How Can You Test A 2 Year Old?

[ItchyMeredith]

Okay- I have celiac. I am concerned about my son. He does not have digestive issues but then again, neither do I. He is very thin. He has eczema and food allergies. AND...I think he may have issues with his tooth enamel too!

He is the only one in our family with any food allergies. He is allergic to milk, beef, and blueberries and is generally very sensitive to all kinds of things.

I don't know what to do. We did the blood panel and it came back negative but he hadn't had much gluten the month prior to the test. He is also only 2 and I heard that the blood panel is very inaccurate for kids under 5. What would you do?

Thanks

Meredith

[Nic]

Hi, I guess you have a couple of options. You can make him gluten heavy for a while (I am not sure how long) and then test again. Or, you can try the gluten free diet and see if he reacts positively. Being you are a Celiac there is a good chance he is carrying the gene as well so it could be likely that he is Celiac also. At 2 he is still young enough that he won't miss the gluten if you take it away now.

[dadoffiveboys]

Okay- I have celiac. I am concerned about my son. He does not have digestive issues but then again, neither do I. He is very thin. He has eczema and food allergies. AND...I think he may have issues with his tooth enamel too!

He is the only one in our family with any food allergies. He is allergic to milk, beef, and blueberries and is generally very sensitive to all kinds of things.

I don't know what to do. We did the blood panel and it came back negative but he hadn't had much gluten the month prior to the test. He is also only 2 and I heard that the blood panel is very inaccurate for kids under 5. What would you do?

Thanks

Meredith

I had my 3 year old tested and was negative yet he was already at the 'failure to thrive' point and not eating much. My 1 year old was experiencing several symptoms above - eczema to the point of bleeding ... and I found the gluten-free diet is a MUCH MUCH better idea.... if the symptoms 'go away'.. which they did COMPLETELY with both my 3 year old and 1 year old.. then you know that is what it is!!

I do not however have the additional complications of milk/beef/blueberry allergies. Blueberry you can deal with .. milk is tougher. It is possible too that he is not allergic to gluten and the gene 'crossed' or mutate - who knows! It never hurts to try the diet though - but I HIGHLY do not recommend heavily glutening him. We did that with my 3 year old and he converted to a liquid only diet of pediatric gluten free drinks!!! (Never going to listen to a doctor about that again!)

[celiac-mommy]

Okay- I have celiac. I am concerned about my son. He does not have digestive issues but then again, neither do I. He is very thin. He has eczema and food allergies. AND...I think he may have issues with his tooth enamel too!

He is the only one in our family with any food allergies. He is allergic to milk, beef, and blueberries and is generally very sensitive to all kinds of things.

I don't know what to do. We did the blood panel and it came back negative but he hadn't had much gluten the month prior to the test. He is also only 2 and I heard that the blood panel is very inaccurate for kids under 5. What would you do?

Thanks

Meredith

Our daughter was 4 when she was tested, our son had just been born (I think it was her 'trigger'). Our ped's GI wanted to wait until he was 2--which was last week. I dreaded taking him in to have the blood draw, but our lab is SOOO great and although he cried and wouldn't look at me for 2 hours (he also had his HepA shot), he did great and the test came back negative yesterday! He also has eczema, is very thin and has chronic diaper rashes. It's worth the 5 minutes of seeing them in pain for the test results. I realize I will probably have to retest him at a later date, but we're good for now.

[heather larson]

My son is 2-1/2 years old and going through the process of being tested for Celiac. Th blood test came back negative and our first appointment with the Pediatric GI is on the 22nd - at this appointment I fully intend to schedule the 2nd test or the intestinal scrapping test.

Once the blood results came in we changed to a wheat/gluten free diet. The doctors have told us that 1) the blood test is inconclusive and even with a positive result they usually go ahead with the 2nd test, 2) as long as you have the 2nd test done in 6 months or less changing the childs diet should have no effect on the results, and 3) i can't imagine not finding out for sure this is Celiac. Their are a lot of other medical issues a person could have that exhibit the same symptoms as Celiac, some decidedly worse and yet others can even be reversible/corrected. It is proven that wheat is very difficult for the body to digest and can exacerbate other problems in the digestive trac. My thought is why stop the process once you've begun than you can difinitively treat the problem insteading of possibly masking it. This is the path we are on. Good Luck.

[par18]

My son is 2-1/2 years old and going through the process of being tested for Celiac. Th blood test came back negative and our first appointment with the Pediatric GI is on the 22nd - at this appointment I fully intend to schedule the 2nd test or the intestinal scrapping test.

Once the blood results came in we changed to a wheat/gluten free diet. The doctors have told us that 1) the blood test is inconclusive and even with a positive result they usually go ahead with the 2nd test, 2) as long as you have the 2nd test done in 6 months or less changing the childs diet should have no effect on the results, and 3) i can't imagine not finding out for sure this is Celiac. Their are a lot of other medical issues a person could have that exhibit the same symptoms as Celiac, some decidedly worse and yet others can even be reversible/corrected. It is proven that wheat is very difficult for the body to digest and can exacerbate other problems in the digestive trac. My thought is why stop the process once you've begun than you can difinitively treat the problem insteading of possibly masking it. This is the path we are on. Good Luck.

Heather,

I take it from your post you are going gluten-free on your 2 1/2 old in order to see if you can eliminate some or all of his symptoms. If this is true then that would seem a more systematic (if not logical) approach. Because Celiac can present so many symptoms there is a good possibility that you can identify/correct more than one with a simple gluten-free diet trial. If you notice improvement in some or all areas of symptoms then you can definitely make a connection between "those" symptoms and gluten. At that point further testing for Celiac, etc. is still an option. If not all of his issues are corrected with the diet then other testing can resume on those unresolved issues. I think the presence of gluten in someone who has issues with it can definitely "mask" those other issues. It is only when we start to eliminate certain issues through treatment (medicine,diet etc.) and see what is left can we realize some level of progress. I have always felt that "no" response to the gluten-free diet is just as vaild an indication that Celiac/gluten intolerance is not the problem as a postive response that it is. One thing at a time in testing/treatment has always been my favored approach. Good luck.

Tom

[gfgypsyqueen]

I have to say we tried the blood tests and then the biopsy. After that my 2 yr old became Dairy free then she had a reaction to shellfish. Big argument with the Gastro abou the fact I put her on gluten-free diet. well almost 6 mths later and the dairy free diet only helped so much. She has been gluten-free now for almost 3 weeks and already seems to be doing better. Of course she just got into something two day ago and the diarrhea and itchy rach are back! I think we have another silly in the family

So, in my opinion, try the diet. You'll see some small changes pretty quickly.

Best of luck.

[mother2gf3]

hi. well I have a 2,4 and 6 year old w/ celiac . My 2 year old just had her biopsy last week, which confirmed celiac. A month ago she had her blood tests that showed positive for celiac. My childrens GI dr did tell me prior to the blood work that they usually test children at 3 or older unless lots of symptoms are there, because before 3 they are more likely to get a false negative. My child was having so many symptoms we tested her early.