my daughter is underweight, help...

[pdtwife]

I have an 8 yr old daughter who is 52 inches tall and only weights 50lbs. She is ADHD and is on Aderall XR. Nothing we have tried has help her gain weight, she has been to the doctor who ran test to check her thyroid and all sort of other levels in her blood but it all came back fine. We have tried the carnation breakfast drink, boost, lots of high protein food like nuts, peanut butter, mac cheese...nothing works, what do I do?????

[Renee Radenberg]

Her weight is just below the 25th percentile and her height is on the 75th percentile which indicates she is normal for her age. She is not underweight. She appears thinner due to her higher stature. Some people are naturally thinner than others. She needs daily 2000 calories to grow. You stated you tried Boost, Carnation Instant Breakfast, etc; did you use them in place of milk at each meal and snack so she was drink it 3-4 times a day to gain weight? Some tips for additional calories: If she likes pasta, then add cheese sauces to the pasta instead of plain tomato sauce or plain pasta. Add cheese to vegetables, if she eats them. Add dry milk to oatmeal, mashed potatoes, gravies, creamed vegetables, and creamed soups (add additional protein sources to soups such as meat). Add beans to rice instead plain rice for additional protein. You would have to do this on a daily basis. Hoped this helped you.

[earthtonegrrl]

Has she had testing for Celiac Disease (gluten intolerance)? That's a very common cause. There are two bloodtests commonly run: One looks at only one factor; the full celiac panel looks at several including total serum IgA. The single test is known to give false negatives. The panel is important because if the person is IgA deficient (which is more common among Celiacs), they will always show up negative on the single IgA test, celiac or not.

Even so, the blood tests are imperfect, and many people who had negative blood tests find they cannot tolerate the tiniest amount of gluten. It seems that the blood tests will not come up positive until there is significant intestinal damage, but most doctors will tell you it's been ruled out if the blood test is negative.. It might be worth considering going on a Celiac diet for a month to see if it helps her.  It's not an easy diet, especially at first. However, if she might be Celiac, the earlier in her life she is treated, the fewer long-term complications arise.

Does she have any digestive probems? Any other symptoms or conditions? Have they checked her vitamin levels or checked her stool for fat malabsorption? I'd recommend asking for a copy of all her test results and give them a read yourself.  Check, also, what thyroid tests they ran and what the numbers were. The normal range for TSH was changed several years ago (2003 maybe?) but many of the doctors and the labs still use the old range. I forget the exact numbers .. here's a link. http://thyroid.about.com/od/gettestedanddiagnosed/ss/normaltsh_5.htm