Frustrated With Symptoms In 14 Month Old

[alicia534]

My son is 14 months old and is currently on a gluten free diet, but has not been diagnosed yet. First I would like to share some background information. Sorry in advance for the long post.

He has always been a "high needs" baby. He has never slept much, wants to nurse constantly, is very clingy and fussy. When he was 4 months old he started having bowel movements every two weeks. The longest he went was 23 days. The doctors all said this was normal because he was exclusively breastfed. After starting solids at 6 months he still did not have regular bowel movements. The doctors said he just wasn't eating enough solids and he was fine. We tried everything to get him going regular. He had all different kinds of juice, fruits and vegetables, flax meal, probiotics. Nothing worked. At 8 months he went 10 days with no bm. He was extremely constipated. He was started on Miralax, 1 tsp every other day. We had multiple tests run. He came back with multiple food allergies and inconclusive IgA testing for celiac disease. One thing he tested positive for was yeast. I cut out bread with yeast, but not gluten. He did not grow at all between 8-12 months but after cutting out bread he gained a pound and grew an inch in 2 weeks. We saw a GI. He prescibed lactulose, but he couldn't keep it down (he is allergic to dairy so not sure if there is a connection). The GI said push more solids because he still isn't eating enough to produce any waste. We redid the IgA testing and found out he doesn't produce IgA. We did genetic testing. He has DQ2.5.

After the genetic testing I started him on a gluten free diet. By day 3 he starting having a bm everyday. They were mostly small amounts with more significant amounts every other day. This is the most he has done in months. He did this for 2 weeks. Gained a pound and 1.5 inches. He was eating more than I have ever seen him eat and he started nursing less frequently. His eczema also cleared up for the first time since he was a newborn. Then it all stopped. He went 7 days with no bm. He finally had one on Monday. During that week he wouldn't eat. He was wanting to nurse constantly again. I am just frustrated because I really thought the gluten free diet was working and then we are back to where we started. I really just want to figure out what is wrong with my baby and get him off of laxatives and back to normal. It is really hard with all of his food allergies plus being gluten free to even get him to eat anything. We eat fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, beans, and rice. I did bake some muffins with gluten free flour. Could this have been cross contamination? Is he possibly too sensitive to handle the flour right now? How long should I wait to determine if the gluten free diet is working? I really don't want to do the biopsy because he is so young and I don't feel as if he eats enough to even get accurate results. I am overwhelmed and frustrated and need advice.