How Long Until They Feel Really Good?

[Sam'sMom]

Hi - My 8 year old has only been gluten free for about 2 months - since we discovered he had Celiac. We have been very careful that he only eat gluten free, and are slowly catching on to all the cross contaminant situations (although I figure out new ones every day). His teacher has a wheat allergy and is gluten free as well, but she is new to keeping a classroom safe and we are working together on this.

My first question is, for those of you with experience, how long did it take your child to be "belly ache free" - if that was their symptom to begin with? I thought it was something that started happening right away since he typically would get a stomach ache right after eating before we knew. It seems pretty common for him to still not feel great and I'm hoping it's just because he's still in a healing phase. Any thoughts on that?

Next, as far as a classroom goes, his teacher and I have talked about hand washing after snack and lunch and wiping down desks, but still wondering about him sitting with his buddies who are eating regular bread and stuff. What have you all found with the "normal" eating settings at school? He's in a small school and eats in his classroom so he's not exposed to a whole cafeteria.

Thanks for your help. Sometimes it feels like they need to be in a space suit so they don't get contaminated.

[Mizzo]

My DD took 2 1/2 - 3 months till bellyaches and mood swings really went away (cc continued for awhile till I got better at noticing things).

The classroom eating issues are tough. I sent a letter to our teacher this year as last year was our first year learning curve. I aksed:

That handwashing be done before and after food is eaten at desk.

I Addressed hand sanitizer as not being a substitute for washing.

I asked that the teacher direct the kids to wash desk top to bottom not side to side and to periodically remind them of this. Side to side just throws crumbs onto others desks. Not safe for celiacs or any allergens really.

i asked that no flour be used in classroom for any reason ( science etc...) if flour was necessary to ask me for a substitute.

I asked that my dd desk be on an end to reduce cc issue's.

All of these requests are easy to accomodate and I was greeted with an absolutely can be done attitude. Thank goodness . :-)

good luck

[Roda]

It took awhile for things to settle down with my youngest son. It can depend on how bad the damage was. My son only had a mildly elevated IgA tTG and we opted out of the biopsy. It was around the three month mark or so when we really noticed he wasn't complainging of belly aches anymore and some of his wierd ocd behavior had vanished along with the tempertantrums. All of that comes back if he gets gluten. As for school, we seem to be doing allright. Last year in Kindergarden the whole class at snack time was gluten free. He washed before and after snack and lunch. We had to have other shared items wiped down ie computer since he had a bad nail biting habbit. I am glad to say he does not do that now. For first grade they have snack but the teacher did not make it gluten free. So he washes before and after snack and lunch. He is really good about telling his teacher what he needs. So far so good. Matter of fact, his teacher just asked me today if she was doing allright.