gluten-free For 3 Months.... Still Has Loose Stools

[Mommy3boys]

Our son had never had formed stools and usually had 6+ enormous diarrhea stools per day. At the end of March he got really sick, was vomiting regularly, waking up numerous times at night, stopped eating much, etc, etc. After visiting a variety of doctors, keeping a food diary, etc, we ended up on a gluten-free journey - starting the beginning June. His response was AMAZING. Within 3 days he started talking more than he ever had, sleeping through the night, and just became a much happier, enjoyable child. The diarrhea also GREATLY decreased.... at most he has had 1-2 stools per day. Still gross, but such a huge improvement.

Since we had seen such a huge improvement, we didn't want to go back on gluten to do a blood test/biopsy, so we instead ended up doing a DNA test - hoping to rule out Celiac disease. Instead, the test came back positive for DQ2 and DQ8.... the doctor has said he likely has Celiac disease. He has also grown nearly an inch since being on the gluten-free diet (about 3 months).

After getting the likely Celiac diagnosis, we went though and made sure everything we have been feeding him is gluten-free. Found that his daily multivitamin contained wheat - took that out and again saw an improvement.

My frustration is that with all the changes, he still does not have formed stools and still has enormous bowel movements... usually just once a day and not necessarily correlated to having just eaten. Could this just be that his intestines are still healing and it will take time? Anyone else have this experience?

We are currently eating Gluten free, dairy free, and soy free. Also no oatmeal. He has instant diarrhea after consuming those items. Any thoughts/advice?

[frieze]

Our son had never had formed stools and usually had 6+ enormous diarrhea stools per day. At the end of March he got really sick, was vomiting regularly, waking up numerous times at night, stopped eating much, etc, etc. After visiting a variety of doctors, keeping a food diary, etc, we ended up on a gluten-free journey - starting the beginning June. His response was AMAZING. Within 3 days he started talking more than he ever had, sleeping through the night, and just became a much happier, enjoyable child. The diarrhea also GREATLY decreased.... at most he has had 1-2 stools per day. Still gross, but such a huge improvement.

Since we had seen such a huge improvement, we didn't want to go back on gluten to do a blood test/biopsy, so we instead ended up doing a DNA test - hoping to rule out Celiac disease. Instead, the test came back positive for DQ2 and DQ8.... the doctor has said he likely has Celiac disease. He has also grown nearly an inch since being on the gluten-free diet (about 3 months).

After getting the likely Celiac diagnosis, we went though and made sure everything we have been feeding him is gluten-free. Found that his daily multivitamin contained wheat - took that out and again saw an improvement.

My frustration is that with all the changes, he still does not have formed stools and still has enormous bowel movements... usually just once a day and not necessarily correlated to having just eaten. Could this just be that his intestines are still healing and it will take time? Anyone else have this experience?

We are currently eating Gluten free, dairy free, and soy free. Also no oatmeal. He has instant diarrhea after consuming those items. Any thoughts/advice?

try to find a non dairy probiotic, you may need to progess to a digestive enzyme also. good luck

[pricklypear1971]

A good probiotic and a good digestive enzyme certainly wouldn't hurt.

You should also add natually cultured foods like sauerkraut, cultured pickles, kefir (you can buy coconut), coconut yogurt, etc. as much variety as you can. I know kids aren't generally big on sauerkraut, but if you can sneak it in somewhere..

The fact that you've seen so much improvement is great. It can take a long time to heal. For adults, up to 2 years. Kids usually are faster but there's no official "rate of improvement".