Celiac in kids?

[Steinerdad]

First post here...

i have a 2.5 yo son and an 8 mo daughter. We had my son tested 6 months ago for food allergies and it came back with many allergies including barley and wheat. We have been trying to go gluten-free since this point. We believe that when he eats gluten, he has difficulties pooping. 

Now, we just introduced my daughter to solids and she too is having difficulties pooping. I know it could be other things as well. 

I just want to see if anyone else out there has young kids that might have similar issues. This is all new to us and we are thinking of having us all tested to see if we have celiacs. 

Other allergies my son has is to dairy, soy, garlic, eggs and animal dander. 

Thanks for any of your thoughts. We are feeling a little lost here. 

[bartfull]

Welcome.

First of all, celiac is not an allergy. It is an auto immune disease. The testing for celiac is much different from the testing for allergies.

And allergy testing is fairly unreliable anyway. Does your son have any type of ALLERGIC reaction to any of these things? An allergic reaction would be things like breathing problems or hives or other types of rashes.

It DOES sound though like he may be having a celiac reaction. Pooping problems (one way or the other if you catch my drift) are common, especially in kids, although a person can have celiac with no symptoms.

And celiac runs in families so it's very possible that if he has it his sister might too. What's more, it's very possible that either you or their mother has it too.

If you go to the coping section here you will see a thread pinned to the top called "Newbie 101". Check that out for a wealth of information about celiac, and be sure to click on all of the links in that thread too, especially the ones from the University of Chicago Celiac Center.

Then come on back and ask as many questions as come to mind. We're here to help.

[kareng]

To add to what Barty said - you must be on a regular gluten containing diet to get Celiac blood tests and endoscopic  biopsies.  See a medical doctor, pediatrician or GI or Family Practice, and   do that before you go gluten-free .