New & Overwhelmed Where Do I Start?

[Hopefulmama]

A little background info.-this could get long. I just found this site last night after 2 years of desperation. My daughter is 2 1/2 years old. She has never slept well-had colic, still wakes several times/night, and has bad night terrors that are starting to occur almost every night. The more I read, the more symtoms she seems to have of celiac/gluten intolerance. She thrived with her growth until about 18 months. We stopped breast feeding at 16 months. She hasn't grown much at all since 18 months and yet she eats A LOT. She has a lot of gas, and sometimes her belly really pokes out. A few times after she played w/ Play doh she got red marks on her hands. Nothing severe, but weird. She doesn't get it every time though. Noone in our family has been diagnosed, but that doesn't mean noone has it. Lately she gets diareha about twice/week-for about 3 weeks now. She is so sleep deprived and so am I. I am expecting in a few months and would like to get this under control before the new one arrives. I am tired of seeing my daughter suffer with the night terrors. I am not sure if this is all related or not-I also don't know what is normal 2 year old behavior. I don't know how to approach this with her ped. I've read that the blood test isn't always positive-esp. when they are young. If she tests negative, my husband will not be super supportive of the diet. Shoudl I just go with the diet and forget seeing the ped.? Or what questions should I ask? I am overwhelmed and trying to swim through all of the great info. here. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Please?! Thanks so much for any help! I really need it!

[lovegrov]

From everything I know and have read, your daughter is in the more reliable testing stage. In addition, she would seem to have the familiar "failure to thrive," the most common symptom for young kids.

richard

[LauraWass]

A little background info.-this could get long. I just found this site last night after 2 years of desperation. My daughter is 2 1/2 years old. She has never slept well-had colic, still wakes several times/night, and has bad night terrors that are starting to occur almost every night. The more I read, the more symtoms she seems to have of celiac/gluten intolerance. She thrived with her growth until about 18 months. We stopped breast feeding at 16 months. She hasn't grown much at all since 18 months and yet she eats A LOT. She has a lot of gas, and sometimes her belly really pokes out. A few times after she played w/ Play doh she got red marks on her hands. Nothing severe, but weird. She doesn't get it every time though. Noone in our family has been diagnosed, but that doesn't mean noone has it. Lately she gets diareha about twice/week-for about 3 weeks now. She is so sleep deprived and so am I. I am expecting in a few months and would like to get this under control before the new one arrives. I am tired of seeing my daughter suffer with the night terrors. I am not sure if this is all related or not-I also don't know what is normal 2 year old behavior. I don't know how to approach this with her ped. I've read that the blood test isn't always positive-esp. when they are young. If she tests negative, my husband will not be super supportive of the diet. Shoudl I just go with the diet and forget seeing the ped.? Or what questions should I ask? I am overwhelmed and trying to swim through all of the great info. here. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Please?! Thanks so much for any help! I really need it!

Hi--

I would for sure ask the pediatrician for a blood test. Chances are they will be positive. If they are not, perhaps you should still push for a biopsy (that is considered the gold standard for diagnosing celiac disease). In my opinion, it would be hard for me to follow the gluten-free diet if I didn't have medical proof.

We have a 2 year old who was diagnosed about a month ago (she had some of the symptoms you listed, ie distended tummy, digestive problems, light sleeper, thrived until 18 mos, stopped nursing at 16 mos, etc) and our world has changed so much since she started the gluten-free diet. She is feeling sooo much better, smiles more, laughs more, plays more, does not ask to be picked up as often, etc.

Let me know if you have any more questions!! Good luck!! Laura