What Are The Common Symptoms?

[nursingmommie]

I've been reading a little here and there seems to be a lot of variation on the symptoms depending on the individual. This may have been asked before so sorry if this is a repeat. Can everyone post their child's symptoms here? These are the symptoms I've been dealing with in my now 9 month old:

disruptive sleep since birth, has never slept through the night and only sleeps about 9 hours total

possible reflux (classic symptoms) made better with Tummy Soother by Gentle Naturals or Chamomile

irritable and fussy at times

refusal to eat solids, gags (although he will eat some things)

rubs nose and eyes a lot as if itchy, used to sneeze a lot

watery eyes with one that discharges(doctor always said blocked tear ducts)

I know there is more but I can't think of them at the moment plus my sweetie just woke from his nap. Gotta go!

Nicole

[Nic]

Hi, my son is now 5 but as an infant had some trouble with reflux (projectile vomiting). He ate his solids well though and had no reaction. As he approached 1 year old he started with constipation until it bacame very severe at 4 years old. He also had the toddler tummy (sticks out and is hard), dark circles under his eyes, and very difficult behavior. He seemed hyper active, always moving and unable to control impulses.

Nicole

[bugsmom]

Hello -

My son is 21 months old and was just diagnosed. He had a few similar symptoms. He was never a good sleeper - no more than two hours at a time for the first 9 months or so. Diagnosed with acid reflux early on. Never took to solid foods. He never even took to baby food, oatmeal or cereal. We are still struggling with getting him to eat. He was a chubby baby until he was about 10 months old when he stopped gaining weight. He hasn't gained a pound since -- holding strong at 22.5 lbs. He is very pale and sometimes has really dark circles under his eyes. This never meant anything to us before because my family has fair skin. He has suffered from severe constipation for about 6 months now and has always been very very gassy. He has a BM about every 7 or 8 days now -- and we ususally have to bring that on with a laxative because I am afraid to let it go any longer than that. He has always been breastfed and refused both a bottle and formula.

Aside from breastmilk, the only other liquid he will drink is water. He will only drink water from a cup - no juice at all. He was drinking some cow's milk until about a month ago when he started refusing that, too. He is delayed is speech and is just now saying his first few words -- although he has been communicating really well in sign language for months. We have also noticed that his teeth aren't really white -- more of a gray color -- even though he loves brushing his teeth and does it at least three times a day.

Fortunately most of the time his attitude is fantastic. He is a happy kid who is friendly (albeit a bit shy) and doesn't fuss much at all. Things get a little hairy when he has gone 7 days without a BM, but most of the time he is great to be around. He just doens't want to eat anything.

Hope some of this helps!

Erika

[Nic]

Hello -

My son is 21 months old and was just diagnosed. He had a few similar symptoms. He was never a good sleeper - no more than two hours at a time for the first 9 months or so. Diagnosed with acid reflux early on. Never took to solid foods. He never even took to baby food, oatmeal or cereal. We are still struggling with getting him to eat. He was a chubby baby until he was about 10 months old when he stopped gaining weight. He hasn't gained a pound since -- holding strong at 22.5 lbs. He is very pale and sometimes has really dark circles under his eyes. This never meant anything to us before because my family has fair skin. He has suffered from severe constipation for about 6 months now and has always been very very gassy. He has a BM about every 7 or 8 days now -- and we ususally have to bring that on with a laxative because I am afraid to let it go any longer than that. He has always been breastfed and refused both a bottle and formula.

Aside from breastmilk, the only other liquid he will drink is water. He will only drink water from a cup - no juice at all. He was drinking some cow's milk until about a month ago when he started refusing that, too. He is delayed is speech and is just now saying his first few words -- although he has been communicating really well in sign language for months. We have also noticed that his teeth aren't really white -- more of a gray color -- even though he loves brushing his teeth and does it at least three times a day.

Fortunately most of the time his attitude is fantastic. He is a happy kid who is friendly (albeit a bit shy) and doesn't fuss much at all. Things get a little hairy when he has gone 7 days without a BM, but most of the time he is great to be around. He just doens't want to eat anything.

Hope some of this helps!

