Has the pediatrician considered celiac disease?  That could explain the
family history, weight loss, multiple food allergies (from gut damage from
gluten) and might explain the blood test results.  I hadn't heard of a
relationship between celiac and triglycerides before, but a quick google
found me this: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1865279?dopt=Abstract from
1991 - J Pediatr Gastroenterol
Nutr.<javascript:AL_get(this,%20'jour',%20'J%20Pediatr%20Gastroenterol%20Nutr.');>1991
May;12(4):459-60.
*  *"Serum lipids in celiac children." This research found  high
triglycerides and lower than normal HDL and Total cholesterol in children
with untreated celiac.

I'm not sure what the standard is for testing infants for celiac, but I do
know that a common type of test requires recent gluten exposure, so if there
is a possibility of doing this test, mom should keep gluten in her diet (and
baby's) as usual until the test and then can try strict elimination for them
both.

I hope she can keep breastfeeding - it's the safest and most healing food
for her baby's gut!  And the food pickiness may resolve once they get to the
bottom of this... I'd be picky, too, if eating food made me hurt!

Rosemary McNaughton, LLLL
Northampton, MA

On Thu, Mar 26, 2009 at 8:32 PM, Debbie Gillespie <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> I’ve got a really quirky case that I’m not sure how to counsel.  Baby is 14
> months old; still almost exclusively breastfed (family history includes
> laundry list of allergies); 18 lbs. 1.5 oz current weight, down from 18
> lbs.
> 13.5 oz at a year.  Mom is a long-time vegetarian and became vegan when
> baby
> reacted to milk and egg in mom’s diet; she does take prenatals but no other
> supplements.  Baby’s main source of nutrition remains breastmilk.  Ped has
> been aggressively pushing solids and even formula supplementation for past
> several months, but mom has resisted the pressure.  Infant reacts violently
> to many different solids, so mom has been proceeding cautiously when
> introducing any solids; baby is VERY picky.  Ped ran some blood tests
> recently and the results have freaked everyone out:
>
>  Cholesterol: 205 (Should be less than 170 for someone her age)
>
> Triglycerides (fasting): 820 (Should be less than 150 for someone her age
> fasting)
>
> HDL: 20 (Should be greater than 45)
>
> %HDL: 10 (Should be greater than 27)
>
> LDL: Invalid with triglyceride level over 400
>
> VLDL: Invalid with triglyceride level over 400
>
> Cholesterol/HDL Ratio: 10.3 (Should be less than 4.5)
>
> Breastfeeding and Human Lactation includes one paragraph about cholesterol
> (it’s typically higher in a breastfed infant) and nothing about
> triglycerides.  Lawrence’s book has three pages regarding cholesterol
> levels
> in infancy but only for the first few months of breastfeeding, and nothing
> about triglycerides. JHL has an article in 2/2003 (The Long-Term Effects of
> Early Nutrition: The Role of Breastfeeding on Cholesterol Levels ) but I
> suspect it’s going to reiterate the same info that’s published in the
> textbooks (I admit I haven’t read the article but I’m trying to avoid
> troubling ILCA any more than necessary).
>
>  This obviously falls outside our area of expertise, but I’d like to
> support
> the mother as much as possible.  Ped seems to be searching for any excuse
> to
> get baby off the breast ASAP.  Has anyone come across such high cholesterol
> and triglyceride levels before?  Let me know if you need any further info.
>
>  Thank you in advance,
>
> Debbie Gillespie, IBCLC, LLLL
> Tempe, AZ
>
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