Is My 3 Year Old Daughter A Celiac?

[akflboyd]

Hi -

I have just come to the suspisicion that my 3 year old daughter, Fiona, has celiac disease. I have always said that there is something bothering her but I could never put my finger on it. She has been extremely irritable since she was 2 weeks old. I tried telling the pediatrician several time that she was colicky but they blew it off and told me she was "strong willed". She has NEVER been affectionate and pushes my husband or me away when we try to cuddle with her. I have even tried taking her to a psychologist and they said she was probably "strong willed". I cannot stand that description and I never accepted it. Last week, I finally elliminated gluten, processed sugars and milk (not dairy) from her diet. She is only drinking filtered water. I feel like I have a new child! I am not walking on eggshells with her explosive temper anymore. She is not hitting me or my husband in the head on her way to time out. She is not a grouch anymore.

We just had blood drawn a couple hours ago for celiac and allergy. But I don't know what else I should do from this point other than wait for the test results.

Is temperment and behavior be a common system in a toddler from birth? Has anyone else experience this? I feel like, and hope I have, overcome a 3 year hunt!

[dandelionmom]

My 3 y/o daughter had a huge attitude shift when we went gluten-free. She used to be sooooo irritable and had some OCD tendencies that were starting to really worry me. All that went away since her diagnosis. She's so sweet now! She tries new foods! She doesn't freak out (much) if someone sits in her favorite seat.

I'm glad you're finding answers. It is such a relief, isn't it!

[~alex~]

I have just come to the suspisicion that my 3 year old daughter, Fiona, has celiac disease. I have always said that there is something bothering her but I could never put my finger on it. She has been extremely irritable since she was 2 weeks old. I tried telling the pediatrician several time that she was colicky but they blew it off and told me she was "strong willed". She has NEVER been affectionate and pushes my husband or me away when we try to cuddle with her.

I have no experience with children so I can't comment on that aspect but your description of how you daughter acts is very similar to the way I feel when I accidentally eat gluten.

I'm a huge snuggler and when I'm sick with anything besides a glutening, nothing comforts me more than physical contact. But the times that I have been glutened, I could hardly stand to be touched, let alone cuddle. I didn't want anyone to touch or talk to me and most of the time I'm the complete opposite. If your daughter has a problem with gluten, she would be having these effects every day. Kind of like severe, permanent PMS!

If your daughter's test come back negative, you might try just keeping her off gluten anyway if it has made her happier and more agreeable. It definitely can't hurt and you can still continue to investigate other causes while on the diet if she continues to have some problems.

[akflboyd]

My 3 y/o daughter had a huge attitude shift when we went gluten-free. She used to be sooooo irritable and had some OCD tendencies that were starting to really worry me. All that went away since her diagnosis. She's so sweet now! She tries new foods! She doesn't freak out (much) if someone sits in her favorite seat.

I'm glad you're finding answers. It is such a relief, isn't it!

Thank you so much!! My daughter has a favorite "spot" on the sofa as well! OMG! She would freak out too if someone would sit in it. Was your daughter mean to your parents or your in-laws? I cannot thank you enough for your reply! I think everyone in my family is still skeptical of my assumption but it makes so much sense. Her behavior consumes my life. Is celiac's hereditary for you family? It is not in mine. I hate to say this but I almost hope the tests come back positive so that I can help her from here on out. I know this is not something to wish on anyone but this has been a 3 year struggle!

Thank you so much!

[akflboyd]

I have no experience with children so I can't comment on that aspect but your description of how you daughter acts is very similar to the way I feel when I accidentally eat gluten.

I'm a huge snuggler and when I'm sick with anything besides a glutening, nothing comforts me more than physical contact. But the times that I have been glutened, I could hardly stand to be touched, let alone cuddle. I didn't want anyone to touch or talk to me and most of the time I'm the complete opposite. If your daughter has a problem with gluten, she would be having these effects every day. Kind of like severe, permanent PMS!

If your daughter's test come back negative, you might try just keeping her off gluten anyway if it has made her happier and more agreeable. It definitely can't hurt and you can still continue to investigate other causes while on the diet if she continues to have some problems.

Thank you! YES, permanent PMS! She even has it worse than me and she is only 3. I always tell everyone that I hope I am paying for the teenage years now and she will be a breeze when that time comes. I just feel so bad for all the times that I just figured she was a brat for lack of a better term. I am so fixated on the assumption that she has Celiac's. I just want her to feel better and be ridded of her "inner turmoil" as I have always called it.

Thank you for your very relevant information!!! It makes so much sense!

[Ursa Major]

The tests are extremely unreliable in children under the age of six. So, even if the results are negative, keep her on a gluten-free diet anyway. The diet is the best and most reliable test for this age group.

