Diagnosing An Infant With Celiacs

[mama2five]

My son has been sick with diarrhea for more 1 month now. It started out every other day or so for a week, then it became daily. It was green mucousy and very loose.

I took him to see our family doctor after the second week. HE was 11 mos old and had only gained 5 ozs since his 9 mos. check up. HE had me collect 3 stool samples and drew blood for a celics test and an iron test.

It took about 4 days to get the iron test back. HE was anemic. The stool tests and celiacs test came back negative. When he called me back with the results I wasn't home so he left me a message.He suggested taking ds off all gluten and wheat since my 8 yr old has celiacs.

I tried calling him back but couldn't get hold of him. Monday was Memorial day. He was still having diarrhea and woke up from his nap with a fever . I gave him tylenol to keep his fever down.

Tuesday he had an appointment to get a shot since we space them. I let them know he had a fever and I suspected he had another ear infection. Instead of seeing the nurse they squeezed us in with the nurse practioner.

The nurse wieghed him and he had lost 4ozs. I told the nurse practioner what had been going and what the doctor had suggested doing. SHe said it wood take about 2 weeks to see a difference in qabout 70% of the cases. They also want him to still see a GI doctor.

The poor baby was sleeping constantly during the day and wasn't very energetic.

Both ds and I have been gluten free since then. Ds's diapers have finally gone back to yellow. They are still very liquidy but no longer mucousy.

Hopefully he will start putting weight back on now. He has gotten so skinny that his pants won't even stay on.

I am still waiting for them to call me back with the appointment date for the GI doctor. Th eperson who books the appointments with the specialists asked me whne I wanted to go I told her as soon as they can get him in. He canot afford to lose any more weight.

He is sleeping through the night and back to his regular nap schedule. he is also crawling and cruising all over again.

Sherill

momto 4 girls and one boy.

[janelyb]

I'd say if your 8 yr old has been dx with celiac then all your other children could possibly have the genes too. I would opt for genetic testing and put everyone on the gluten free diet. I say it sounds like your baby is showing signs of celiac, especially with the anemia. Best wishes.

As I have learned from others here online and in real life many celiac kids don't always test + by the normal doctors blood tests. I would look into alternative testing like a stool test from enterolab or atleast genetic testing done.

[April in KC]

The poor little guy! I'm glad he's starting to do better. It sounds like you are doing the right things, Sherill. You're nursing? If so, you'll need to be really attentive to what you eat, as hidden gluten is everywhere. I can't imagine what I would do if I didn't have my own symptoms to guide me. If you are not gluten intolerant yourself, you'll want to play it safe with brands Celiacs trust.

I have a nearly 1 year old son who can't have gluten, rice or corn, plus two older boys who can't have gluten and casein. We all figured out the gluten part several months back, confirmed by serological testing in myself and my oldest son, by Enterolab and genetic testing in my middle son, and by dietary/skin rash/stool response in the baby (I will have genetic testing done later, but I have my answer based on his improvement). I am nursing still, but I have begun to wean to Neocate and non-grain solids (fruit, veg, meat). All is well unless we eat the wrong thing by accident. Best of luck.

[Ed-G]

I can empathize. I had the very same symptoms when I was his age. They started when my mother finished nursing (at nine months) and I didn't get better until practically everything was eliminated in my diet.

I am happy your son is now improving. Good luck to you both.

Ed in MD

[mama2five]

My son has an appointment with gastroenterologist on the 22nd.

He has gone from the 95% at 1 mos. down to the 20% at 11 mos. I noticed a change in his stools and sleeping patterns once we introduced solids at 6 mos but the diarrhea didnn't start until 10 mos. I just thought it was his system getting used to solids and his not sleeping as well was due to his learning to sit and crawl.

Since he has been gluten free he has been sleeping much better and has had more energy.

I am taking my 5 yr old in next week for the blood test. SHe has always been tiny so I never woried about her. I have noticed that she is very emotional and short tempered like my 8 yr old so I am begining to worry that maybe she does have it as well.