Thinking Of Testing

[kallen123]

Thinking about getting 3 year old son tested for celiac and wondering if anyone has had a similar experience. Up until recently, he hasn't really shown any symptoms except for frequent loose stools that peds have suggested were a result of his diet - lots of fruits, etc. He did have an issue gaining weight around 12 mos old, but that seemed to sort itself out, though he hasn't gained any weight since his 3 year old check-up 9 months ago. Recently has been complaining occasionally of stomach pain. Last two weeks, all of a sudden has had chronic diarrhea and more frequent complaints of stomach pain, stool sample results came back negative. Am I over thinking this?

[domesticactivist]

Getting the blood work makes sense. You may want to try going gluten-free regardless of the results, but since you can't test for celiac once on a gluten-free diet, you'll want to get the blood work first!

What was his stool tested for?

[Roda]

Yeah it is at least worth it to get him blood tested. Just be aware the false negative rate in children is greater than adults. Looking back I believe my youngest son was celiac from a baby. I didn't know about gluten at the time. I started having issues when he was 14 months old. I was inadvertantly gluten light/low carb when I was breastfeeding him. He had so many issues that I had to do a lot of elimination. I started feeling bad when I reintroduced the foods I had omitted. It took another 2.5 years to sort it out and find out I had celiac. By that time my son was nearly 4 and all his problems seemed to have resolved and he seemed healthy. I had him blood tested for celiac after my diagnosis and he was negative. I started noticing symptoms of something "off" when he was around 5.5 years old. I had him rescreened for celiac and reallergy tested for food allergies. Negative for food allergies but positive on his celiac blood work. I guess looking back he was a little "small" for his age.

[M0Mto3]

It may be worth getting the bloodwork done. Although, I would immediately remove dairy from his diet. If he had a gi bug there is a good chance he has a temporary lactose intolerance from it. GI bugs kill off the top layer of cells in the small intestine and can cause temporary lactose intolerance. There is definately a higher probability that is what is causing it.