Daughter Has Mysteriously Lost Weight

Hi L.,

Incorporating the spiritual medicine perspective can be very clarifying for a woman caring for herself and her family. Yogic anatomy, tribal medicine, and the modern bodymind family health philosophy (from such people as authors Jeannine Parvati and Christiane Northrup MD) approach physical health as a manifestation of the outer energy bodies, i.e., the emotional and mental bodies, the soul.

"Our children are what our love looks like" is what JP taught, and what has been helpful guidance for mothers time and time again. This perspective boldly takes responsibility for our own personal process as parents, and invites us to seek out the spiritual lessons in various situations, and create healinng. Children are like sponges for any and all negative emotional energy in the family, even when it is not directed at them personally.

Significant weight loss in a child, though it has physical components (parasites, celiac disease, toxicities, eating disorders) points to a greater energetic imbalance in the family. Even if the physical factor is addressed, if the subtle root causes are NOT, the child will manifest another sort of imbalance in its place, weeks or months later.

Children bear the truth of the adults, even if adults may deny the truth, which adults often do. Children reflect the true vitality of the marriage, etc. Whatever we go through in helping our children sustainably heal from things ranging from eczema, colds, flus to weight loss and broken bones changes US in the process. True healing of childhood illnesses/injuries harmonizes a family, and can really bring a family closer together.

That said, it can be very helpful to come up with some questions for personal reflection - to send into your intuition, or prayers, or dreamtime - and let the answers reveal themselves to you over days and nights. For example (just examples, some may or may not seem relevant to you, or they may seem scary, but it's absolutely essential that we are willing to be fearless mothers):

"What is wasting away in our family?"
"How has stress affected our emotional nourishment?"
"If my daughter is not absorbing food, what is she absorbing?"
"Could this child have endured any trauma I might not know about, at school, at other people's houses, etc."
"What do I need to do for my own physical and spiritual nutrition?"
"Has my husband taken on any addictive behavior this past year?"
"If so, is the marriage capable of communicating about it?"
"How can our love feel better and flourish in a truly healthy way?"

It's my belief and experience that our intuition and soulful inquiry skills are God-given, and when we as mothers are attuned to this, God/The Divine clears the way. Hope this helps!

1 mom found this helpful

First thought is diabetes since my daughter has type 1 and weight loss is an indicator........not all docs do so make sure your doc tested glucose.......good luck to you and hope you find answers soon........btw, I am an older mom...had my first when I was 42 and my second when I was nearly 44 :-)

I second the recommendation that they make sure to test for celiac disease. Both myself and two kids were diagnosed 4 years ago - it's also genetic, so if your child has it, you also should be tested - you can be asymptomatic. Also, for the blood tests, did they test specifically for ferritin and B12? If they did not and just did a CBC/CMP, then she could still have both iron deficient and B-vitamin deficient anemias. Both of which are also signs of celiac. The iron deficiency is one reason folks faint while blood is drawn. It's also important to note that these problems often start showing up around the age of 6 or 7 as kids are born with a store of Vitamin B12, but that is depleted by age 7. I had iron deficiency anemia at age 6, but wasn't diagnosed as celiac until I was almost 42.

Of course her doctor will have opinions on what medical issues might be affecting her weight and it is important to weigh them. I am also wondering, though, if at least some of it might be stress-related if your husband is out of a job. How many money conversations might she have overheard and might she be picking up on the stress you and your husband are experiencing? You might have a relaxed conversation about this to get a sense of how much she is thinking about it.

Does she drink a lot of diet drinks? Or lots of artificial sweeteners? Aspartame and other artificial sweeteners are really bad news for your health. Eating lots of fiber will help the digestion process function better. Good luck!

i haven't looked at the rest of the responses, but i'm sure someone has mentioned celiacs disease. There is a mysterious uprising of gluten intolerance in our country and it is very manageable.Gluten intolerace, is a factor of the bodies inability to absorb nutrients. The symptoms can be anything from, weight loss to lack of focus, intestinal bloating, shock, and sometimes the occasional weight gain. Since pasta and breads are the staple of most young childrens diets, it is the children who are showing most of these signs. Basically anything conventional made with flour pretty much has gluten in it. But no worries about getting your child tested yet. Health food stores, and even kroger, fiesta, h.e.b., etc, have gluten free varieties of these breads, pasta , cookies, etc.. You can put your baby on this diet for 2 weeks and see if improvement has occured, you can pretty much tell the poor thing has celiacs. I work at a health food store and see this kind of thing everyday, i'd be happy to help you with the "kid favorites" i see leave the store, and become back ordered by the case everyday. Just send me a message if you are interested, even if you do not live close to my place of work, i will still do my best to help you with all the preffered brands, and a few tips on gluten free baking (because i have tried and failed, numerous times, before i came up with the right consistencies. Good luck to you and your baby.

p.s. just to rule out another possibility, has your daughter recently undergone a course of antibiotics? or had an m.m.r immunization , if so her problem could be something related to crohns, are her bowel movements normal?

