Baby With Very Painful Gas

[mytummyhurts]

My sister just had a baby about two months ago and he has had very painful gas, he's crying all the time. Most people say he's probably got colic and the doctor thinks it's reflux. Of course, since I'm always trying to find a connection to celiac disease (since it's so underdiagnosed) and because he does have the same genes as me I was wondering if anybody know about babies who have celiac. Does it sound like this could be that?

[Carriefaith]

I don't have an answer, but if the baby is continuously in discomfort from gas, then celiac is a possibility. Are there any other signs? like diarrehea, bloating, irritability, extreame fatigue?

It might be good to look at what he is eating... maybe there is gluten in his formula? is he eating baby food with gluten? If there appears to be gluten in his diet, then I think that it would be a good idea to get him checked out.

Also... check to see if he is drinking cow's milk or if there are dairy products in anything he consumes ... that could also be the source of the problem.

Good luck, and I hope he is ok.

[KaitiUSA]

If celiac runs in the family he should be checked. That can be a symptom of celiac...remember there are alot of symptoms that can be associated with celiac but some people just don't get any. So he could just have that one symptom and still have it....your sister should be checked to since you do.

[mytummyhurts]

I'm trying to get all of my family to get tested. But they aren't taking me very seriously. My mom has been tested though and I thought for sure that she had it because she'd been previously diagnosed with IBS and was having similar problems as me. But the test came back negative (blood test). So I don't know.

I will check the baby's formula to see if there is gluten in it. I don't think he's gotten any cow's milk though. And it's hard to tell in a really young baby if he has fatigue, because they sleep a lot!

[KaitiUSA]

People can be lactose intolerant until going on a gluten-free diet so he could be having a problem if he is having milk...is he breastfed? that is supposed to be good for babies. Did your mom have tTG and EMA done? Those are pretty specific for celiac so those would be good ones to test for. Also since it runs in the family the members that get tested and are negative should go back every 2-5 years to make sure it has not been activated. I know the frustration of not having family listen to you. My mom and dad are great about it but my extended family(about 5 we suspect have it) are not taking us seriously.

All you can do is tell them about it..you've done your job..can't force anything. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make em drink.

[mytummyhurts]

My sister tried to breastfeed him for a couple weeks but it wasn't going well, so now he drinks formula. I don't know exactly what tests my mom had done, I doubt even she knows. She said the doctor thought it was silly that she wanted to be tested just because I had it. Isn't that stupid? But aren't we all used to how dumb a lot of doctors are when it comes to this disease?

[KaitiUSA]

Yeah we are all used to stupid unhelpful doctors here. I wouldn't put anything past some of these doctors...

[Guest nini]

my daughter had extremely painful gas as an infant. She was breastfed and supplemented with formula, and I was still eating gluten at the time and I don't know if her formula was gluten-free. But she was dx with celiac the same year I was, so I believe there is a connection. My daughter also had as an infant major diarrhea and projectile vomiting. At the time her ped. tried to tell me it was because she was a preemie that she had these issues.

[cdford]

My oldest son had the same problem so badly that he couldn't sleep and would cry for hours and hours and hours. We had a doc at the time who was into as little medicine as possible (great idea). He had us make up catnip tea and give him a couple of ounces morning and evening. It helped to at least give us a little respite from the scrunching and crying. Too bad that doc did not know to check for celiac disease. We might have been saved years of trouble.

[Carriefaith]

And it's hard to tell in a really young baby if he has fatigue, because they sleep a lot!

haha yeah I was thinking about that when I wrote it...

[lovegrov]

At two months, it'd simply too early to start thinking about celiac and you certainly can't test for it. The child is just too young for celiac to even be a consideration.

richard

[mommida]

If hindsight is 20/20, there are things I noticed with my daughter that could have been the signs for Celiac. I was just going through the onset of "classic" symptoms myself, after being diagnosed with IBS for years.

Newborn, day 2, first attempt at formula feeding...

Projectile vomiting formula.

Distended abdomen.

These were also notice in the first 2 weeks of age...

The way the b.m. looked was not like that of a normal breastfed baby. If this is a possible situation look at the LaLeche website under the description of what too much milk production b.m. would look like or e-mail me directly for my description.

Gas. Gas. Gas.

Hungry. Voracious hunger.

All of these "symptoms" where there from the beginning. High bilirubin count was also present and light therapy was needed.

All these "symptoms" will be promptly blown off by the Ped. If you think your child is in pain and something is wrong, go to the Ped. If you think your child is in serious need of medical attention, go to the hospital. (Even if you have to leave the Ped. office to get there.) You have been with your child longer than the 5-15 minutes the doctor will spend with you at the visit, and you might have better insight to the situation your child is in.

I won't hurt to be on a gluten free formula. Last time I checked Enfamil was on a gluten free list, but now they have updated the formulas with Lipids/proteins. (from what I heard the extra lipids and proteins were from fish. This may or may not be true since it was word of mouth from the O.B.)

Testing under 20 months of age is really considered to be inaccurate. (Unless genetic testing?) Every test has a 30% error rate, so I've been told. Testing for Celiac, in my opinion, is severely lacking.

Laura

[Canadian Karen]

Richard has a point....

From everything that I have read regarding babies and celiac, the celiac does not show up until the four month interval when cereals are introduced......

Karen

[Guest nini]

but isn't there a genetic marker that would show up in early tests? If there is a family history of celiac, then IMHO a child is never too young to be tested for genetic markers for it. If you can alleviate even one day of suffering needlessly for the child, then do it.

My mom said that as an infant, I too had all those symptoms that we now know are classic celiac, projectile vomiting, distended abdomen, painful gas... my daughter had it too, and both of us have celiac. If someone could have figured out what was wrong with me when I was an infant, just imagine.

[mytummyhurts]

Thanks everybody, I'll tell my sister what you all said. And try to get her to get tested too!

[tarnalberry]

The genetic test won't tell you if you have celiac - only if you have the chance of developing it. Tests for diagnosis celiac simply aren't reliable that early in life - a recent study showed that biopsies weren't even reliable at 2.5 years - there were a number of missed cases that showed up during a follow-up at 3.5 years.

[key]

What type of formula is the baby on? Alot of babies are allergic to dairy based formula and it sounds like he has those symptoms,but also if they are allergic to dairy they can be to Soy also. There is a formula that is elemental, that could help maybe.

My baby has been on a gluten free diet for a week only and had all the symptoms of Celiac. HE wasn't completely tested with the biopsy yet, because we had to go out of town for six weeks. Anyway, my son has always been a fussier baby, things got much, much worse once cereals were started and then got even worse at nine months once breads and table foods were introduced. So anyway, I think it would be too early to test for CF in an infant, but I would definitely take precautions when she does start solids. He really isn't being exposed to gluten right now and so shouldn't be showing symptoms of that yet, especially if he isn't breast feeding.

HOpe he starts feeling better.

Monica