You can stop licking your child
It will not guarantee that he does not have CF. Even if he has a low sweat test number (and therefore does not taste salty) it is still very possible to have CF.
The "tasting salty" is just a rule of thumb - something that people notice, especially before we had more medical testing at our disposal, so it's one of those things you will read about as a classic indicator, but don't hang your hat on it meaning that your child doesn't have CF because he doesn't taste salty. If someone does taste salty, then chances are more likely that they will have a very high sweat test (meaning more of a dysfunction in the sweat chloride channel) Tasting more or less salty or have more or less proper functioning does not correlated to the severity of the disease and/or is not proof of not having CF.
I agree with the other posters -- this does sound like it <i>could</i> be CF. You should really follow up with testing - both sweat testing (just because most every doctor has to start with that) <b>AND</b> genetic testing, because it really is the most accurate way to test for sure... especially if it sounds like his sweat test numbers are not going to be very high (tasting salty)
Another word of caution about genetic testing... be sure to insist on complete testing. There are approximately 1580 CF genes identified to date. Often times the doctor and/or insurance company only want to test for 12, or 89..... this makes absolutely no sense! You are hardly eliminating anything, by leaving that many genes untested. If they do send him for genetic testing, be sure to ask how many they are testing for... chances are the answer is going to be 89.....it's much cheaper that way, problem is, if it comes back negative, you really don't know for sure because they never even looked for the other 1,491 genes!
Also be sure to ask for the sweat test number, don't just settle for positive or negative... my daughter went 8 years with the wrong diagnosis because she was 2 points under, and therefore we were told she was "negative" .... see my full story on my blog.... there are many people here who test out "normal" but genetic testing finds two genes.
Sorry to come on so strongly, but I just don't want you to get misdiagnosed or go undiagnosed any longer than necessary -- we have so many parents come one here who report they have struggled with health issues for years only to find out they could have been getting the correct treatment, had they know their child had CF earlier. Get him tested so you can know for sure - it will help him out tremendously to get the right treatment. If it is not CF, you can put the issue to rest and move on to find out what the cause of his problems are.
Best wishes... please keep us posted.