My suggestion to you is to first seek advice from an iridologist before going to a doctor for several overly expensive and unnecessary lab work. You will be amazed what type of information you can get from an iridologist and they're very inexpensive.
They will look into her eyes - the tissues in the eyes and pinpoint what area maybe affecting the weight loss- she may be filled with toxins or parasites that causes that.

Garland, Texas

Has she LOST weight, or has she just not GAINED weight over the past year? Kids go in spurts. If your ped isn't too concerned I wouldn't be either. My son has ALWAYS been in the bottom of chart, 3-5 percentile. He was premature and has always been small but has grown consistently. My former ped was obsessed and even threatened to call CPS on me if I refused to do what she said. (whole other thread in itself) and I don't see her anymore.

I say trust your instincts. Does she seem to eat well? Does she seem to eat a variety? If you are offering her healthy choices, even when she goes through phases where she only seems to want one thing at a time, more often than not it will still even out over time.

For instance if she ONLY wants chicken for a few days, and then ONLY wants veggies, when you look at the week or month, it is balanced. If it isn't, then of course you need to address that with your ped and a nutritionist.

But if she seems to be eating well and accepting healthy choices you offer her, and it isn't a matter of actually losing weight, just not having grown, then sit back a bit. Give her time. One of these days her appetite will jump, she'll get tired and suddenly she'll shoot up 3 inches or something.

Anyway, good luck, don't panic.

Hi L.,

I have just recently found out that my daughter has a gluten/wheat intollerance. She has not lost a bunch of weight, however was not gaining any since one year old(now two) Mostly diagnosed due to severe excema....however, after doing MUCH research on the topic, I do know that that if you have celiac disease it can cause weight loss due to the nutrients not being absorbed by a person. The good news about this is that it is totally treatable by just avoiding wheat products. Just something to consider that your doctors may not have even thought about....I know I really had to help mine to diagnose my daughter.

Best of luck and blessings....hope you find out what is going on with your precious daughter soon!

btw, I am also an older Mom of 1 daughter...who lights up my life! Considering another...just don't know if I can do it at 41....aaahhh if only husbands could bear children...I would definitely have more!

Doktors are so quick to do test, give medicine, and sent to specialist. I feel it is their way of making sure their profession goes on. My daughter was sent for hip ex-rays when she was 6 months, cause the doctor thought one side felt kinda loose. Two x-rays and 400 dollars later ( with insurance mind you ) they found nothing wrong.
I am hugely into alternative meds, and me and my family have not been sick this winter when everybody around us is.
My point of this : If your daughter is healthy and eating well, then forget what the doctor says. Her test came back, and with obesity such a problem in this country, I would not worry too much about a thin child. Did she have a growth spurt in the last year. Is she very active, or just a picky eater. Consider all these things before having a doctor probe her. My daughter was always in the 25 percentile, last time she went up to 75. I did not have her blood taken when she was one, cause I simply feel no need to do so when my child is completely healthy.
Doctors are no geniusses, they are simply people trying to make a living, and multiple test and prescribing meds increases their salary (sorry but am not much for the profession) I am an older Mom too (40) and would love to exchange some more info if you are interested.
GOd Bless, and good luck to your husband.
C.

If you think eating is the issue, you may want to read "How to get your child to eat: but not too much" by Ellyn Satter. It addresses eating relationships/concerns in a very comprehensive way. One of my friends had major concerns with her son but this book helped her through it.

Maybe your daughter is just losing the "baby" weight. You didn't mention if she looks too thin or is unhealthy. My daughter has always been below the charts on weight but has always been active and healthy. You might try getting her some pediasure or carnation instant breakfast to supplement her diet, just tell her it's chocolate milk with vitamins in it. Other than that, if she's eating healthy and is normally active, I wouldn't worry about her or let the doctors run any tests that you don't see a need for.

A few months ago my daughter lost 7 lbs. in about a month and would hardly eat. I took her to the Dr. and even though her blood tests were normal the urine test showed a Urinary Tract Infection. She had NO symptoms of having one. They put her on an antibiotic and in no time she was eating again and her weight went back up.

K.

i'm sorry i don't have any advice as far as your daughter's weight loss, but i wanted to write because i've always fainted when having blood drawn, shots, etc. so if your daughter DOES have to have blood work done, make sure to tell the lab technician that she faints (most are very understanding) and ask if she can lay down and have the lights dimmed, then you can sit on the side opposite from where they are drawing blood and talk to her and make sure she doesn't hold her breath. also, have some orange juice and a granola bar handy, which will boost her blood sugar right after they get done and that should help her not to faint =)

My first thought was celiac as well. That's a pretty significant drop in weight percentiles. Has she had any other symptoms?

The celiac blood test is a separate test that is mailed off and takes a while to come back as fewer labs do this test.

I highly recommend Dr. Deborah Neigut. I have been to another pedi GI in town that I would not recommend-we left them for Dr. Neigut. YOu can email me off list if you need to know if you are being referred to this other practice.

In the meantime, you might try some Pediasure with DD as it is gluten free (impt. if she has celiac)and is good for calories and nutrients.

I have some from the hospital that DD doesn't like that I could give you if you are willing to pick it up (I live near Bitters and Blanco)

____@____.com

Blessings~C.