Symptoms In Toddlers?

[prinsessa]

I am new to this board, but I have been lurking for about a week or so. I am getting tested for wheat intolerance because of all the stomach/intestinal problems (plus a bunch of other symptoms) I have been having. I was wondering about the symptoms for wheat intolerance/Celiac disease in toddlers. I was wondering if my son could have it too because of how small he is for his age (he is almost 2 1/2). Both DH and I are tall, but DS is under the 50% for height (between 25 and 50%) and he was only in the 5th% for weight at his last check up. I thought that he might just be a slow grower and would eventually catch up. But now that I am learning more about Celiac disease I am wondering if he could have it.

I plan on waiting to get my kids tested until I have more tests. I would rather go through the tests than have them have to do it. I probably won't get the results for the blood tests back for a couple of weeks. And if I do get them tested, how do they test kids? Is it the same as they do for adults? I really don't want them to have to get a biopsy. I would just cut wheat out of their diet and then see how they do. Thanks....I'm a little worried about having to give up all wheat products , but I would do it in a second if I would feel better. I would also like to catch this in my kids early if they do have it.

[Guest nini]

my daughter was 3 1/2 when I was dx'ed with Celiac and subsequently determined that she had it as well... she was anemic, hypoglycemic, underweight... (very skinny with protruding belly-looked like a starving Ethiopian child) she had behavior issues, digestive issues, vomiting, diarrhea, bad rashes on her bottom and chronic yeast infections. Reccurent ear infections and sinus problems... all of which cleared up after she went gluten-free. She is now a healthy happy soon to be 6 year old.

[floridanative]

I just figured out that my sister's daughter shows some signs that could indicate Celiac so I'm nicely trying to get her to get both her kids tested. The way I see it, the sooner the dx the better. It's easier for a 4 year old to eat differently than it is a 12 year old.

Nisla is being modest....her little girl is precious and she is the most well behaved six year old I've ever encountered!

[Guest nini]

Nisla is being modest....her little girl is precious and she is the most well behaved six year old I've ever encountered!

awwwww thank you sooooo much! Poor lil thing is sick with a virus right now... she's missed two days of school with a temp of 102.5

[floridanative]

Oh I'm so sorry to hear that Nisla. Hope she's feeling better soon!

[Guest nini]

Oh I'm so sorry to hear that Nisla. Hope she's feeling better soon!

thanks, me too... I hate seeing her like this. she's crying because she misses being in school with her friends. I hope we are on the track to getting her better, the fever seemed to break for a while today and she actually had a bit of an appetite... she wanted a TACO of all things and then a hot dog! What a kid!

[jerseyangel]

When they ask for a hot dog and tacos, you know they're on the road to recovery

[VydorScope]

If you have it, DEFINTILY WITH OUT QUESTION test all your childern.

That being said my son (whose 2 1/2 now) started off in the 105th % (for height/wieght) and slowly fell to the 80's and who knows where he was headed. He had what we thought was sever acid reflux, spit up constantly (occasionlay BLOOD), threw up fairly regualrly, 5-7 bouts of D a day, on good days. Started to ahve the "big stomache" and his belly was of hard and he acted like it hurt if you felt around his gut. Took 18 monhts of his life to diagnose. He would wake at night and just sit and cry. Some nights I would hold him for a couple hours while he screamed in pain and there was nothing ANYONE could do. NOTHING can describe what that feels like to a parent, I wont event try. Unfrotunilty to many of you already know.

[TCA]

My son had chronic diarrhea, tooth enamel defects, failure to thrive (dropped from 60th percentile to well below the carts for weight and 90th to 40th for height), irritability, horrible rashes, delayed development (walking and speech), etc. He had just turned 3 at diagnosis after over 2 years of testing.

My daughter had projectile vomiting, FTT, and blood from her stomach (through her feeding tube) until I went gluten-free while nursing. Horrible reflux still an issue.

Neither could tolerate any formula and had casien intolerances before going gluten-free (blood in stool).

good luck!

[mommida]

My daughter had "classic symptoms" so I will tell you about my son.

Picture of health, except for constipation and a slight rash on his arms, sometimes on his face. Pediatricians always said that boys just seem to have more constipation problems and the rash was nothing to worry about. Damage can be happening internally and there may be no signs, but get them tested. If the tests come back negative, you can still try the diet. The book, Dangerous Grains, has made people without Celiac go gluten free.

