Distended Belly- Need Help Please

[suziq0805]

So I've been posting a lot today, but hopefully someone has some insight that could help me on this topic. I'm a first time mom and new to this whole celiac thing and I'm not sure what to do. My 13 month old has shown symptoms of issues with gluten/wheat since we introduced rice cereal and oatmeal. He vomits severely after eating wheat/gluten containing foods. Since he was a few weeks old he has had a larger belly. Everyone kept saying it would go away after he began crawling/walking. Well he's been crawling for a few months and walking for 6 weeks and it's not going away. He looks pregnant. Would this be considered a distended stomach? It's starting to concern me. The stomach did go down in size during a case of RSV where he wouldn't eat or drink. Once he started eating and drinking again his belly got bigger again. I should also add that he has an minor abdominal hernia. I researched online about a distended belly and lactose intolerance came up. I ate gluten and dairy while I nursed him and then he went to a milk-based formula when I became concerned about him drinking breastmilk containing gluten (I didn't want to go on a gluten-free diet while I was nursing because I was wanting to go through celiac testing also). He switched to whole milk a few weeks ago. So he's always been on a diet that contains dairy. He's been to a pediatric GI a few months ago and he has another appointment in a few weeks. I don't know if I should try a milk that's not cow's milk, see if the pediatric GI could see him sooner (which I wouldn't be too hopeful for because he has a packed schedule), or get him into a new family doctor that personally has celiac disease (our family doc did celiac bloodwork for my son when he was on a gluten-free diet so i've been considering switching anyway because I want a doc that understands celiac if that's what my son has). He's not diagnosed celiac yet because the GI doc said he's too young for accurate testing. He has tested negative twice for wheat allergies.

[etta694]

Just a note.. something I learned here. If Celiac is present then the villi may have been affected and the tips of the villi are where lactase is produced for the digestion of dairy (lactose). So lactose intolerance could be part of the issue.

[mushroom]

I note in a previous post that he vomits when he eats gluten, and that he has dropped to the 5th percentile in height and is low weight and wearing baby-size clothes still. This, along with the distended belly, would all seem to indicate a gluten intolerance. Yes, testing is difficult in young children, but you really can't get accurate testing until they are about three. Are you going to make him suffer for two more years?? I think I would trial him off all gluten before the GI appointment and that way you can report to the doctor how he responds. Take pictures of his belly now and see if it has gone down by the doctor's appointment, and see if his vomiting stops.

[suziq0805]

I note in a previous post that he vomits when he eats gluten, and that he has dropped to the 5th percentile in height and is low weight and wearing baby-size clothes still. This, along with the distended belly, would all seem to indicate a gluten intolerance. Yes, testing is difficult in young children, but you really can't get accurate testing until they are about three. Are you going to make him suffer for two more years?? I think I would trial him off all gluten before the GI appointment and that way you can report to the doctor how he responds. Take pictures of his belly now and see if it has gone down by the doctor's appointment, and see if his vomiting stops.

He is on a gluten-free diet and has been for months already. Acutally, he's only had gluten maybe 10 times in his life. He's never been a baby that spit up a lot, so when he did after oatmeal that was a big red flag for his dad and I. I was able to notice the trend of wheat products based on his reaction to only a few foods. I think I'm doing everything right. He's been off gluten containing breastmilk since Jan. or Feb. He has seperate cookware, tupperware, cutting board and so on. We're careful to pick up crumbs and are careful if we're eating gluten at supper to clean our hands before handling his food. If his reaction to eating gluten stays the same I could never put him through the gluten challenge. I want to look into genetic testing for him. He had RSV a few weeks ago and has been back to normal eating/drinking for the last couple of weeks. The fact that his stomach shrunk while he wasn't eating/drinking and then grew again made me wonder what is up. Not sure if he's getting cross-contamination somehow, if there is an issue with dairy or what's going on. I just feel so frustrated. I don't want to overreact to everything but I don't think my 13 month old should look pregnant.

