5 Year Old Recently Diagnosed--suuplements?

[Julia's mom]

Julia is 5 and recently diagnosed with celiac. Her diagnosis came back as severe without complications. In the interim period that her small intestine heals, we are concerned about getting her proper nutrients. Her body won't be absorbing much during this period. We have cut back on milk products as they only seem to complicate her belly aches. I would like to know if others supplment with B vitamins, iron or potassium during this time frame for young children. She eats a very healthy diet rich in vegetables and fruit. She does not have any complications except stomach aches and lethargy for this time. Any suggestions? Her father was also recently diagnosed and is also doing well on a gluten-free diet.

[mftnchn]

I can't speak about children but my own severe malabsorption has been a major problem and I have been heavily supplementing. Finally when to IM injections of everything I could--and am getting more good from them.

Elsewhere someone suggested a DAN doctor (treats autism in kids) would know a lot about supplementation, my impression is that most doctors don't. My own doctor is also a DAN doctor and has been a huge huge help to me. Many kids have made huge breakthroughs under his care.

One other thing is you might read on the www.pecanbread.com site; many kids have not improved enough on gluten-free and also are not digesting carbs well. There is a lot of information that might be relevant even if you are not following the SCD.

Since starting SCD myself, I have learned that not only lactase is produced in the intestinal villi, but also at least two other carb digesting enzymes. This is damaged in celiac and takes time to restore. So besides milk intolerance, I notice on the boards many many who are intolerant to other grains, sugars and starches including soy. It could be because many of us cannot digest them until we heal. In my case, I didn't heal; I had to remove them from my diet. Now maybe I can heal.

Another thing that is common here are additional food intolerances; figuring out what is a trial and error thing.

[RiceGuy]

Many find supplementation to be very helpful. Some of the ones commonly recommended include vitamin B12, magnesium, B-complex, calcium, vitamin D3, iron, zinc, and potassium. The first two should help a lot with the fatigue, but be sure to balance them with calcium and vitamin D. Also, enzymes and probiotics can really help things along.

But, since dairy is obviously not well tolerated, it seems clear that your child would heal faster without it. You need not be concerned about calcium either, especially if you supplement.

[taweavmo3]

We just do a probiotic and cod liver oil. I think the most important supplement is a probiotic....these kids have had their good gut flora wiped out. Restoring the good guys will give her a boost to healing, and will help improve her immune system.

Personally, I've never had much success with iron supplements for the kids. I only found one or two vitamins that included iron, most do not contain iron b/c of the risk of overdose. The ones I did find had a bitter taste and my kids refused to take them. So, what I did instead was made a list of iron and calcium rich foods to put on the fridge. After a month of being more aware of this, my dd's hemoglobin levels were back to normal.

Can she eat any nuts??? I try to include dry fruit, nuts, and dark leafy green veggies for iron. I fix alot of smoothies, I throw in a big bunch of spinach (or kale), mixed with strawberries and other frozen fruit, ground up flax seeds, almond milk and honey. As long as the smoothie has somewhat of a pink/red hue and is semi sweet, it's a kid pleaser, lol.

If you are cutting our dairy as well, she will probably start to heal rather quickly. So as long as she is still eating a wide range of fruits and veggies, I wouldn't worry too much about supplements aside from a probiotic. If she doesn't show alot of improvement or still has ongoing issues, that's different...but for now I would just take it slow. Hope that helps some, good luck!

[ChemistMama]

When my son was diagnosed, they told us to go off dairy for six weeks to help his intestines heal. We had him on lactaid for 8 weeks and he did a lot better.

He's two and a half, and every day he gets a probiotic and a children's vitamin.

Probiotic: American Health's chewable adidophilys (milk free, comes in several fruit flavors)

vitamin: Nature's PLus Animal Parade multivitamin and whole food supplement (gluten and milk-free).