Avoiding Celiacs?

[ligeia]

This doesn't really make sense to me but I was just talking to a friend who has an adopted daughter (genetics unknown) so she is going to try to *avoid* the onset of celiacs. I have a 2.5 yr old who I suspect may be sensitive to gluten and I have just decided to try taking her off of gluten for a little while to see if I notice a difference. However, I also have a nearly 8 month old baby. Here's my real question: Is there a way I can avoid the disease with him? He still has not really had solids, literally only a taste of gluten someone had given him and a couple veggies here and there, he's pretty much exclusively breastfed right now. Friend was saying that it helps to delay introduction of gluten for at least the first year if not the first 1.5-2 years and then to continue offering breastmilk for the first few months of gluten introduction, which makes sense to me since breastmilk kind of coats the gut with good stuff. There was something else too but now I can't remember.

Has anyone attempted to avoid the disease with their children? Can someone explain how it is even possible to avoid it? I am intrigued, I would be so happy if there were something I could do to keep my son from getting it.

Thanks

[Mommy2Many]

I'm pretty new at this myself but from what I have read and been told by the doctors celiac disease is genetic. You either have the gene or you don't. They say that some people who have the gene don't even ever know it because they don't ever have any symptoms. My son went 12 years WITH symptoms before being diagnosed. From what he has been through and what I know about it now I would recommend getting your kids tested to see if they have the gene. It's just bloodwork that will tell you if they have it or not. If they have it I would just go along with the gluten-free diet. Since they are so young I would think it would be easier to get them adjusted to the food. I have another son who is 5 and has the same symptoms as my 12 year old who was just diagnosed. We have decided to get his bloodwork done to see if he has the gene as well but if it comes back that he does there is no reason to put him through a biopsy. We'll just have another gluten-free child. Hope this helps. I have read so many things about how kids are misdiagnosed all the time with doctors saying they are lactose intollerant or that they have GERD and they will grow out of it. The doctors will not see celiac disease in regular bloodwork and you need to request a special "Celiac Plus" panel done by a special lab called Prometheus. This panel will give you a definate answer as to if your child has one of the genes and at what risk he/she may be at with the disease. Good luck to you!

[ligeia]

Thanks for the reply. I kind of thought it was too good to be true, just wanted to get some other opinions on it.

[ryebaby0]

Prometheus is not the only lab that can do Celiac panels -- those are common tests that have to be ordered by your doctor, but most any lab can have those processed/run with a regular blood draw. Just wanted to clear that one up~

Also -- what you often read is that studies show a correlation between early introduction of "the big 7" allergens and food allergies. This is statistically a link, but remember that is a statistic over a large group. So while it is true for the group, there's absolutely no way to know if it is true for a single individual. If you have a very strong family history of strong allergies, doctors will sometimes recommend waiting to introduce egg, peanut, etc -- but that is no guarantee.

Immune system malfunctions require many things to activate, and no one is certain what combination will flip the switch in a particular person. Certainly a genetic test will give you a piece of that puzzle, but there's no way to "avoid" celiac disease. Your thoughts about the genetic marker are right on -- if he doesn't even have it, why put him through a biopsy, and if he does, why bother with one instead of just putting him gluten-free too.

[ligeia]

So, he either has it or not and whether or not he appears to have celiacs now, he inevitably will if he has the genetic marker, am I understanding correctly?

[ryebaby0]

No...if he doesn't have at least one of the the genetic markers, he can't develop celiac

if he does have the genetic marker, he could (but not necessarily will) develop celiac

[Kibbie]

This doesn't really make sense to me but I was just talking to a friend who has an adopted daughter (genetics unknown) so she is going to try to *avoid* the onset of celiacs. I have a 2.5 yr old who I suspect may be sensitive to gluten and I have just decided to try taking her off of gluten for a little while to see if I notice a difference. However, I also have a nearly 8 month old baby. Here's my real question: Is there a way I can avoid the disease with him? He still has not really had solids, literally only a taste of gluten someone had given him and a couple veggies here and there, he's pretty much exclusively breastfed right now. Friend was saying that it helps to delay introduction of gluten for at least the first year if not the first 1.5-2 years and then to continue offering breastmilk for the first few months of gluten introduction, which makes sense to me since breastmilk kind of coats the gut with good stuff. There was something else too but now I can't remember.

Has anyone attempted to avoid the disease with their children? Can someone explain how it is even possible to avoid it? I am intrigued, I would be so happy if there were something I could do to keep my son from getting it.

Thanks

There is a new study that took infants who had 1st degree relatives with celiac disease and 1/2 of them were given gluten at the recommended age of 6 months and the other 1/2 were not given any gluten until after they had turned 1 year old. 100% of the children who did not get gluten until after 1 year old have not developed celiac disease yet (I say yet because as we know it can 'turn on' at any time) but the idea is that delaying the introduction to gluten can either delay the onset of celiac disease or possibly prevent it. (something like 40-60% of the kids who were given gluten before 1 year developed the disease according to the study) I'm looking for it now it was in my Alamo Celiac newsletter.