[mushroom]

If he is gluten free but still on dairy I would definitely remove the dairy (and not substitute soy - try an almond or hemp milk or a rice milk so long as it's not rice dream. For a spread there is Earth Balance soy-free spread. If he is gluten intolerant he is most likely lactose intolerant too - maybe even casein intolerant. Try removing most grains if you can, including cereals, in fact most processed foods and just give him meat, veg and fruit. See if it makes a difference.At this point I think it is important to try to weed out anything from his diet that could be bothering him. Grains and dairy are likely culprits.

[Roda]

It is possible that he may be getting cross contamination from the house if you and dad are not gluten free. Kids that age like to put everything in their mouths. If he touches something that you may have touched with gluten on your hands and he puts his hands in his mouth then bam, cc issues.

[Dani Girl]

So I've been posting a lot today, but hopefully someone has some insight that could help me on this topic. I'm a first time mom and new to this whole celiac thing and I'm not sure what to do. My 13 month old has shown symptoms of issues with gluten/wheat since we introduced rice cereal and oatmeal. He vomits severely after eating wheat/gluten containing foods. Since he was a few weeks old he has had a larger belly. Everyone kept saying it would go away after he began crawling/walking. Well he's been crawling for a few months and walking for 6 weeks and it's not going away. He looks pregnant. Would this be considered a distended stomach? It's starting to concern me. The stomach did go down in size during a case of RSV where he wouldn't eat or drink. Once he started eating and drinking again his belly got bigger again. I should also add that he has an minor abdominal hernia. I researched online about a distended belly and lactose intolerance came up. I ate gluten and dairy while I nursed him and then he went to a milk-based formula when I became concerned about him drinking breastmilk containing gluten (I didn't want to go on a gluten-free diet while I was nursing because I was wanting to go through celiac testing also). He switched to whole milk a few weeks ago. So he's always been on a diet that contains dairy. He's been to a pediatric GI a few months ago and he has another appointment in a few weeks. I don't know if I should try a milk that's not cow's milk, see if the pediatric GI could see him sooner (which I wouldn't be too hopeful for because he has a packed schedule), or get him into a new family doctor that personally has celiac disease (our family doc did celiac bloodwork for my son when he was on a gluten-free diet so i've been considering switching anyway because I want a doc that understands celiac if that's what my son has). He's not diagnosed celiac yet because the GI doc said he's too young for accurate testing. He has tested negative twice for wheat allergies.

you might want to check to see if it's only Lactose allergy, the only way to correctivly test him for Celiac Disease is to have him continue eating it for a period of time, then the GI specialist will then request a upper GI Scope and a biopsy of the small intestine. Thats the only true way of confirming Celiac disease.... My 2 year old was just diagnosed 2 weeks ago. She wasn't vomiting, it was more of the color of her stuhls and the textures. She is doing awesome now that we have her on this new diet.

[shadowicewolf]

Another thing that pops up from reading this, are his intestens doing what their supposed to be doing (as in regular bowl movements and such)? I'm slightly a medical nerd and i read somewhere that that can be a result of the inestens not moving things properly thus the distended belly.

[salexander421]

Both my girls had distended bellies that went away with a gluten free diet. My 3 year old will start to get a big belly and get constipated if she has even a speck of gluten. They are both extremely sensitive. We pretty much have a gluten free household, unless my hubby sneaks some in the house on occasion. We pretty much can't eat anything processed or we end up getting cross contamination somewhere.

[suziq0805]

Another thing that pops up from reading this, are his intestens doing what their supposed to be doing (as in regular bowl movements and such)? I'm slightly a medical nerd and i read somewhere that that can be a result of the inestens not moving things properly thus the distended belly.

Oh, his intestines work!!! He has bowel movements a couple times a day. We did put him on rice milk a couple days ago. His belly might be a tiny bit smaller, but it's no drastic change. So maybe milk wasn't the issue. His stools have become firmer (he didn't have diahrea, but they were pretty soft). Whether that's due to cutting dairy out or the fact that he's not eating yogurt (so less soft-textured food) every day now we're not sure. Maybe he's just eating too much??

