Hi guys
Zara as a baby had a bit of reflux (not treated with medication) that improved when we eventually (at about 5-6mo) put her on soy formula. It also stopped her stools from smelling so badly. She was even smelly as a BF newborn
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When she was nearing 1 yr old, we put her back on dairy (had tried previously unsuccessfully) and it seemed to go fine. By about 18mo, I had noticed quite a significant drop in her appetite, which I assumed was a stage, or teething etc. Everyone told me that she would eat when she was hungry.
She had quite poor weight gain, and dropped through the charts from the 75th percentile at 8mo, to now around the 10th. I think she was very chubby at the 75th, but that the 50th was probably about average for her.
At 2.5 yr old, she started telling us that her tummy hurt, that she felt sick. It was completely random in its timing, but was frequent (anything from 1-10x per day). Her appetite at that time was appalling. The paed did blood tests but found nothing conclusive. Her stools and blood tests showed evidence of inflammation (presence in the stools indicates gut inflammation). Ultrasound confirmed the same, but nothing conclusive.
Over 4 consecutive monthly paed visits, Zara lost weight - at every single appt!
In Dec last year we removed all dairy (including trace dairy) from Zara's diet after I realised that her tummy complaints increased after giving her pediasure, which contains diary (ie after increasing her dairy intake). Over a couple of weeks we saw dramatic improvement. Her appetite improved, her mood improved out of sight, as did her focus and concentration, ability to amuse herself etc.
Then, a couple weeks ago, she started complaining again about the tummy pains, and her appetite is down to about 1/4-1/3 of what it was while she was feeling good. She is irritable, tired, can't focus. The only change to her diet that I can think of around this time was that I was doing lots of baking for hte kids - using soy substitutes - and lots of flour.
Paed has referred her to a GI paed for an endoscopy. Paed is not ruling out coeliac, although the blood test was negative, but that is not 100% accurate.
What can I expect? What do I need to know? What do I need to ask? Is there anything else in Zara I should be looking out for? Can anyone offer me any reassurance at all?
Zara is absolutely petrified of Dr's, needles etc. She is incredibly sensitive, prone to bad dreams, has a way overactive imagination etc. This is going to be a massive massive deal to her, she will find it incredibly stressful - as I am sure most kids would, but she is a sensitive spirited, so her reaction to this is going to be huge, and hte impact probably felt for many months. I want to make sure I am helping her in the best way by getting this done....
Dh is not entirely supportive, he wants her to "toughen up".