Laura

[prinsessa]

Thanks everyone! He was in the 25% for weight for a while, but now he has dropped down to the 5%. His doctor wanted me to come back in a couple of months (at his last appt.) to see if his weight has gone up at all. I didn't bring up the wheat intolerance because I didn't even think of it then. I thought his shortness might have something to do with his thyroid. I'm not even sure if I have gluten intolerance myself since I haven't got the results back yet. I hope not, but in a way I hope I do. It wouldn't be the end of the world to give up wheat and I would know what was causing my problems. If I'm not wheat intolerant, than I'm going to have to have more tests to find out what is wrong with me. I just want to find out the problem and start working on it.

Besides being small, my son also has tons of gas. He doesn't have any D, but his stools still don't seem normal. I know this might be TMI, but it doesn't seem like all his food is digested. He also has dark circles under his eyes and has problems going to sleep at night. If he does have any sort of intolerance, I would like to catch it now. Sorry this post got so long....it feels good to talk to people about it since most people don't know anything about Celiac.

[VydorScope]

Thanks everyone! He was in the 25% for weight for a while, but now he has dropped down to the 5%. His doctor wanted me to come back in a couple of months (at his last appt.) to see if his weight has gone up at all. I didn't bring up the wheat intolerance because I didn't even think of it then. I thought his shortness might have something to do with his thyroid. I'm not even sure if I have gluten intolerance myself since I haven't got the results back yet. I hope not, but in a way I hope I do. It wouldn't be the end of the world to give up wheat and I would know what was causing my problems. If I'm not wheat intolerant, than I'm going to have to have more tests to find out what is wrong with me. I just want to find out the problem and start working on it.

Besides being small, my son also has tons of gas. He doesn't have any D, but his stools still don't seem normal. I know this might be TMI, but it doesn't seem like all his food is digested. He also has dark circles under his eyes and has problems going to sleep at night. If he does have any sort of intolerance, I would like to catch it now. Sorry this post got so long....it feels good to talk to people about it since most people don't know anything about Celiac.

I would call your doc today and talk to him about celiac disease. I would not wait a couple months. If it is celiac disease he needs treatment NOW (treatment being gluten-free diet) not in a few months.

Thats just my opinion.

[mommida]

I would call the doctor today. Your ped. may not want to deal with this diagnoses at all and may refer you to a ped. gastro.

It is not TMI information about the undigested food in the stool. It is a serious symptom.

Laura

[prinsessa]

thanks, You guys are right. I need to call his doctor soon. I asked my doctor if I should get my kids tested and he said to wait to see what my results are first. My mom said that I should just put them both on a gluten-free diet to see if it helps them at all. DD doesn't really have any symptoms besides leg cramps, but she is very addicted to wheat products. Now that I think of it she does get bloated sometimes and occasionally gets D. I would like to know for sure if they are gluten intolerant because I don't know if other people would take it serious unless they had a diagnosis (plus they might now take it serious themselves since DD is already in school and likes to share food with friends). Especially my MIL since she thought I was weird for not wanting my son to eat certain things as a baby. But I know that testing isn't 100% reliable. They might get a false negative and end up really having gluten intolerance.

I wouldn't mind them having a blood test, but would they have to have biopsies too? I'm a little worried about them having to have anesthesia (especially DS since he is so little). Do they do that for children so little?

[Nic]

My son was diagnosed last year at 4. He was constipated, bloated, and had dark circles. He started out, before the idea of Celiac, having a sigmoidascope. Afterwards, he had the endoscopy. Still later, he had a colonoscopy. He was put to sleep for all 3 and he handled it all very well with the exception of the gas after the colonoscopy. In between all this, he had a barrium enima which he did not handle well at all because he was awake for it. I hit a point where I prefered he be put to sleep so that he did not have to feel discomfort or fear. When their little they do not fear being put to sleep. Also, speaking from experience, the younger they are the easier it is to adjust to the gluten-free diet. My son will never remember what a real donut or ring ding tastes like. He will only know gluten-free.

Nicole

[kempy99]

[Dietcokehead]

The earlier you can get your kdis diagnosed, the easier it will be on everyone to adjust to the new diet. My son was diagnosed at 3 and he does remember fruit loops but besides that, all he can remember is being gluten free!

Don't change their diet yet though, it is important to be on a regular gluten diet when doing the blood tests for the most accurate results. That being said, my son had negative bloodwork but positive biopsy and miraculous recovery on a gluten-free diet.