One of my granddaughters used to have terrible temper tantrums several times a day ever since she started eating things with wheat in it. My daughter had been in denial all this time (Zoey is now 17 months old), but agreed to have her tested for intolerances if I paid for the testing.

She tested high on every grain that contains gluten, as well as dairy (both cow and goat). Since she's been on the gluten-free/cf diet, she is a much more even tempered child. No more temper tantrums (well, the odd one - she has fire red hair, and both her parents are strong-willed and used to have tantrums.... but they probably both have celiac disease, too).

[dandelionmom]

Was your daughter mean to your parents or your in-laws?

Yes! She was particularly impatient and irritable around my in-laws and at all extended family gatherings. She's doing so much better now. So many people have approached me about how nice it is to have the "real Julia."

Is celiac's hereditary for you family?

I'd never heard of celiac until my daughter's diagnosis. We have no family history of it. But, knowing what I know now, I'm certain that many members of my family need to be tested because they exhibit many of the symptoms.

[gfgypsyqueen]

Hi, I have a 2.5 yr old. She is my wild child. She is my little power house. She is small but can actually throw a punch that hurts! "No" is a word she uses, but no one can use it on her. Strong willed, wild, determined, oppinionated, and STUBBORN only begin to describe her! I fought with drs for a solid year and finally forced them to test her for celiacs. Inconclusive, but she has the gene. She went 100% dairy free and that helped. But since she wasn't normal or stable for rashes and behaviors, I finally made her gluten-free too. (After many recommendations to make her gluten-free from this site.) Made a huge difference in her! The rash is finally gone. Finally normal poop! No more diarrhea. The behavior is much better.

The biggest shocker is what happens when she has been glutened. That day she is WILD!!!!! Screaming, loud talking, hitting, throwing, literally unable to sit still. Fighting with older sister is HORRIBLE! Her mind bounces from one item to the next (ADHD??). She is a non-stop talker anyway, but when glutened it is really bad. She is unable to lay down and fall alseep. I have literally had to lay down and hold her snug to get her to calm down for sleep.

Since going gluten-free/CF, she is a different child. She is calmer, happy all the time, fun to talk with, playful, etc.

So IMO, try to get a diagnosis, but if the diet helps and makes a change in her, stick with it. I would also say make her strictly Dairy free. No dairy of any form for a few months. I was shocked at the difference in my child when all forms of dairy were removed. She has always been on soy formula and ate little dairy products. Somehow those traces of dairy really caused problems for her.

Good luck

[Juliebove]

My daughter doesn't have celiac, but food allergies, including gluten. From birth to age 4 months she cried pretty much non-stop. The only time she wasn't crying was when she was eating or sleeping. And she rarely slept. Never napped. She would have slept through the night but the Dr. made me wake her at 5 hours because she was so underweight. I tried to breast feed her but wasn't producing nearly enough milk and as it turns out, she was allergic to every formula we gave her. I'm sure this is why she threw everything right back up again.

She calmed down some when we began feeding her solid food, but once again we were unwittingly giving her allergens.

She grew crankier and sometimes more defiant. Although I must say, most of the time she was well behaved. But she would hit people for no apparent reason and hit our neighbor's puppy with a stick. Then she refused to say she was sorry. Said she was all out of sorries.

She could not be disciplied. If we tried to put her in time out she would become hysterical, throwing up, peeing on the floor, etc. This continued until she was age 6 and we discovered the food allergies.

How that all came about was that she was having trouble in school. Not discipline trouble, but unable to listen or concentrate or pretty much do any of the work at all.

After finding out about the allergies and changing her diet, we got a new child. She can listen. She can concentrate. She has far fewer tantrums. She rarely throws up and is sleeping through the night. She still doesn't like to be disciplined but she doesn't get hysterical like she used to.

[NaomiL]

My 3 and 1/2 year old is celiac and has food allergies from being celiac, all the food we fed her as a young child seems to have leaked into her system and now the allergy list is long. I call it jekyl and hyde because she is that different.

She goes from being sad, crying, hitting her sister, using mean words, hitting us, hate, impulsive, peeing her pants or on the floor, uncooperative, screaming fits, diarreah, doesn't transition well to

all of that gone and super sweet and loving when I don't feed her anything that bothers her, it's really amazing. I notice discipline makes no difference when she's having a food reaction. When she's ok then the need to discipline is minimal. If I recognize she's having a reaction I try to make the day go as smooth as possible with no meltdowns even if that means giving in to crazy requests.

I really didn't start figuring it out until I removed everything from her diet and fed her really simple and put one thing at a time back in and kept a food reaction diary.

As a baby she clearly had colic, though people just thought she was a difficult baby.

