Really Long Naps

[melblondin]

Hi everyone -

I am looking into getting bloodwork done again on my 3 year old at the end of April. His test was "inconclusive" at his 2 year checkup, so we were sent to a GI and he pretty much blew us off and told us to just feed him a high fat/high protein diet (I think at that time he was in the 5th percentile). At any rate, I am wondering if any of you have children with celiac disease who take really long naps. If I let him, and some days I have because he is in such a solid state of sleep, he will nap from 1:30pm - 5:30pm and then go to bed for the night at about 9 or 9:30pm. It just seems to me that he's more tired than a typical 3 year old. He's also always very red in the face, like his cheeks are inflamed/chapped and there have been several times in the past few weeks especially where he has just stopped eating mid meal and said, "My tummy hurts. May I be 'scused?" I strongly suspect Celiac, but just wondered if there are any other long nappers out there?? Oh and what about potty accidents? He's been potty trained for awhile now, but there are days where he wets himself three or four times out of nowhere. I can't figure out if it's a symptom or if it's a behavior thing... Sorry for all the random questions....I'm just trying to make sense of it all.

[Mom of a Celiac toddler]

You could be singing my song, but he doesn't sleep quite as long as yours. He sleeps for about 2-2 1/2 hours, and 12 hours at night. My son was 18 months, and had dropped from the 95th to 3rd percentile, when we tried to get the diagnosis. We had already been gluten free for a few weeks when we did the biopsy so he was negative, but proceeded as if he was positive per the dr's advice. Now he is 2, and every time he gets accidently glutened he gets the really red chapped looking cheeks. He also is potty trained, but will have 3-4 accidents a day for a few days after being glutened! I strongly believe the accidents are a symptom, not behavior. From what little research I can find it is difficult to get a diagnosis this young. Personal choice for us: we have choosen to not sweat the diagnosis, but to do what makes us son healthy and happy! Call him celiac or extremely gluten intolerant, I don't care-I just know the choice to go gluten free was the best decision we ever made for him!

Good luck!!

Hi everyone -

I am looking into getting bloodwork done again on my 3 year old at the end of April. His test was "inconclusive" at his 2 year checkup, so we were sent to a GI and he pretty much blew us off and told us to just feed him a high fat/high protein diet (I think at that time he was in the 5th percentile). At any rate, I am wondering if any of you have children with celiac disease who take really long naps. If I let him, and some days I have because he is in such a solid state of sleep, he will nap from 1:30pm - 5:30pm and then go to bed for the night at about 9 or 9:30pm. It just seems to me that he's more tired than a typical 3 year old. He's also always very red in the face, like his cheeks are inflamed/chapped and there have been several times in the past few weeks especially where he has just stopped eating mid meal and said, "My tummy hurts. May I be 'scused?" I strongly suspect Celiac, but just wondered if there are any other long nappers out there?? Oh and what about potty accidents? He's been potty trained for awhile now, but there are days where he wets himself three or four times out of nowhere. I can't figure out if it's a symptom or if it's a behavior thing... Sorry for all the random questions....I'm just trying to make sense of it all.

[melblondin]

Oh wow - thanks so much for your response. I've been thinking all these behaviors were linked and like I said, I suspected celiac, but didn't know if I was just being crazy. I think I'll keep him on gluten just until his check-up this month and then regardless of what the test and/or doctors say, like you did, I'm just going to take him off gluten and see if things improve. I'm already eating gluten free because of my own wheat allergy and possibility of celiac, so it really shouldn't be too hard and we'll hopefully see some of these symptoms disappear. Thanks again for your reply!!

[mznia504]

Yep, my 3 yr old sleeps just like that. Nap from 1-5 and bedtime at 8:30, not waking until 9am the next morning. And half days of preschool wear him out so bad that he nearly callapses when I pick him up from school. He sees a dietician next month so hopefully it will help...

[Beth03456]

My son was diagnosed right after his 3 yo checkup. He was taking extremely long naps like yours, and always seemed tired. We carried him a lot, used the stroller, etc. We could tell something wasn't quite right, and so could his pediatrician. After being on the gluten-free diet for a month, he dropped his nap quite suddenly. While it could have been a maturity issue, so hard to tell with 3 yo's!, we attributed it to the diet. Now he is almost 4 and still falls asleep occassionally but nothing like the days pre-diagnosis.

[macocha]

my son is 12 and pre-diagnosed he would sleep all night, at times in class, and then all afternoon - sometimes through the night.