Originally Posted by gbcc:
She is very pale but her family is pale as well. No failure to thrive and normal on the charts. Her stools are often like little rabbit turds (Sorry if it's TMI)
I have never heard of Celiac disease. Would it be out of line to google some info and present it to mom.
Celiac disease is a very under-diagnosed condition where the body can't properly process gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley. Anemia is very common in people with undiagnosed Celiac which is why it jumped to my mind. Being overly tired is common as well (and that goes with the anemia). Celiac, when undiagnosed, causes damage in the intestines that make the body unable to absorb nutrients properly (malnutrition can also cause someone to not have enough energy).
Most/many doctors aren't well-educated about Celiac and the BEST possible diagnosis is a trial off of gluten as testing is frequently inaccurate, but that requires a lot of commitment on the part of the parents! Luckily, being gluten free has gotten MUCH easier in the past 4-5 years and awareness of the problem is growing by leaps and bounds.
Whether something like Celiac/gluten intolerance is the issue, or something else, getting her iron levels fixed (which might require switching to a different and BETTER vitamin) should help a lot...but she still could have other things going on that could be causing the speech issues.