Erika

Hi, I just want to pass on what I found with having a "constipated" Celiac child. My son pretty much stopped eating all together if it were during a time when he wasn't having any bowel movements. He too would go over a week without going and the longer it went on, the more he would not want to eat. The doctor had told me to imagine how it must feel to be so backed up and each time you eat, it triggers the bodies urge to have a BM. If the child can't pass it, the discomfort intensifies. My son was put on Mirolax (a stool softener) daily, it is harmless to the body and has been on it for over a year now (it will be two years this coming fall). In the beginning it took a while but then a gastro. doc. told me that even when the stool gets very soft, keep using the Mirolax right through it and what happened was that he ended up cleaning himself out. After that, we started seeing some improvement with it. But it did take about 3 months. My ped. gastro. does not like me to use laxitives so I have him on the Mirolax still, Yummi Bear brand fiber (they are like gummy bears) and now I have him on Acidophilus. Good luck.

[wolfie]

I've been reading a little here and there seems to be a lot of variation on the symptoms depending on the individual. This may have been asked before so sorry if this is a repeat. Can everyone post their child's symptoms here? These are the symptoms I've been dealing with in my now 9 month old:

disruptive sleep since birth, has never slept through the night and only sleeps about 9 hours total

possible reflux (classic symptoms) made better with Tummy Soother by Gentle Naturals or Chamomile

irritable and fussy at times

refusal to eat solids, gags (although he will eat some things)

rubs nose and eyes a lot as if itchy, used to sneeze a lot

watery eyes with one that discharges(doctor always said blocked tear ducts)

I know there is more but I can't think of them at the moment plus my sweetie just woke from his nap. Gotta go!

Nicole

My son is now 10, but he had reflux as a baby and never slept well at all as a baby and didn't until we basically retrained him over the past year. Whether or not those were signs of Celiac then, I don't know. His symptoms at this age were vague and he was tested b/c of my issues. He had stomach pain 3-5 times per week, occasional constipation, some ADHD like behavior...nothing that screamed Celiac, but now it all makes sense.

[bugsmom]

Hi, I just want to pass on what I found with having a "constipated" Celiac child. My son pretty much stopped eating all together if it were during a time when he wasn't having any bowel movements. He too would go over a week without going and the longer it went on, the more he would not want to eat. The doctor had told me to imagine how it must feel to be so backed up and each time you eat, it triggers the bodies urge to have a BM. If the child can't pass it, the discomfort intensifies. My son was put on Mirolax (a stool softener) daily, it is harmless to the body and has been on it for over a year now (it will be two years this coming fall). In the beginning it took a while but then a gastro. doc. told me that even when the stool gets very soft, keep using the Mirolax right through it and what happened was that he ended up cleaning himself out. After that, we started seeing some improvement with it. But it did take about 3 months. My ped. gastro. does not like me to use laxitives so I have him on the Mirolax still, Yummi Bear brand fiber (they are like gummy bears) and now I have him on Acidophilus. Good luck.

Our homeopath told us basically the same thing -- that he is just so full and so uncomfortable, he doesn't want to eat anymore. They say that once we clear up the constipation he should start eating more. We have actually had to give him three enemas because he has gone so long without a BM and once it actually stopped his urine flow. We have been given Mirolax, but it hasn't done any good. I haven't been as consistant with it as I should be -- I guess I didn't realize how long it was going to take for it to work. I gave up after a few weeks. I will try it again and keep him on it longer. Now that we know he is Celiac and his diet is changed maybe it will help as well. We also went through a period of him just holding stool because the passing was so painful.

thanks!

Erika

[GFBetsy]

My mother was constipated all the time when eating wheat, but a couple of months after going gluten-free she stopped having problems with that. (She told me that (when she first married him) she thought my dad must have had something really wrong with him because his bowel movements were so much softer than hers . . . surprise! it wasn't HIM who had something wrong!) Because your son is so much younger than she was at diagnosis (she was 51) he ought to heal faster. However, he may have some complicating issues (like the milk that someone else mentioned) that may also be contributing to the blockage. If he's not getting better after a couple of months, I'd start looking for other contributing factors.

Just realized that this comment has very little to do with the initial post . . . sorry! Guess I just got caught up in all the other replies!