Pale, skinny, irritable child

[LorrieLu]

Hi guys, I'm after some advice. My 8 year old son is very skinny (can see all bones), his skin is pale and he looks dark under the eyes. He wears the same size clothes as his 4yo sister. He's also cranky and tired and cries at the drop of a hat. He has had trouble focusing at school as well. I took him to the dr a couple of months ago and he was in the low percentile for weight and height. We had to keep an eye on his food intake and take him back to the dr to see if there was an improvement. I took him back today and he hasn't put on much weight so dr took some blood and are going to run some tests. Has anyone else's child had these symptoms and what did it turn out to be?

I know a child like this, but the issue was ASD causing extreme fussy eating leading to malnutrition. What are his eating habits like?

Coeliac?

My son was pale and thin and reactive. Sadly he wasn’t diagnosed with coeliac disease until he was 18. He did well enough academically and in sports to not seem unwell, though sometimes we thought he lacked focus.

coeliacs is also my first thought.
go to gp and ask for test.

how much exercise is he getting? at that age a child should climb and run for an hour without it being tiring for him.

How does he feel when he eats?

My first thought was coeliac or an allergy/intolerance of some kind.

Does he look just tired under the eyes or does it resemble "allergic shiners" ?

Low iron?

low iron is a symptom, not a cause.
even if the child is anaemic it needs to be investigated why that's the case.

Cystic fibrosis? I was a skinny, tiny child and had tests when I was about 5 or 6 to find out what my DM said the Doctors wanted to find out why I was so small. I remember having a plaster on my back and a friend's Dad who worked at the hospital removed it to take for testing. My DM still doesn't have a clue what I was tested for but using Google a sweat test is one of the ways for diagnosing cystic fibrosis.

The tests I had concluded it was genetics. My DF's family were short and fat and my DM's family tall and thin. I had the short and thin. My sister had the other parts.

Coeliac is something I mentioned to the dr as it does run in our family. My aunty and some cousins have it along with my husbands mother. He said we would investigate it. He doesn't get an upset stomach after he eats all the time, but doesn't eat much at a time. He starts to gag when he eats too much in one sitting. I like to think he has a balanced diet but does not eat many veggies despite me trying to disguise them in things. He eats a lot of fruit, he would live off that if I let him. Most of the time he eats cereal for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch and a decent home cooked meal for dinner. We get blood results in 4 days so hopefully they show something if there is something wrong with him.

@redcandlelight he gets tired quickly if he's running around and sometimes feels sick if he does too much running etc

@Whatwouldscullydo they eyes look tired and not like the allergic shiners you mentioned

Is he drinking a lot or passing urine a lot?

Tiredness and weight loss can be symptoms of type one diabetes but normally accompanied by extreme thirst and urination.

Hope you get the test results speedily and it is nothing to worry about.

Do you give him a vit d supplement at all?

Lots of symptoms for coeliac disease (my DC has it). Note the blood test is unreliable in younger children - in my DC the blood test was negative (but did show low iron) but the pathology of the biopsies from his endoscopy clearly showed coeliac disease.

The family history unfortunately increases the chances as it is genetic.

He probably isn't eating enough.

Do you give him vitamins? Will he eat cereal? What about milk? At this stage, I'd be giving him supplements to help him increase his calorie and nutrient intake

Coeliac

Have they checked his heart?

Coeliac, my son had sunken eyes, thin. Chose fruit and veg over 'carbs' obv subconsciously realised they didn't make his tummy hurt. Once he was diagnosed a few weeks later he told me how good it was his tummy didn't hurt now, I was 'but you didn't say it hurt' he replied 'I didn't know it hurt till it stopped'

The child @Ohalrightthen sounds like my son.
Does he have any ASD traits?

If it coeliac didn't stop gluten and wheat until you have it tested by a hospital.

Horrible disease - took me until I was 48 to get a diagnosis and I was so ill I was in hospital for a long while.

I got the results of his blood test today. He has low iron so has to take iron. Test showed negative for coeliac, which is a relief!

That’s really good not coeliac.
Does he have a good, home cooked, diet? And any probiotics? I would look carefully at his nutrition to try and give him a health boost that way . Our DS is same age and not thriving either and I feed him homemade soups with lots veg blended in, high quality meats, I hide a good probiotic in juice most days (only way to get him to take it) and he takes fish oil. I also give him extra meals if he needs it that are full of nutrients too - Greek yoghurt with ground seeds in and fruit or jam, a boiled egg, cheese on crackers , that sort of thing

Ps lorrielou the irritability definitely makes me wonder about his gut health and would make me want to check that. Or to at least give a good probiotic if you arent already .

It’s hard when a child isn’t fully right and you can’t put your finger why and I usually try both doctors and naturopath with ours as the naturopath we see puts work into seeing what for example is causing the iron deficiency rather than just treating it

Hi @VirtualLearning he does have a good home cooked diet and I try and hide vegetable in meals where I can as he can be fussy sometimes. Our gp has referred him to a pediatrician to try and get to the bottom of his iron deficiency so hopefully she can advise us what the next step is. It is hard when you know something isn't right but hopefully she can shed some light.