Hi tdasilveira1,
It sounds like your daughter might be suffering from Coeliacs Disease. This is an intolerance to
gluten a substance found in wheat, barley and rye. When children with this condition eat gluten containing products eg. bread, they develop an immune response that damages their small intestines making it difficult for them to absorb food as it passes through the gut. As a result all the sugars and fats remain in the gut and ferment causing gas,
bloating and oily offensive smelling stools. The children also do not grow well as they are not absorbing nutrients, they may also appear lethargic and weak.
To confirm the diagnosis I would suggest getting two tests performed: a TTG (tissue
transglutaminase) and an quantitative measure IgA
antibodies to TTG (also known as Coeliac antibodies). If these are positive, I would then suggest seeing a pediatric gastroenterologist who will have to do an intestinal
biopsy to confirm the diagnosis.
If you are reluctant to to do the tests I would suggest removing wheat containing products from her diet and see how her symptoms change over a period of 3-6 moths. The difficulty is if you perform the tests after a period of not taking wheat you may get falsely negative results (because there is no gluten in the system to stimulate the necessary reaction). It is therefore worth doing the tests before you remove wheat from the diet.
There is a lot of information on the internet about foods you can feed children with Coeliac's disease. All the best,
Tamara