slow to gain and off the charts

[haleyelianasmom]

She started at 75% and fell steadily.  It took her 13 months to double her birth weight and now, at 18 months, she is less than 2% on the WHO charts.  Her thyroid is fine.  We just got some more blood drawn and will get the results next week some time.

Any ideas?  Should I push for a cystic fibrosis test?  or anything else?

She still nurses regularly and I think she is eating just fine.  Her poop seems normal, too.  She's very active and right on target for developmental milestones.

[crunchy_mommy]

Did you test for celiac?

[lovepickles]

My DD is also dropping below the 5th percentile and they've been concerned about her weight since 18 months. She's 2 now and our doc referred us to a nutritionist. He recommended that i wean her but that didn't make sense to me so I'm going to check it out with the nutritionist and go back to some LLL meetings.

I never thought of celiac before. Instead of hijacking this thread I'll start another. But haleyelianasmom I just wanted you to know I'm right there with you.

<3

[haleyelianasmom]

Nope, they haven't checked for celiac.  When she was a newborn (under 4 months), I was suspicious because she would occasionally have days where she would refuse to nurse for hours and she would be very cranky.  I noticed it seemed to be after I ate pasta or pizza so I went gluten free for a while, but it didn't seem to make a difference (I think I only did it for a couple weeks? Maybe a month?) when I started eating gluten again, she seemed better and had less issues with nursing/crankiness.  Wouldn't she show other signs still if it was food-related?

[Buzzer Beater]

My dd is 20 months and is about 1 or 2% on the charts. We've been through most of the (less invasive) testing to see if we can figure why she won't eat. Nothing stands out, and we have drawn the line at a scope and at meds to increase her appetite. We do have her in therapy for oral issues, which seem to be helping a little. As it stands she is drinking most of her calories and eating little.

Our ped. gastro said cf kids generally have ravenous appetites and greasy stools.

[crunchy_mommy]

Celiac isn't an allergy, it causes internal damage to the intestines etc. Some people have symptoms like diarrhea, stomach aches, etc. but many people have no apparent symptoms. Because gluten is causing damage to the intestinal villi, it leads to poor absorption of nutrients... which can cause slow weight gain & inadequate growth even if the child isn't in pain or otherwise symptomatic.

[lessmith23]

We had a similar issues with DD.  We struggled to get her to 20lbs. which took until she was 18 months old.  She also had terrible constipation and was still waking every 2 hours at night.  She was also very lethargic and irritable most of the time.  I nursed her until 15 months both the help combat the constipation issues and to ensure she was at least getting some nutrition.

The dr's were no help (they just scared me and made me feel like I was a negligent mom) so I decided to take matters into my own hands and eliminate gluten and dairy.

Within 3 months she had gained more weight than she had in the previous 9 and ended up gaining a total of 6 lbs. in 1 year which is substantial given she is an active 2.5 year old and growing in height as well.

You don't necessarily have to get formal testing done, often times eliminating offending foods is enough of a confirmation.

Just wanted to share my experience as it sounds like what you're going through.

[Sarasyn]

You know, sometimes a child will be low weight and there's nothing wrong with her at all.  We did that with my daughter.  We tried eliminating gluten and every other possible allergen I could think of, but none of it made a difference.  She just dropped form being 50th percentile to 10th in no time.  Even against kids her own age now (she's 8 and will be 9 in May) she's ranking about 50th percentile in height, but <0% in weight. In other words, she's really underweight for her height, but she eats more than an adult male and has no indications of anything wrong with her, not unless you count a fast metabolism.  She was otherwise healthy in every way and she's been this way since she was somewhere between a year and a year and a half old.  It was so long ago I can't really remember for certain.  My mom said I was very much the same way.

I really hate all the pressure doctors put on children falling into certain height/weight requirements for their age.  Sometimes there really is nothing wrong with being a skinny kid.  Sometimes there's really nothing wrong with being a bit on the chunky side (like my littlest is) yet doctors threw a fit about my daughter being too thin for a couple of years, and they still throw a fit because my son who is all of two is in the 10th percentile for height but the 30th for weight.  Both of my boys kind of err on that side and they're perfectly healthy as far as medical science can tell.  In the end, a healthy child matters more than height and weight charts any day.