Children Who Go Gluten Free - Worse Before They Get Better?

[beebs]

My 4 year old had his endo just before xmas so we decided to get him gluten free before getting the results back which will be on the 12th. We are not sure that gluten is the problem, he has never been gluten free before and he has never had any kind of intolerance/allergy testing. We have a family history of celiac.

He has been gluten free for 5 days now. His stools are worse than they were before, does that sound normal? He was crying cause his stool was stinging so much.

Sorry for all the questions!

[mushroom]

Beebs, have you taken him off dairy too? The two often go hand in hand and getting rid of one is no good unless you get rid of the other if he is celiac, because he likely has no enzymes to digest the dairy with and it is just sitting there, fermenting and causing diarrhea and gas and burning.

[beebs]

Beebs, have you taken him off dairy too? The two often go hand in hand and getting rid of one is no good unless you get rid of the other if he is celiac, because he likely has no enzymes to digest the dairy with and it is just sitting there, fermenting and causing diarrhea and gas and burning.

Doh - I haven't taken him off dairy at all. I even know that Celiac can cause lactose intolerance and it just didn't occur to me. My younger son who is having his endo on the 20th is badly lactose intolerant.

Do you think its enough to go lactose free instead of dairy free?

[T.H.]

I'd try completely dairy free, at first. If you drop just the lactose and he's not better, you'll have to keep going and drop the dairy. If you drop all the dairy and he's not better, you'll know to look elsewhere. The latter seems like it might help you find the answers quicker, and get him well quicker.

And if dropping all dairy works, you can always try low lactose stuff to add in and see if he does all right with it.