His symptoms were: chronic anemia, short stature, bloated belly, diarrhea, constant hunger and stomach aches, tantrums.

Good luck! I would get your kids into a Ped GI doctor ASAP!!

Oh, I meant to add, the biopsy was no big deal. It was over quickly and my son was ready to go home in 15 minutes. I know it's worrysome to put your child under general anesthesia but if you are dealing with a Pediatric hospital and doctor they will know exactly what they are doing.

[floridanative]

Okay I am trying to help my sister here. She knows that she and her kids are at risk now for having Celiac due to my dx. However, though her son shows some signs that may indicate he has it (or lactose intolerance at least) her daughter has no GI symptoms but catches every virus in the world. The doc says this is normal for a kid who's spent her life at home and now gets exposed to germs from all the other kids but other kids in the class (who were not in daycare before either) don't seem to get as sick as my neice. She is about to have to leave 4K due to too many absences. How likely is it that a kid would have something wrong with their immune system, have no GI symptoms and still have Celiac?

[covsooze]

We've just had our DS screened and our waiting for the blood tests results. He doesn't have any significant symptoms but we wanted him screened as both me and my sister have celiac disease and we suspect our father does too. DS is coming up 3 and he gets loads of viruses too. I can't answer your question, but will post DS's results when we get them as that might be enlightening.

[floridanative]

Thanks so much covsooze. I figure it worth investigating since no one else seems to get sick all the time and the ped. is not much help at this point. It seems my 4yo neice is going to the doctor all the time and her 3yo brother is exposed to her every time she's sick and he rarely catches whatever she has which sort of make no sense unless her immune system is compromised somehow and his isn't. When you get getting your childs results if you don't mind my asking? Thanks again!

[AshleyWeeks]

On February 17, 2006 at 2:33 PM, mommida said:

I would call the doctor today. Your ped. may not want to deal with this diagnoses at all and may refer you to a ped. gastro.

It is not TMI information about the undigested food in the stool. It is a serious symptom.

Laura

Good evening, I tested positive about 15 years ago. I have a 3 year old son and a 1 year old daughter. I just had them both tested for Celiac's. Ped ran a celiac panel. My son the nurse said was all in normal range however my daughters IGA total was 23, range (24-121) so she test positive. The doctor wants to run more blood work to make sure it's not a false positive. My gut says she has it. She does not like any bread or cookies so she really only gets gluten from pasta and goldfish so to even test positive on an almost gluten-free diet make me concerned. Is there anything I should ask the doctor to test for or better tests for kids? I just don't want to miss anything.  Before when I would bring it up at visits the doctors always said that since they did not have any failure to thrive ( always top of growth charts) that they weren't showing any symptoms. I never had any issues with losing weight.  My only complains or constipation joint pain and gas which she has both. Thanks for any advice.    

[cyclinglady]

3 hours ago, AshleyWeeks said:

Good evening, I tested positive about 15 years ago. I have a 3 year old son and a 1 year old daughter. I just had them both tested for Celiac's. Ped ran a celiac panel. My son the nurse said was all in normal range however my daughters IGA total was 23, range (24-121) so she test positive. The doctor wants to run more blood work to make sure it's not a false positive. My gut says she has it. She does not like any bread or cookies so she really only gets gluten from pasta and goldfish so to even test positive on an almost gluten-free diet make me concerned. Is there anything I should ask the doctor to test for or better tests for kids? I just don't want to miss anything.  Before when I would bring it up at visits the doctors always said that since they did not have any failure to thrive ( always top of growth charts) that they weren't showing any symptoms. I never had any issues with losing weight.  My only complains or constipation joint pain and gas which she has both. Thanks for any advice.    

Welcome Ashley!

Here are the current tests.  The DGP versions seem to work a bit better than the TTG in small children.  So, ask for the complete panel (and get it all in one stick....my 15 year still hates to get blood drawn !

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Your doctors are wrong!  They must be reading old medical text books.  Not all kids or people have failure to thrive!  You can even be symptom free!. I was anemic and had no intestinal issues when I was diagnosed.  celiac disease affects everyone differently and that's probably why so many folks are not diagnosed.

Your kids (parents, siblings too) should be tested every few years (sooner if symptoms develop) per all the leading celiac researchers/doctors if a first-degree relative has celiac disease (like you!)  celiac disease can develop at any age!

Hope this helps!