Gluten Free

A.J. has been my special baby, as far as medical needs go. Remember this? His legs are good and strong now, you can't even tell that at one point his legs were not even able to be straight! His toes are still stacked funny like that, but he doesn't seem to mind. It makes This Little Piggy extra fun!

One day, about a year and a half ago at his 9 month checkup, I noticed that A.J.'s growth had significantly slowed down. He had consistently been in the 99% of height and weight, but at that 9 month check up he had dropped down to the 70 something percentile. In only a matter of three months. For the next several check ups it kept dropping, until at one point he was in the 40 something percent for height or weight, I don't remember, but I was hounding the pediatrician at every appointment. He kept assuring me that it's common for breastfed babies to suddenly average out. My maternal instincts were just screaming at me that it wasn't right somehow. My husband is 6'7", I am 5'8", and my daughter is the tallest in her class. It didn't make sense.

I eventually put together a few seemingly unrelated symptoms and decided that A.J. had a gluten allergy! A simple blood test confirmed it a few weeks later. His symptoms were the sudden growth slow down, chronic soft stools, anemia, pica, and I've always had a suspicion that John had something similar as well.

So we are a gluten free family now! It has not been a hard transition, we ate fairly "clean" at home as it was. Eating out is where it becomes troublesome.. fast food choices are scarce, restaurants serve bread at the table, etc. Anyway, in a few short weeks the difference is already noticeable! A.J. hasn't licked any more walls, his poops are solid, and he really seems to have grown a whole inch now that his body is absorbing nutrients! Yay for healthy babies!!

I hope this is the last of A.J.'s, or Maddie's for that matter, health concerns!