as a result. We took away the dairy, and within 3 days, his appetite leveled out. Now he eats normally. About 3 months into no dairy, we added back cheese, then yogurt, as long as he took a Lactaid with it. Last week, he had his first glass of milk and he is a happy boy again. I couldn't believe the difference in his appetite.

You might want to take a look at that.

[abjhenson]

I can symathyze with you completely and to the last poster you bring something to my mind about the dairy and now it kinda makes sense to me.

My daughter was born 7 lbs 12 oz. By 3 months she was 18-19 lbs. NO JOKE. The Dr. we saw only one time as an emergency told me to put her on a diet, which I didn't. I just put less formula in her bottles. My daughter only gained 1 lb from 3 months to 12 months. She was over 100% up til 3 years old. I looked at her medical records at 3.5 she was 42 lbs. Now at 5.5 years she is 41 lbs. The gluten free diet stopped her from gaining weight at all. The highest her weight got was 44 lbs in march of this year. In July of this year I put her on a elimination diet and she lost 3 lbs in a month and all of her bloating! she is now at about 75% (she is short). I just started giving her lactaid pills yesterday for the small amount of dairy she is getting right now. So try that on top of the diet and one more thing, less sugar. I do not give my daughter fruit right now. She gets it through yogurt and I don't give her cakes or cookies for the time being until we can find out what is causing her bloating and imflamation.

I hope this helps. I feel like i'm starving my daughter but she feels a lot better.