Food Allergies And Speech Delay In Toddlers

[eebright]

Hi Everyone,

Wondering if anyone has any experience with food sensitivities or allergies being the cause of speech delay in toddlers. My daughter is 25 months and we have been dealing with constipation since she was 10 months old. Now we are dealing with a speech delay. She is great at receptive language and understands what we say, but isn't speaking much. Anyone been through this? We have pulled gluten and cow dairy for 10 days now and it has helped the constipation ( no more miralax every day), but no change on the speech yet. Please help! I am a very worried Mama.... E

[kareng]

I am not sure how allergies might effect a small child.  I would think that they could effect hearing if they are causing stuffiness.  Feeling bad would probably make a kid less likely to do a lot of things.  

 

Celiac can cause issues with children - growth is a big one.

 

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I would think it would take more than 10 days to know if a food were causing problems like growth or speech problems.  You might want to get her tested for Celiac but the tests aren't as good in small children.  She would need to be eating gluten for testing.

[cyclinglady]

The speech delay might not have anything to do with celiac disease or allergies or anything! My kid brother did not speak until he was three. He had older siblings and doting parents to cater to him. When he was three, he started talking in complete sentences.

My daughter had some speech issues. My parents thought she was deaf. Turns out that there are sounds that some kids do not develop until they are 8 years old. This occurred when she was four. She is a exceptional student at 13. The lightbulb just was slower to turn on.

Is your speech therapist concerned? Second opinion? What are the milestones for her age? Research and become an expert on speech issues.

I would remove the cow's milk (all forms) but not the gluten first. Doing both and you will never know what the issue is. Remember the rules from your 5th grade science fair project! If there is a gluten issue, consider testing for celiac disease. She has to be eating gluten for 8 weeks or longer to get a valid result and even that can be tricky in kids. If she had celiac disease, you will want a firm diagnosis for school.

Karen is right about the experiment time. 10 days is nothing if there is significant damage to the body such as the Intestines. You are looking at more like 6 months.

Remember, we are moms, not doctors!

I wish you both well.

[StephanieL]

There is no known relation between allergies and speech issues unless they were more environmental and causing a lot of ear issues.  Food allergies cause more than GI issues so if those were the only issues you were seeing, then it is most likely not an allergy. Perhaps an intolerance but there is no testing for those.

 

It's also only been 10 days.  I suspect even if her diet was a factor (which again I tend to doubt) it may not be long enough to see an improvement.  Have you spoken with her Dr. about your worries? Do they seem to think there is an issue?

[eebright]

After the 10 days, the constipation is gone.  Again, the naturopath told us she was sensitive to dairy and gluten so to eliminate both and see.   We have eliminated both and her constipation seems to be resolved for now.    We have an appt next Monday to see a pediatric GI and I will let her know that she has been off gluten for then it will be 17 days, to see what she recommends.   No changes in speech, but she definitely seems to be happier!

[StephanieL]

If you are going to the GI I would strongly suggest you put her back on gluten till you see them. It will be much more difficult to test accurately otherwise. 

[nvsmom]

After the 10 days, the constipation is gone.  Again, the naturopath told us she was sensitive to dairy and gluten so to eliminate both and see.   We have eliminated both and her constipation seems to be resolved for now.    We have an appt next Monday to see a pediatric GI and I will let her know that she has been off gluten for then it will be 17 days, to see what she recommends.   No changes in speech, but she definitely seems to be happier!

 

I agree with all of the others: Do not have her go gluten-free until after testing is done.  If you decide to try the gluten-free diet because she may be non-celiac gluten sensitive (NCGS) after the testing is done- that is fine.  Just remember that the blood tests require that the patient be consuming gluten (somewhere between 1/2 up to a few slices of bread per day) in the 2 to 3 months prior to testing.  It is very hard to go back to eating gluten after feeling well for a while.  Very hard.

 

Get all the celiac disease tests done, especially the DGP IgA, DGP IgG, tTG IgA, tTG IgG, and total serum IgA control test.

 

I have a good friend who had a pretty sever speech delay.  He was non-verbal at age 2, had basic speech at 4 but had a hard time coming up with the correct words (for example: maybe was said as yes-no). He is 8 now, and his speech is behind his peers but not by much.  

 

His mom did take him to a speech therapist for a while but it wasn't much help.  She homeshools so he had the time to develop on his own without pressure - he is thriving.  I have no doubt that he'll have completely normal speech by the time he is a teen.  He just needed more time.

 

He is treated homeopathically, with organic diet, and is gluten-free as well as preservative free.  A healthy kid.

 

Best wishes.

[D-borealis]

I'm sure each kid is different but when we put our 2 and a half year old on a gluten free diet, her vocabularly actually doubled within weeks. With her the celiac disease has expressed itself almost entirely as neurological symptoms and I am certain gluten was delaying her speech. Best wishes!