On A Baby?

[TygerCubs]

Hi,

To try to make a long story short my family has been gluten-free for a few months but no one has had an official diagnosis. I have a 9 year old a 3 year old and a 16 month old girl. The baby has been gluten-free more because the house is gluten free than because she had symptoms.

Then yesterday we got glutened. My oldest daughter was up all night with stomach pain and now my 16 mo has an itchy rash. She has had a rash around her neck and upper chest for a long time but after going gluten-free it has subsided - I thought I just finally found the right ombination of shampoo, soap and bubble bath but now I am starting to wonder. My 9yo always got itchy rashes too. They aren't like blisters or hives though, they are more like little, sightly raised bumps over a reddish area. Right now the baby has a few spots on her neck that have litte scabs from her scratching.

Could this be DH? Can babies and kids get it? And can it be milder than what is usually described?

I guess time will tel ultimately, if a gluten-free diet works or not!

I thank you for any information!

Marie

[chrissy]

doesn't really sound like DH.

[Granny Garbonzo]

  TygerCubs said:

<br />Hi,<br /><br />To try to make a long story short my family has been gluten-free for a few months but no one has had an official diagnosis. I have a 9 year old a 3 year old and a 16 month old girl. The baby has been gluten-free more because the house is gluten free than because she had symptoms. <br />Then yesterday we got glutened. My oldest daughter was up all night with stomach pain and now my 16 mo has an itchy rash. She has had a rash around her neck and upper chest for a long time but after going gluten-free it has subsided - I thought I just finally found the right ombination of shampoo, soap and bubble bath but now I am starting to wonder. My 9yo always got itchy rashes too. They aren't like blisters or hives though, they are more like little, sightly raised bumps over a reddish area. Right now the baby has a few spots on her neck that have litte scabs from her scratching.<br /><br />Could this be DH? Can babies and kids get it? And can it be milder than what is usually described?<br /><br />I guess time will tel ultimately, if a gluten-free diet works or not!<br /><br />I thank you for any information!<br /><br />Marie<br />

<br /><br /><br />

My grown daughter had rashes as a baby, but we didn't know that myself, she, my mother, and my older daughter all had celiac disease until she was about 8 or 9 years old. She had a rash pretty badly too, and all those years no doctor ever once suggested she could have celiac disease. I also had Rosacea on my face and no doctor ever told me about the connection between rosacea and celiac disease. Over the years, it's been my observation that doctors are only helpful for some things and not others. No one knows our bodies like we do. We all need to become informed people who live as though our lives depend on our self care and not on some doctor's care.

Try as we might, now and then we still get some gluten in our diets and my adult daughter still gets the rash sometimes, but not as much. I feel for you dealing with the rash, especially when the weather is hot and sweaty, and the "unseen" aspects of kids who are misbehaving or grumpy or whiny because they don't feel good and are too young to communicate their feelings. They may not even really know that their pain and yucky in the gut feelings are not normal, since they have probably had those feelings most their little short lives.

At least you can be very glad that you are realizing while the kids are young that gluten is a problem. This seems to be a difficult step for many people to take, often parents or individuals confronted with the possibility of Celiac Disease will spend countless dollars and time and stress on doctoring or do anything to deny that they have celiac disease, as though it were the worst possible thing to have. Really, once your household becomes accustomed to locating resources and shopping and cooking gluten free, it becomes very easy and normal feeling.

I really think we with celiac disease are somehow fortunate, in that we have had to take a hard look at our health, and many of us have acquired much healthier overall eating habits, and much more knowledge of our bodies and general knowledge of nutrition and healing than most people. As a result, we may actually end up living healthier and/or longer lives than the average person.

[cornflakegirl-1980]

  Granny Garbonzo said:

<br /><br /><br />

My grown daughter had rashes as a baby, but we didn't know that myself, she, my mother, and my older daughter all had celiac disease until she was about 8 or 9 years old. She had a rash pretty badly too, and all those years no doctor ever once suggested she could have celiac disease. I also had Rosacea on my face and no doctor ever told me about the connection between rosacea and celiac disease. Over the years, it's been my observation that doctors are only helpful for some things and not others. No one knows our bodies like we do. We all need to become informed people who live as though our lives depend on our self care and not on some doctor's care.

Try as we might, now and then we still get some gluten in our diets and my adult daughter still gets the rash sometimes, but not as much. I feel for you dealing with the rash, especially when the weather is hot and sweaty, and the "unseen" aspects of kids who are misbehaving or grumpy or whiny because they don't feel good and are too young to communicate their feelings. They may not even really know that their pain and yucky in the gut feelings are not normal, since they have probably had those feelings most their little short lives.

