? About Toddler And Celiac And Milk Allergy

[Texas Celiac]

Hi all,

I have celiac disease and Grave disease. I started my gluten-free diet about 2 weeks ago. I have 4 children and I am going to get them all the celiac blood panel. I highly suspect that my 3 year old has celiac disease and either a milk allergy or is lactose intolerant. He is 27 pounds and is very small and thin for his age. He also has developmental delays. He does not say very many words. He is in the public school system (PPCD) to get help with these developmental delays.

My question is: What is the difference between a milk allergy and lactose intolerance. Every time he eats milk products (which he loves), he becomes VERY constipated. We have to give him medication daily. He has been this way since 7 months old when he stopped breastfeeding. The developmental delays seemed to start at about 1 year or maybe a little earlier.

I bought 2 books about celiac disease: Dangerous Grains and the other one is Celiac Disease: A Hidden Epidemic. These books suggest that there is a correlation between developmental delays and celiac disease.

I am wondering if anyone else has had any similar experiences with developmental delays or maybe a child with severe constipation and a milk allergy or lactose intolerance.

Also, any suggestions for a gluten free diet for a picky eating toddler? He loves cereal, pancakes, grilled cheese sandwiches.

Texas Celiac

[tarnalberry]

lactose intolerance is an inability to produce sufficient lactase enzyme to break down the milk sugar, lactose.

casein intolerance is an intolerance (often an IgG mediate immune response) to the milk protein, casein.

in the case of lactose intolerance, you can either give him lactose-reduced or lactose-free milk products, or give him the lactase enzyme (such as 'lactaid') available at drug stores and large supermarkets and the like. in the case of casein intolerance, he simply has to avoid dairy in all forms.

as for the foods he likes, you need to transition him to gluten-free foods. you can either find gluten free substitutes for the pancakes and breads that he's eating, though that will be fairly expensive, or only allow other gluten foods that are not strictly substitutes. (I'm a fan of having some of the substitutes, but not too many, as there's increased risk of contamination in some cases, but I don't have kids.)

those with kids will be far more helpful than I with that transition. :-)

[taweavmo3]

I have experience with developmental delays as well, with my 4 year old daughter. She is in speech therapy now, and at her evaluation she was 12-18 months behind in her development. We are going to put her in regular preschool this fall, and see how she does. I'm really nervous about it, b/c I don't know how she is going to fit in. First, the kids are at least a head taller than her, and second....she is so far behind, she does not "get" the games and such that 4 year old's are doing. The director said we should go ahead and give it a shot, and we'll go from there if she really doesn't fit in. The one upside is that I know she will like being around other kids, she is very social.

As far as helping your child adjust to the diet....there are good substitutes out there for just about everything. We use Gluten Free Pantry Muffin and Scone mix to make pancakes. They are really good, and are also dairy free as well. We devour these, they are so sweet you hardly even need syrup.

As for bread for sandwhiches....We use Kinnikinnick White Sandwhich Bread. It looks very similar to regular bread, and tastes great. We also buy their ready made pizza shells. These are my saving grace for an easy dinner....I just smear on some Walmart pizza sauce, cheese and canadian bacon, and I have pizza night. The kids all love it, and they have all forgotten what regular pizza tastes like.

We use Tinkyada pasta, but that's usually just once a week for spaghetti. As for cereal, Envirokids makes some great gluten-free cereals. We get the Panda Puffs, and Frosted Flakes. For the non-healthy variety of cereal, lol, you can also now buy Cocoa Puffs and some of the newer boxes of Trix cereal (read label carefully, some still have wheat starch), and Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles.

I think you will be surprised how quickly your child will adjust. I use my gluten-free mixes sparingly, since they are so expensive, and I try to get as much as I can at Walmart to counter the added expense. Think back to basics, and things become much easier. Lots of fruits and veggies, eggs and bacon for breakfast, and meats w/veggies and a starch for dinner.

Phew......hope that helps ya some! Good luck to you.......this is a great source for information, you'll find everything you need to get started here.