Ongoing Blood Tests Not Needed for Children with Celiac Disease

Interesting... I think my family are oddballs as many of the research you have shared recently have been opposite for our personal experience. This is another one. Ongoing blood work has revealed new deficiencies in my kids despite adherence to gluten-free diet and previous normal labs. Three of my four children (and myself) have celiac disease. My kids were diagnosed young (2, 4, 6 years of age). All were off the charts as far as growth. All were breastfed on demand for 20+ months. My first two (diagnosed at 2 and 4) were fed gluten at the normal time of 4-6 months. My third wasn't given any until a year old. My fourth (not celiac) didn't have any until she was regularly eating foods and could eat off my husband's plate so 1-2 years old.

My oldest, diagnosed at 4.5 and now almost 11, was the hardest hit and though symptoms wouldn't warrant testing now if we didn't routinely see a GI doc, we have been surprised with lab results at different times (anemia, low vit. d, low bone density, low calcium). I'm definitely sticking with the yearly labs.

It's interesting how we are all so individual.

Interesting... I think my family are oddballs as many of the research you have shared recently have been opposite for our personal experience. This is another one. Ongoing blood work has revealed new deficiencies in my kids despite adherence to gluten-free diet and previous normal labs. Three of my four children (and myself) have celiac disease. My kids were diagnosed young (2, 4, 6 years of age). All were off the charts as far as growth. All were breastfed on demand for 20+ months. My first two (diagnosed at 2 and 4) were fed gluten at the normal time of 4-6 months. My third wasn't given any until a year old. My fourth (not celiac) didn't have any until she was regularly eating foods and could eat off my husband's plate so 1-2 years old.

 

My oldest, diagnosed at 4.5 and now almost 11, was the hardest hit and though symptoms wouldn't warrant testing now if we didn't routinely see a GI doc, we have been surprised with lab results at different times (anemia, low vit. d, low bone density, low calcium). I'm definitely sticking with the yearly labs.

 

It's interesting how we are all so individual.

Your personal experience my, in fact be valid. The study though, looks at the larger population of kids with celiac disease. It can still be true that some kids will benefit from such testing, AND that the population as a whole will not benefit from such testing.