Naomi

[SMommy]

Hi, I have a 2.5 yr old. She is my wild child. She is my little power house. She is small but can actually throw a punch that hurts! "No" is a word she uses, but no one can use it on her. Strong willed, wild, determined, oppinionated, and STUBBORN only begin to describe her! I fought with drs for a solid year and finally forced them to test her for celiacs. Inconclusive, but she has the gene. She went 100% dairy free and that helped. But since she wasn't normal or stable for rashes and behaviors, I finally made her gluten-free too. (After many recommendations to make her gluten-free from this site.) Made a huge difference in her! The rash is finally gone. Finally normal poop! No more diarrhea. The behavior is much better.

The biggest shocker is what happens when she has been glutened. That day she is WILD!!!!! Screaming, loud talking, hitting, throwing, literally unable to sit still. Fighting with older sister is HORRIBLE! Her mind bounces from one item to the next (ADHD??). She is a non-stop talker anyway, but when glutened it is really bad. She is unable to lay down and fall alseep. I have literally had to lay down and hold her snug to get her to calm down for sleep.

Since going gluten-free/CF, she is a different child. She is calmer, happy all the time, fun to talk with, playful, etc.

So IMO, try to get a diagnosis, but if the diet helps and makes a change in her, stick with it. I would also say make her strictly Dairy free. No dairy of any form for a few months. I was shocked at the difference in my child when all forms of dairy were removed. She has always been on soy formula and ate little dairy products. Somehow those traces of dairy really caused problems for her.

Good luck

[tazallie]

Is temperment and behavior be a common system in a toddler from birth? Has anyone else experience this? I feel like, and hope I have, overcome a 3 year hunt!

Hi

I am really glad that the diet is working for you, and that should tell you that she defienetly needs to be on it, however I am concerned that you said your daughter has been like this since birth.

Coeliacs or gluten intolerance wouldnt cause symptoms from birth, only when she was introduced to foods containing gluten (ie when she was weaned, same I believe with other food alergies (but not sure on that one)) but there are illnesses that improve on gluten free diets that are present from birth, that perhaps really need to be looked into especially with the problems with her temprement and bonding that have been present from birth...because it is highly unlikely that they were caused by gluten that early on.

It is possible that she is gluten intolerant or coeliacs now but they wouldnt have caused the symptoms from 2 weeks old.

There is nothing more frustrating that someone telling you there is nothing wrong with you child when you know without a doubt there is...it took three years for me to get my now 10year old diagnosed in april...and it was the longest scariest 3 years, so I really hope you get some answers.

[gfpaperdoll]

Correction on the statement that you cannot have a gluten problem from birth. I had a gluten problem at birth that took me 50+ years of hell to figure out. My son was born with it, he was my second child & I already knew the drill, only feed rice cereal... His son was also born with it, & had actual failure to thrive in the womb.

Notice I say a gluten problem, because we are double DQ1.

You will read about people saying they had a "trigger" . well really what they are saying is that had an onset of symptoms that got their attention at a certain time. I think a gluten problem can be silent and it can also ebb & flow with symptoms over a lifetime, until...

[Ridgewalker]

You will read about people saying they had a "trigger" . well really what they are saying is that had an onset of symptoms that got their attention at a certain time. I think a gluten problem can be silent and it can also ebb & flow with symptoms over a lifetime, until...

I don't think the two theories are mutually exclusive.

I do agree with you, though, with what you said. My mother had diarrhea every day for at least 15 years, if not longer, but she dealt with it, just figuring this was how she was made. And then very suddenly her symptoms became 100 times more severe, she ended up in the hospital for severe dehydration, lost 20 pounds in a few weeks, etc, etc. It was only then that she was tested for Celiac, but she certainly had it for a long time before that.

-Sarah

[buffettbride]

I haven't been able to pinpoint a trigger w/ my DD, but looking back, I can see Celiac symptoms back to when she was an infant with strong, acidic poops that would literally burn her skin. She was always very wakeful--not a good sleeper and somewhat collicky. Traits that I just thought were unique to her now make me think those were Celiac-like. Fortunately, she never got to the "very, very sick" part because we caught it just at the right time.

Had I not taken her to have her "reflux" checked out last May at Children's hospital, she would be getting very, very sick right now.

[psawyer]

You will read about people saying they had a "trigger" . well really what they are saying is that had an onset of symptoms that got their attention at a certain time. I think a gluten problem can be silent and it can also ebb & flow with symptoms over a lifetime, until...

Let's talk about autoimmune diseases and triggers for a moment.

I have Type 1 Diabetes. It is similar in many ways to celiac disease. There are genetic factors, but not everyone with the genes develops the disease.

