2 yr old dosent gain weight

Question

hi everyone i have some concerns my 2 yr old weighs 20 lbs and has weighed that for some time she has been to Rileys hospital for children twice and they have run every test there is she does not have celiac desease nor does she have cystic fibrosis what they have found was that she does not absorb the fat in her food so they put her on pediasure 3 times a day for 7 weeks and reweighed her and she didnt gain any weight so now on november 17th they are going to do an endoscopy to check things out the dr. even suggested he might have to put in a GI tube i am really confused about her not gaining weight and so is the doctor she does however eat alot of food so it just dosent make any since if anyone has any answers i would appreciate it thank you and God Bless

Weesy68 · Answer

Enzyme deficiency?  Did they test her for that?  If she doesn't have the digestive enzymes she needs, she won't be able to break the food down properly.  I assume in the hormone testing they tested her pancreatic labs as well.  You sound worried, but in case you were worried about cancer, my two year old did have it and she did not want to eat at all and had diarrhea and other symptoms so don't worry yourself too much.  Serious illnesses usually cause many more symtpoms.  Whatever it is doesn't sound life threatening, especially if she still wants to eat, so while it may be serious because she needs to gain weight, I wouldn't worry too much about it being life threatening.  My daughter is fully recovered 11 years later thanks to conventional medicine, so keep smiling.

kricket2008 · Answer

well she had the Endoscopy done and we are waiting on those results now he did a repeat on her stool and it came back normal so i am assuming that she is absorbing the fat now she has already had all the hormone testing done and it is normal and her thyroid has already been checked and the dr said it was normal as well .........after her endoscopy was done he said everything looked good except a couple of areas that were red so he did biopsies on them she still hasnt gained weight and he still thinks he might have to put a gi tube in I am confused and dont know what to do now I guess I will wait till we get the results in thanks everyone

Weesy68 · Answer

I assume they have tested her for malabsorption issues.  If she isn't absorbing fat you would think they would lean toward one of those syndromes. I figure she has seen a Gastroenterologist.  They are ones who specialize in malabsorption.  I'm curious about the GI tube because if she already isn't absorbing fat, why would the GI tube make that any different?

Is it possible that she is hyperthyroid which means she's burning off the calories faster than she can eat them, so another doctor to consider is an Endocrinologist who specializes in hormone disorders which can cause some of her symptoms since there are hormones involved in digesting food and in growth.  Her growth hormones (GH) may need to be tested as well if they haven't already done that.

I was diagnosed with IBS years ago and read a book by a lady named Heather Van Vorous I think is how it is spelled.  Anyway, she talks about soluble versus insoluble fibers.  I believe in conventional medicine for the most part, but she has some great information in there regarding her problems with IBS and how certain foods are not as easily digested by the body in patients with IBS.  Anyone with IBS knows that you can eat a fatty meal (Chinese food to be one of the villians) and it will be gone (and I mean out of your body) in 30 minutes or less.  There is no way I could be absorbing the fat if it doesn't have ample opportunity to be absorbed.  Just a thought.  I am definitely not a medical doctor and don't have all the answers but it's another route to look at.  I wouldn't guess that she has IBS unless her food is going through her quickly and you usually get pain with it as well.
I hope that might at least help give you more suggestions.  I think mom's have great intuition as well when it comes to their children, so listen to that little voice as well.