[shadowicewolf]

Oh, his intestines work!!! He has bowel movements a couple times a day. We did put him on rice milk a couple days ago. His belly might be a tiny bit smaller, but it's no drastic change. So maybe milk wasn't the issue. His stools have become firmer (he didn't have diahrea, but they were pretty soft). Whether that's due to cutting dairy out or the fact that he's not eating yogurt (so less soft-textured food) every day now we're not sure. Maybe he's just eating too much??

Well thats good to hear . I read a story once where a little boy had the same issue except he had really bad C all his life. Turns out part of his intestens had no vili (or something) to keep the movements moving, thus the poor boy couldn't go for the life of him. Fortenently they were able to fix it by removeing the section that wasn't working (off topic LOL)

Is it possible that he is bloated or gassy? That could explain some of it.

[Rock7902]

So I've been posting a lot today, but hopefully someone has some insight that could help me on this topic. I'm a first time mom and new to this whole celiac thing and I'm not sure what to do. My 13 month old has shown symptoms of issues with gluten/wheat since we introduced rice cereal and oatmeal. He vomits severely after eating wheat/gluten containing foods. Since he was a few weeks old he has had a larger belly. Everyone kept saying it would go away after he began crawling/walking. Well he's been crawling for a few months and walking for 6 weeks and it's not going away. He looks pregnant. Would this be considered a distended stomach? It's starting to concern me. The stomach did go down in size during a case of RSV where he wouldn't eat or drink. Once he started eating and drinking again his belly got bigger again. I should also add that he has an minor abdominal hernia. I researched online about a distended belly and lactose intolerance came up. I ate gluten and dairy while I nursed him and then he went to a milk-based formula when I became concerned about him drinking breastmilk containing gluten (I didn't want to go on a gluten-free diet while I was nursing because I was wanting to go through celiac testing also). He switched to whole milk a few weeks ago. So he's always been on a diet that contains dairy. He's been to a pediatric GI a few months ago and he has another appointment in a few weeks. I don't know if I should try a milk that's not cow's milk, see if the pediatric GI could see him sooner (which I wouldn't be too hopeful for because he has a packed schedule), or get him into a new family doctor that personally has celiac disease (our family doc did celiac bloodwork for my son when he was on a gluten-free diet so i've been considering switching anyway because I want a doc that understands celiac if that's what my son has). He's not diagnosed celiac yet because the GI doc said he's too young for accurate testing. He has tested negative twice for wheat allergies.

We have a 26 month old recently tested (blood test) positive for celiac. She had a distended belly - after a few weeks off gluten her belly seems to be headed towards normal. On the advice of others on this board, we also tried switching her milk to Lactaid (whole milk) - this seemed to have an almost overnight affect and she looked/felt better, despite negative test result for lactose previously. We see a marked change in her happiness/energy level - took about 3 weeks. I would say certainly try to the Lactaid whole milk in addition to removing gluten. Best of luck.

[suziq0805]

I was able to get him an appointment with a new doctor and she is being very thorough. She thought his belly is probably bigger than it should be so she ran an xray and if they don't see anything on the xray then we may look into allergy testing. She's having us keep a food journal for a couple of weeks. He also has another massive ear infection- even though he has tubes. I guess he's not talking like he should be for his age. So a lot to take care of but hopefully we'll figure out if anything is going on.

[jmeikle]

I recently posted something about distended bellies in children. I have Celiac and my twins carry the gene for it, but don't show antibodies currently. They had seriously distended bellies (looked pregnant), so I decided to eliminate gluten from their diet and voila - they have MUCH flatter bellies. Now I know when they've had gluten by the size of their bellies - which can last into the next day. They've never had problems keeping gluten down though, just the distended bellies, which does suggest a reaction to something. One of the twins used to get skin rashes (looked like eczema) and had skin allergies - small skin colored bumps all over his belly (we thought to fruit), but both have subsided - no idea if that is a result of eliminating gluten though.