I was born in 1954. I have the same genes today that I had then. I have never been the recipient of a blood transfusion or organ transplant. Type 1 diabetes is a serious condition which has deadly effects. Once the destruction of the Open Original Shared Link is complete, unless insulin is provided by injection you die as your kidneys fail trying to rid the blood of ketones and excess glucose.

I developed type 1 diabetes in 1986. I was 31 years old. The genetic factors had been there all my life, but they went three decades without activation. Unlike celiac disease, there are always clear symptoms of type 1 diabetes. You are excessively thirsty. You urinate and urinate and then you urinate some more. You are fatigued. You lose weight. Et cetera.

Celiac disease is similar. You need the genetic factors, but you also need something else. This is why there are documented cases of identical twins where one has celiac disease but the other does not.

[mama2two]

Hi -

I have just come to the suspisicion that my 3 year old daughter, Fiona, has celiac disease. I have always said that there is something bothering her but I could never put my finger on it. She has been extremely irritable since she was 2 weeks old. I tried telling the pediatrician several time that she was colicky but they blew it off and told me she was "strong willed". She has NEVER been affectionate and pushes my husband or me away when we try to cuddle with her. I have even tried taking her to a psychologist and they said she was probably "strong willed". I cannot stand that description and I never accepted it. Last week, I finally elliminated gluten, processed sugars and milk (not dairy) from her diet. She is only drinking filtered water. I feel like I have a new child! I am not walking on eggshells with her explosive temper anymore. She is not hitting me or my husband in the head on her way to time out. She is not a grouch anymore.

We just had blood drawn a couple hours ago for celiac and allergy. But I don't know what else I should do from this point other than wait for the test results.

Is temperment and behavior be a common system in a toddler from birth? Has anyone else experience this? I feel like, and hope I have, overcome a 3 year hunt!

my daughter is 5 yrs and has been gluten-free for 6mons, she was somewhat like this, very irritable even as a baby and from the time she was 3 mons my pedi said she was stubborn, I think she is a little, but so am a I, but Ihave definately seen a difference in her behavior and my sons since they are gluten-free. She is so irratable to the point of tears and she tells you she wants one thing and then when she gets it she doesn't want it. she changes her underwear sometimes 5 times a day, all her clothes bother her and from the time she could talk she would tell you not to put any elactic waistband (shorts or jeans) on her stomach, she pulls them down low and sometimes all her clothes bother her. But like I said she is much better on a gluten-free diet. When she was a baby my husband would say she needed to go to a baby psychologist, she would get so frustrated and angry that she would pull out her hair. My son is very irritable and grouchy on gluten too. and now he's comming up with skin prob that I feel are realated to gluten

[Ursa Major]

Hi

I am really glad that the diet is working for you, and that should tell you that she defienetly needs to be on it, however I am concerned that you said your daughter has been like this since birth.

Coeliacs or gluten intolerance wouldnt cause symptoms from birth, only when she was introduced to foods containing gluten (ie when she was weaned, same I believe with other food alergies (but not sure on that one)) but there are illnesses that improve on gluten free diets that are present from birth, that perhaps really need to be looked into especially with the problems with her temprement and bonding that have been present from birth...because it is highly unlikely that they were caused by gluten that early on.

It is possible that she is gluten intolerant or coeliacs now but they wouldnt have caused the symptoms from 2 weeks old.

Actually, when a baby is being breastfed, and the mother eats gluten containing foods, this child is being introduced to gluten, like it or not. Because it has been proven that gliadin will be in breast milk if the mother eats gluten grains.

In fact, if a mother eats gluten containing foods while pregnant, the baby can be sick with celiac disease before he/she is born.

The same goes for dairy. Some babies can't tolerate breast milk, because the mother drinks cows milk, not because they really are intolerant to their own mother's milk.

[Yellow Rose]

Thank you!! Thank You!! Thank You!! My 3 yr old granddaughter which we adopted last year fit the discription of Strong Willed, angry, wild, and every other discription on this post. Since I am the one with celiac and she is not related to me I took her off of milk after reading of your successes. She is a different child. It was only two days before my husband noticed the change and I didn't tell him what I was doing. No more fighting with other kids, she can hold still for naps, I was holding her to make her stop moving, she is playing along side the other children and no one is complaing about Grace. She is such a joy to be around now and she loves soy and goat milk. We found soy yogurt and soy cheese at Wal-Mart today and she loved that too. Again I can't thank all of you enough for having the courage to discribe your children's behavioral problems and what worked for you.

Yellow Rose

[goldyjlox]

Describes my daughter to a T. She can be nasty and it is like she doesnt even hear me when I tel her to stop hitting her brother. Well, we find out tomorrow what the results are. I defiantley will be shocked if she is neg. But like I read here, 3 1/2 is still young to get a 100% positive.