A couple weeks ago, Sullivan was referred to an endocrinologist and an allergist. He had not gained any weight (length, head, or length) since January. The pediatrician was concerned and did some blood work. The blood work resulted in a "low growth hormone" and a milk allergy (because I requested that he be tested --he had a bad breakout with some yogurt).
So yesterday we went to the pediatric endocrinologist and the pediatric allergist. It ended up being a husband / wife team so it was perfect! We saw the endocrinologist first. He weighed Sullivan and he had gained weight (now up to 18 lbs!!) and had gained a little lengthwise. After looking at all of the blood work results that the pediatrician ran, he was not concerned because Sullivan is still within the normal range (although 3%) for his age. He explained that kids in the first 2 years of life can vary on the chart, but by 3 or 4 they should maintain their "curve". We'll continue to monitor his growth and see him back in a year. He explained that the growth hormone emits in your body periodically (throughout the night generally) so a low growth hormone could show a false positive based on the time of day the blood was drawn. Shew. I'm convinced it's genetics. Let's face it, Andrew and I are not tall people... so our children will most likely not be giants!
Ok... so then we saw the pediatric allergist. She asked what kind of foods he had been exposed to. She explained that a person will not show a positive reaction (or could show a false positive) to a skin test unless he /she had been exposed to it in their environment. After discussions she did a milk test and an egg test. He was positive for both. So now I'm researching alternative foods that he can eat that don't have milk or eggs in them. Tough task! We'll see her back in 6 months to see if there is anything else he needs to be tested for. She said to introduce him to only 1 new thing at a time and make a note of any reactions.
