question about weight gain 3.5 months after diagnosis....

[suphillips]

Hi all,
I'm wondering how much weight gain to expect after diagnosis, and if I should worry (or stop worrying, that is). In the few weeks after diagnosis, Gracie gained the 4-5 lbs she needed to look healthy again (from about 37 lbs back up to 43), but she really hasn't gained weight since. She's always been a light eater (we're at about 70-100 g carb/day), and we have a pretty healthy diet. She's honeymooning nicely, have pretty typical honeymoon sort of BG numbers, and the 3 month A1c was 7.3. Shouldn't a 4.5 year old kid gain weight in 2 months? How did your kids gain weight after diagnosis?
Thanks!

[TracieandJim]

Thank you for posting this question. I am curious as well. My DS dropped to 27 lbs and is only up to 31 lbs and we are approaching the 3 month mark after diagnosis.

[MissMadisonsMom]

Madison had dropped almost 20 lbs down to 65lbs (I pushed that symptom off onto puberty/growing/sports etc) and it has taken her almost 6 months to gain it back. In that time she also grew 2 inches and her feet grew 1.5 sizes. Her body is healthy again and can work on what it is supposed to work on - growing. The gain was a little slow in the beginning and I think that is because her body was still adjusting to feeling better.

[MReinhardt]

When Chell was first diagnosed, she didnt loose a lot of weight, only around 4 lbs. After diagnoses, WOW she gained 20 lbs. This was due to all the extra snacks through out the day. Because she was on NPH it was required that she had 45 carb meals, 30 carb snacks. Then the CDE, upped it to 60 carbs per meal.

I talked with the dr after she gained the 20 lbs in 3 months. I just explained to him that I felt like we were always feeding the insulin, and all this weight gain was not acceptable. Chell is short 5'1" gaining all the weight put extra stress on her joints, chell said she felt like she was always off balance with the weight gain also. That is when the Endo really took to heart on what I said about Chell. He then changed her to the Novolog and Lantus then explained to us that she will require 4-6 shots a day instead of 2. Chell and I agreed that 4-6 shots is better than gaining all the weight and more. Poor kid could not even move. I am guessing it took us about 6 months for Chell to loose 10 lbs safely.

Weight gain is expected in some children, but not nearly 20 lbs.

[valerie k]

she could be in the trends of a growth spurt... my kids are stagnent for a long time, and then, gain weight and shoot upwards. It took matt over 6 months to get to his pre-D weight. Another 6 months, he is a few pounds heavier now then his pre D weight, but also taller as well.

As long as she is healthy, I wouldnt worry about it unless the dr tells you to.

[MamaC]

OK, this will freak you all out and applies only to a 13 (now 15) year old adolescent boy.

Tom was 120# in the winter before he was dx.

At dx he was 108#.

Two weeks later he had regained all the weight.

Almost 2 years after dx, he has gained at total of 52# (now 160). Of course he's at least 6' tall now too!

~~Becky~~

[Mama Belle]

Kids growth waxes and wanes, hence the phrase growth spurt. It could be that the last 2 months haven't been a time of much growth for your daughter. Our endo tends to look at longer periods of time to track issues with growth. Two months is a pretty short time period. If she goes 6 months without gaining weight, then I'd want to chat with the endo about it. With a good A1c of 7.3 I doubt this is related to D and is probably more attributable to typical growth patterns in kids.

[wendyc]

Abby lost 6lbs, and gained it back pretty quick. Then for the next year she only gained about 2lbs (why can't that be me!), but she was healthy and growning height, head wise so the docs were ok with that. She's rising nicely on the scale.

I wouldn't worry about it too much.

[Amy C.]

My son's weight has gone up and down between quarterly endo visits, but generally goes up over the course of a year. He looks pretty thin as he is 6'2" tall, but weighs 143 lbs. He did gain 4 pounds at the last visit. Yea!! I expect as soon as he stops growing upwards, he can fill out more.

A child has to be pretty thin for a doctor to be concerned.

[RosemaryCinNJ]

Amanda's weight when diagnosed at 13 mos. old was down to 17 lbs...she is tiny to begin with and she was also premature..However, once she began her insulin and started feeling better, she started to eat better and she began to put the weight she lost back on pretty quickly..Shes continuing to gain well..at just 2 years old now (25 mos) she weighs 31 lbs maybe 32 by now since her last checkup. Considering she was only 4 lbs when she was born, she is so heavy to me now!!! As long as she is gaining and not losing...Im not worried.