Loose Stools In Small Child-Is It Gluten?

[amandajan01]

I am at the very beginning of my search for answers in helping my 3 1/2 year old son. He has never had a firm stool and as a result he has low iron counts. He is very healthy otherwise and is fine with his height/weight/development. He usually has 2-3 loose stool bowel movements each day, usually within 30 minutes of eating a meal. I have tried eliminating dairy from his diet but it didn't help. My husband's sister and two nieces have severe gluten intolerance but my husband and I don't. My older son, age 6, does not have loose stools.

My main questions are: "Is having loose bowels 2 or 3 times a day really that big of a deal? Would going gluten-free be too drastic for such minor problems? Can we just lessen the amount of gluten or is it an ALL-OR-NOTHING decision? What tests should we ask our doctor to do?"

Thank you for your help!

[RLM13]

Hi, I am new to the gluten free diet so I don't want to advise what you should do but my daughter (aged 11) was having 2 -3 loose stools every day for the last 3 weeks. Since going Gluten free (now on our 6th day) she has only been going once a day and they are not as loose as they have been and her tummy aches have all but disappeared.

Good Luck, I hope you get it sorted X

[Skylark]

Hi and welcome. You need to ask your doctor for a celiac panel. The Dr. may also want to rule out intestinal infections like Giardia. Celiac testing is prone to false negatives and does not pick up gluten intolerance so once it's done, try him on a strict gluten-free diet.

[deb445]

My oldest had loose stools UNTIL he was 3, and went gluten and dairy free.

Truly, loose doesn't even begin to describe it. Diaper days = up the back. Always packed a couple extra pairs of pants AND shirts.SO glad those days are over.

My youngest was the opposite. Constipated UNTIL he was 1 and he went gluten and dairy free.

And now that they've been gluten-free/df for two years, wow, you know when there has been contamination. The body had its ways of alerting us to toxins - not pleasant, but it makes us pay attention