2 Yr Old Gluten Sensitivity Symptoms?

[jlarnett76]

A little background…When my son was born I breastfed for the first 5 months, he spit up a lot more with breast milk than he did with formula, which is why I stopped so soon (that and returning to work).  Anyway, I never ate spicy foods and watched what I ate because of breastfeeding.  This is something that just hit me after my phone call with his Occupational Therapist.  My son has always had an issue eating, I figured he had reflux and associated the pain with food, but his doctor assured me that that was not the issue, he would eat when he was hungry and will not starve and he’s growing fine. However, here we are a year and a half later and I have literally tried everything I can think of, fun plates and silverware, making the food look fun with shapes, books, videos, a puppet he “feeds”, sneaking veggies into sweets, toy rewards for eating…you name it, I’ve tried it! 

 

I finally found an OT (Occupational Therapist) for him through his speech therapist.  They suggested weaning him off cow’s milk and seeing if that helped, it helped immensely with his speech, but didn’t do anything different with his eating.  She also suggested a probiotic, once again I got my hopes up that this would be the cure…nope.  A month later and he’s eating worse. Now she wants me to remove ALL gluten from his diet, which will be hard considering the only thing he eats is nutrigrain bars, poptarts and hamburgers from McD’s (which his doctor said give him all he wants, it’s better than nothing). I have TONS of recipes for gluten-free foods, especially sweets (which is all he eats consistently when I get so scared I give in because at least it’s something).  My 16 yr old is gluten sensitive, so I at least have some knowledge, but he’s 16, I’m scared for my 2 yr old!

 

His symptoms include: eczema, constipation, stools that are more like solid balls in his diaper, he gets pretty cranky sometimes, generally he’s a happy boy, but he can switch to naughty mode pretty quick.  As I mentioned, I do sneak vegetables into brownies, make carrot cookies, chocolate chip cookies out of white beans, zucchini brownies…etc.  Nobody will eat baked goods without asking what’s in them anymore! Also, he’s extremely picky about the appearance of food.  If it’s a different brand of breakfast bars, he won’t even take it.  I made homemade gluten-free donuts the other day and because they were lumpy on top, he wouldn’t try it.

 

I know this is long and kind of all over the place and I apologize, I’m at my wits end with stress and worry about him. I’m scared for his health, his weight, and his future.  He’s VERY bright and learns very quickly, I really don’t think there’s much to worry about in that area, he knows his shapes, colors, numbers and hit every milestone on time or early. 

 

My questions are, does anyone else have this problem?  Does this sound familiar? Does it sound like a gluten sensitivity? Did removing gluten from the diet help? Should he be tested for it before I remove it from his diet?

 

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated!

[nvsmom]

You might as well test him before removing gluten because if you want to test in the future, he will have to do a gluten challenge of about two months... Better to do it now.

 

The DGP IgA and DGP IgG are considered to be very good tests for young children. The other tests are tTG IgA and tTG IgG, EMA IgA, total serum IgA, and AGA IgA and AGA IgG (older tests thought by some to show gluten intolerance but not as reliable). Some doctors like to do an endoscopic biopsy too.

 

Once the testing is done, remove gluten even if the results are negative as he could have non-celiac gluten intolerance (NCGI) and the blood tests don't test for that.

 

Best wishes!

[jlarnett76]

You might as well test him before removing gluten because if you want to test in the future, he will have to do a gluten challenge of about two months... Better to do it now.

 

The DGP IgA and DGP IgG are considered to be very good tests for young children. The other tests are tTG IgA and tTG IgG, EMA IgA, total serum IgA, and AGA IgA and AGA IgG (older tests thought by some to show gluten intolerance but not as reliable). Some doctors like to do an endoscopic biopsy too.

 

Once the testing is done, remove gluten even if the results are negative as he could have non-celiac gluten intolerance (NCGI) and the blood tests don't test for that.

 

Best wishes!

Great advice!  Thank you!  As I mentioned, my 16 yr old son cannot have gluten, his doctor suggested removing it to see if it helped and it did tremendously.  But to "test" him for it, he would have to go back to eating it...no thank you!  We're just sticking with the gluten free.  Thanks again for the advice!

[greenbeanie]

My daughter had a lot of the same issues (since early infancy) as your son, and she was recently diagnosed with celiac at age 4. I agree that getting the tests done now makes sense. It would have saved us a lot of grief if we'd known sooner, so it's great that you're investigating now! If he does have celiac, you might need documentation to get accommodations for school later, etc.

If the tests are negative, a gluten-free diet might still help a lot. My daughter had a lot of sensory issues, especially with food textures, and that's improved greatly since her diagnosis and diet change. Now that her tummy isn't hurting all the time, she's a much more adventurous eater. I've had tremendous improvements in my own health since going gluten-free, even though my own celiac tests were negative. Good luck!