Does anyone else have a low-energy child?

[Anonymous]

I think it's certainly possible that you just have a mellow fellow or a conservative/watchful child. The problem is that to special needs moms (and I'm not saying you're child is special needs, I'm just posting from that viewpoint), constant "low energy" plus slow to walk/crawl and meet milestones are huge red flags of metabolic/mitochondrial disorders and/or hypotonia. With the former, the muscles need to process energy and if a key element is missing, can't do so efficiently. With the latter, the muscles' simply do not respond as quickly to stimulation and you do see a lot lying around, plus slow to walk/crawl history.

Worth an assessment? I would think so. I would suggest someone who can order appropriate blood work, not just an OT. Alec Hoon at Kennedy-Krieger is a good place to start.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was also going to say it might be low muscle tone. Another thing is it might be sensory processing disorder (which includes low tone). You might want to have an eval by an OT just to be sure.

My DS is low-energy. He will run around, but only for short periods, and it turns out that he has low tone. It never even occurred to me that something was actually not quite right, since he hit all his milestones just fine.

[Anonymous]

OP, you should discuss your concerns with your pediatrician. Maybe your pediatrician can check his heart, blood pressure, run a metabolic panel as other PP's have said. Heart problems can cause a child to tire easily. I don't say this to scare you, but to just rule out any major problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's certainly possible that you just have a mellow fellow or a conservative/watchful child. The problem is that to special needs moms (and I'm not saying you're child is special needs, I'm just posting from that viewpoint), constant "low energy" plus slow to walk/crawl and meet milestones are huge red flags of metabolic/mitochondrial disorders and/or hypotonia. With the former, the muscles need to process energy and if a key element is missing, can't do so efficiently. With the latter, the muscles' simply do not respond as quickly to stimulation and you do see a lot lying around, plus slow to walk/crawl history.

Worth an assessment? I would think so. I would suggest someone who can order appropriate blood work, not just an OT. Alec Hoon at Kennedy-Krieger is a good place to start.

I agree. I have two kids with low muscle tone and we now recognize that my brothers do as well. It would be worth having a comprehensive assessment to rule anything out. If it turns out your child is just laid back, fine. You've lost nothing but some time and a co-pay. If it does turn out there's something more, you can likely do something about it.

[Anonymous]

My DS is this way and he was recently diagnosed with hypothyroidism. Low energy is a mark of the disease.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had a low energy boy, until we found out he had a rare syndrome. Once we treated that he became CRAZY. Poor guy was just trying to conserve energy to fight off chronic illness. Not saying your kid is sick (because you would know by now of course), but yes, I did have a low-energy boy.

My kid too, he has a mild mitochondrial disorder. Once we treated that with a vitamin cocktail we also had a huge uptick in energy, now he does soccer and gymnastics. We have a specialist but also work with Kelly Dorfman the nutritionist (she is in MD). She has actually been more helpful. DS takes B vitamins, CoQ10 and Carnitine and he is a different child. His growth took off too. He used to talk about "saving energy" when he had things after school, so sad. PP was your DS slow to lose teeth and did he have things like slow hair growth or trouble in esp hot and cold environments? My child had not lost any teeth by 7.5 and by 8.5 he was all caught up, the difference even in little things was remarkable. OP, it may be temperment or something more. I'd highly recommend a consult with Kelly, it was enormously helpful to us.

[Anonymous]

6:36, 19:04 here, just saw your post. I'll keep that name in mind. Our specialist was great with ordering tests, not so much with knowing what to do with the results.

Just to throw out there, in addition to low energy and heat/cold sensitivity, a child who has a forward/back pattern of development could well have an energy disorder. In hindsight, DS did best in the spring and fall, with leaps in motor skills for example, the seasons where the energy demands to cope with temp extremes were less. DS also had low tone that responded amazingly well to carnitine, an amino acid he tested as very low in. The testing protocol at KKI is very easy on the child, bloodwork and urine testing.

If there is an underlying issue, which could be as simple as anemia or thyroid or even a metabolic or mito issue, treating it can make a bigger difference than you can imagine. Even getting esp warm coats for example or having camps that are largely air conditioned has made DS more comfortable and successful. Allowing him to take breaks for snacks as needed and finding food he was guaranteed to eat at lunch was huge, his K teacher noted that he was more alert and engaged in the afternoon when he ate a good lunch. That was the year we got the diagnosis.


We were first tipped off to the mito possibility by a mom on a chat board, so I just like to pay it forward.

[Anonymous]

My kids are pretty low energy, tho much less so afTer a lot of therapy and intervention and deliberate attempts to get them more exercise. In my kids' cases they are both low tone and have sensory and motor planning issues that made them less comfortable running, climbing, jumping. Both of my kids hit early milestones on time in terms of physical stuff, but then took forever to run, climb, have the stamina to walk longer distances. The older one has made tons of progress and might look rather normal when viewed alone but the issues are still obvious when on a playground with other kids. The younger one is still quite behind and will probably always be a slow mover. We have done martial arts, swimming, dance, OT, PT and of course lots of playing and that has all really helped.