At least you can be very glad that you are realizing while the kids are young that gluten is a problem. This seems to be a difficult step for many people to take, often parents or individuals confronted with the possibility of Celiac Disease will spend countless dollars and time and stress on doctoring or do anything to deny that they have celiac disease, as though it were the worst possible thing to have. Really, once your household becomes accustomed to locating resources and shopping and cooking gluten free, it becomes very easy and normal feeling.

I really think we with celiac disease are somehow fortunate, in that we have had to take a hard look at our health, and many of us have acquired much healthier overall eating habits, and much more knowledge of our bodies and general knowledge of nutrition and healing than most people. As a result, we may actually end up living healthier and/or longer lives than the average person.

My mother was diagnost some years ago with Celiac disease and we also suspect that my grandmother had it as well. Though I have been tested by bloodwork it came back negative for this disease. I was tested after my daughter was born which has been within about a year ago. The strage thing is between me, my 17 month old daughter,my mother and grandmother we all have super sensitive skin. We all will break out either on the face, the stomach, scalp, and limbs.

My skin was crazy itchy when I was pregnant. I just thought I had psorisis it was on my mouth and the folds of the arms and the base of my neck. I was in orbit. And now my baby has always had rashes from the time she was born not to mention a bloated belly and a horrible immune system and time to time cranky and iritable. I tried to get her doctor to test her for celiac disease when she was 4 or five months old and her dr didn't seem too interested in that. So later I saw another doctor in the same practice and he is having her tested (though I had to really do some convincing). As a matter of fact today we will be going to have the blood work done. So I deffinatly think she has it especially since this thread about rashes.

Jess

[lovegrov]

I would doubt it.

richard

[ravenwoodglass]

  TygerCubs said:

Hi,

To try to make a long story short my family has been gluten-free for a few months but no one has had an official diagnosis. I have a 9 year old a 3 year old and a 16 month old girl. The baby has been gluten-free more because the house is gluten free than because she had symptoms.

Then yesterday we got glutened. My oldest daughter was up all night with stomach pain and now my 16 mo has an itchy rash. She has had a rash around her neck and upper chest for a long time but after going gluten-free it has subsided - I thought I just finally found the right ombination of shampoo, soap and bubble bath but now I am starting to wonder. My 9yo always got itchy rashes too. They aren't like blisters or hives though, they are more like little, sightly raised bumps over a reddish area. Right now the baby has a few spots on her neck that have litte scabs from her scratching.

Could this be DH? Can babies and kids get it? And can it be milder than what is usually described?

I guess time will tel ultimately, if a gluten-free diet works or not!

I thank you for any information!

Marie

Considering that you all got glutened, your house is gluten-free, the baby had a rash before the house became gluten-free, that rash cleared up and now you guys have rashes. Yes this is definately connected. Whether it is actually DH I don't know and you would need to have them biopsy the area next to the rash when the rash was active to tell. Sounds like you did the right thing making your home a gluten free haven.

[April in KC]

I think it's possible. Most docs will probably not think babies can have it. Here's an abstract about a 30-month-old with DH.

Open Original Shared Link

There is another abstract below that about how DH is a "chameleon" with different appearances in different people.

I know my DH doesn't look exactly like the pictures I see. It is in a "classic" location (extensor surfaces of elbows).

Worth noting, one big patch of my 10-month old's facial "eczema" cleared when I went on a gluten-free diet. And this was the worst of his patches. He has another persistent patch we're still trying to figure out / clear (think it may be corn).

Prior to being gluten-free, I had TERRIBLE itchiness during my pregnancies, particularly this last one. The doc thought it was PUPPPS, but thought it was very strange for it to occur starting in the 10th week. My shins were very itchy, but didn't really show a rash. But my back, which was also itchy, did show a rash that was symmetrically distributed across my back in a christmas-tree-like shape. Was it DH? Don't know.

My suggestion? Photograph or video it. You never know when it will come in handy...maybe decades from now when your kids have kids and you're trying to convince their spouses to try a gluten-free diet. Also, when I talk to docs, I find that they "believe" images more than they believe words.

My dumb little pictures of my elbow bumps helped me out at the GI's office today. And photos of my 10-month-old's bleeding eczema also have helped in some situations.

April

[ptkds]

Well, my toddler had a "diaper" rash that wouldn't go away with ANY meds. When we discovered she had celiac disease and she started the gluten-free diet, the "diaper" rash disapeared. I saw a dermatologist today because I seem to get itchy spots alot, esp when I get glutened. He said it didn't look like DH, but it did look like it was related to my celiac disease. He said the only way to control it was to stay gluten-free, and he gave me a very strong steriod cream to help when I do break out.

IMO, you should keep your dc on a gluten-free diet. It sounds like your dd may have a gluten problem.

ptkds