11 Month Old With No Weight Gain...constipation?

[Mama23Girls]

Hi there,

I'm new to the board so bear with me

I have an 11 month old who was in the 60th percentile for weight up until she was six months old. She has gained two pounds in the last five months, putting her now in the 20th percentile. Six months was when she was introduced to solids (aside from cereal, introduced at four months) and that is when the weight gain stopped. She stopped sleeping through the night at five months. Although, it sounds like she was exposed to gluten since birth through breastmilk.

She has also been quite constipated. She's never been one to go often, but also around six months it started to become a real problem. We've taken her to a gastro who has her on Miralax and that has helped immensely. My limited understanding of Celiac tells me that diarreah is more common than constipation.

Could is be a gluten intolerance? I'm at a loss. I feed her constantly. She is breastfed on demand 24/7. My other two kids are 90th percentile; why is she so tiny? We have no history of Celiac.

She's going back to the ped for a weight check this week and back to the gastro to follow up on the Miralax. Is there anything else I should be doing? Should I try gluten-free with her and see what happens? Where do I even begin??

Thank you!

[Asianmom]

My younger son had this exact same problem. He was introduced to gluten through breastmilk as well so I have no idea the science behind why it seemed to take longer, other than may undeveloped digestion tract etc. He was constipated constantly with solid foods. It didn't matter how much fiber or juice etc I would give him. They were like pellet poops. It was horrible. Our whole house ended up going gluten free because I have celiac and my older son does as well, and as soon as he went entirely gluten free he has not had constipation even once! I believe he is intolerant and does not have celiac which is what his ped thinks as well. He shot up in growth and height after that. As a celiac, I do have bouts of both constipation and loose stools if I get gluten; however, I think it is different with intolerance. My little guy is the proof to me. He never really has runny stools, but if he gets a tiny bit of gluten he is constipated.

GOOD LUCK!!!

[Mama23Girls]

Thank you for your reply! I wish it was more cut and dry; it's hard to tell what symptoms are really there and what is unrelated. Interesting that your son seemed to have a similar thing going on! We're off to the doc again this week so I'm going to bring up my concerns and see what they have to say. Thanks again!