Dr. Lindsey Waldman hosts pediatric gastroenterologist Dr. Natalie Sikka to discuss where gastroenterology and endocrinology overlap in children, especially around growth and nutrition. They explain that “normal” weight gain means tracking along an individual child’s growth curve, with concern raised by rapid increases or decreases, plateaus, or drops in weight or height percentiles, while considering genetics and dietary intake. Dr. Sikka outlines an evaluation for poor weight gain, including detailed diet history and assessing for vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, pain, swallowing issues, or malabsorption, with stepwise testing such as blood work, stool studies, imaging, and endoscopy/colonoscopy when indicated. They cover picky eating strategies emphasizing nutritious foods modeled by parents, the gut-brain connection and anxiety-related sympt ...