Failure to thrive / reflux / undigested poop

[Guest guest]

I was hoping someone on this list could help me figure out what is

going on with my son. He is not autistic, but seems to have some

similar characteristics that made me look in the autism direction.

My son, , is 22 months and is termed " failure to thrive " . He

is well below the growth chart in height and weight. My older son has

pretty severe food allergies with severe eczema so we are on a gluten

free diet now and we rotate their food. They are both smaller than

other kids their age. I'm sure it's a malabsorption problem.

walks on his toes (often times, not all the time), does not

talk but communicates using signs and grunts, has had bouts of eczema

but not as severe as older brother, and I think he has reflux.

He has only had one Hib shot.

For quite awhile (a few weeks) he has had mostly diarrhea or loose

stools with chunks of food in it, like he just is not digesting his

food. This is a real concern to us because he really needs all the

food he ingests.

He just doesn't eat well, or much. Never has. He will eat just a bit

of something and then stop, only to later burp (not really a burp,

but you can hear the food coming up and going back down). It's like

he just CANNOT eat very much. I think he just has trained himself to

not eat much to avoid this feeling.

I'm very frustrated. I know something is not right, but I don't know

what to do about it. I think he would definitely benefit from enzymes

but all of this is greek to me. Please list which enzymes to use, and

where you can buy them.

Any advice will be very much appreciated.

Thank you

Debra

[Guest guest]

> My son, , is 22 months and is termed " failure to thrive " . He

> is well below the growth chart in height and weight. My older son

has

> pretty severe food allergies with severe eczema so we are on a

gluten

> free diet now and we rotate their food. They are both smaller than

> other kids their age. I'm sure it's a malabsorption problem.

I know two families with FTT kids where they discovered their children

were allergic to milk and wheat. It can also be a sign of celiac

disease. You might want to consider milk-free also. Here is more

information on celiac.

http://www.celiac.com/index.html

One of my kids has eczema and other rash issues because of many foods,

and enzymes [see below] help with most foods but not all. My kids

appear to be celiac, plus they also cannot have milk and a few other

items even with enzymes. You rotate their foods, do you notice any

days where the rash and other issues is better and/or worse? That

might help you determine any other problem foods.

>

> walks on his toes (often times, not all the time), does not

> talk but communicates using signs and grunts, has had bouts of

eczema

> but not as severe as older brother, and I think he has reflux.

Toe walking can be a sign of bowel impaction. Do you notice any bm

issues on the days where he is toe-walking, or the day immediately

after? It would either be constipation, or runny diarrhea as some bm

material is leaking around the impaction.

>

> He has only had one Hib shot.

Does this mean he has only had one Hib shot as opposed to two or three

Hib shots? Or does it mean he has had no shots except one Hib? Did

you notice any regression of eating habits or other behaviors after

the Hib shot?

>

> For quite awhile (a few weeks) he has had mostly diarrhea or loose

> stools with chunks of food in it, like he just is not digesting his

> food. This is a real concern to us because he really needs all the

> food he ingests.

This could also be impaction. The undigested food collects and does

not pass, so it impacts, then other food leaks around the impaction

which would look like diarrhea. Chunks of food coming out could mean

the impaction breaks up, then impacts again, etc. Enzymes can help

with this situation, or you might want to eliminate milk products and

see if that helps also. Milk is constipating for many children,

especially those with milk allergy and/or FTT.

>

> He just doesn't eat well, or much. Never has. He will eat just a bit

> of something and then stop, only to later burp (not really a burp,

> but you can hear the food coming up and going back down). It's like

> he just CANNOT eat very much. I think he just has trained himself to

> not eat much to avoid this feeling.

I think foods make him ill [i have this problem also, don't want to

eat because foods upset my stomach and make me fell ill overall].

>

> I'm very frustrated. I know something is not right, but I don't know

> what to do about it. I think he would definitely benefit from

enzymes

> but all of this is greek to me. Please list which enzymes to use,

and

> where you can buy them.

You can try removing milk, or using enzymes. The enzymes from this

url do help quite a few kids with milk and other issues like you

describe.

http://www.houstonni.com/

Some kids would still require removal of the offending food item tho,

so you might want to remove milk for a week or so, see if that helps.

You can do this while your enzymes are on order, or to help you

decide if you would like to try enzymes in the first place. Then use

the enzymes, and if you would like, then re-introduce milk and see if

the enzymes are still helping your child digest the milk or if milk

still needs to be removed from his diet.

>

> Any advice will be very much appreciated.

> Thank you

> Debra

Well I hope that gave you some information to consider. Good luck to

you.

Dana