Rondar2001

I know its scary right now, but take some comfort that you are working to find out what is wrong. The GI will likely order blood tests and maybe a biopsy. Although not everyone chooses to go ahead with the biopsy, we did just to make sure there was nothing else going on. Also realize that tests in a child this young may come out as a false negative. In that case you can try going gluten free to see if it helps.

If you do go gluten free this website is a great resource as is your local celiac chapter. Also realize that it does get much easier and that you would have caught this early and before alot of damage was done.

Good luck and I hope you get some answers soon.

We had the same issue with our daughter. At age 6 she had to have caps put on her back teeth and another pulled with a spacer put in as it was absessed. This was before she was diagnosed. We did have it done under sedation by a pediatric dentist and it went great.

Now that she is gluten free she hasn't had a single cavity.

My latest favourite cookbook is Deceptively Delicious. Although not a gluten free book, I have found most receipes work with substituting an all purpose gluten free flour mix. It works with purees and packs everything with lots of nutrition. My daughter loves the brownies, although I haven't told her they have spinich and carrot in them.

I wish it were that simple. You have to claim the incremental cost on your income tax forms as a medical type deduction. In order to get this deduction, your claim will need to be at least a percentage of your income (I think its 3%, but you would need to check this). You need to be able to prove these expenses so keep your reciepts, also a letter confirming your diagnosis is needed if requested.

Personally, we have not spent enough to come close to the lower limit so we haven't bothered claiming it.

We are going throught pretty much the same thing. My daughter's BMI jumped 3% in 3 months. I would go back to the doctor's and ask for her weight to be followed closely, including tests for cholesterol (my daughter's is elevated even though she is only 9) and as mentioned before, blood sugar, thyroid, and vitamin deficiencies. Doctor's are sometimes reluctant to deal with weight issues unless pushed by the patients, but if he still doesn't recognize that it is an issue, I would find a new doctor.

Ask for suggestions on some good books to read on adding exercise as well as diet involving the whole family. We have also found a pediatric obesity clinic in town; they have a pediatrician, nutritionist (very familiar with celiac), trainer, and physcologist. Ask if they have any studies going on soon to help cover the costs. We are meeting with them today so I will let you know if they have any great suggestions that may help. Your town's YMCA or other facilities may also offer a similar program.

I followed a plan similar to Atkins (reduced carbs but not as low as Atkins) and lost 60 lbs. I have know kept it off for 2 years.

My biggest strategy for keeping the weight off is to weigh myself daily and never go over a threshold point (rougly 5 pound over my goal weight). If I hit that weight, I go back on Phase 1 for a few days to get back to my goal.

I have wondered about this myself. My 9 year old doesn't have the problem with sleeping, but is very sensitive to anything hot. Her showers would make me shiver and any hot drinks need to be cooled down to tepid or else she complains they are too hot. Not sure if it is a celiac thing or just extra sensitive skin.

My daughter has just been diagnosed with Celiac disease. She loves Smarties - I have found 2 conflicting sources - 1 site indicates that Smarties are gluten free and another indicates it is not. I was curious if someone could help me?

In Canada I belive they contain gluten, we usually go with M&Ms. Check the ingredients and look for wheat, rye, barley, or malt.

I have this occassionaly lasting up to 2 hours. After a clean MRI, my doctor said it is probably a migrane, I just don't get the pain that most people do. Still I would check it out just in case.

I buy the gluten free rice tortilla shells (the sell them in the freezer section at Superstore in Canada). They are the same size as the regular soft tortillas and are great for burritos and enchiladas as they are softer than the corn varieties.

I have found wheat listed as an ingredient on some of the no-name brands of instant puddings. Just be sure to check before you buy.

I think the best part of my daughter being diagnosed is she is finally not in pain all the time.

I thank my lucky stars every day that this is what she has. Considering some of the horrible diseases out there, we consider ourselves blessed that she has something treatable by diet alone. No it's not easy, but it is manageable. We have learned to forgive ourselves when we make a mistake and the occassional glutening makes us realize how far we have come.

Challenges are a part of life, this will be just one of hers and may help her deal with others as she grows up.

Hang in there, it is hard at first, but does get easier and the outlook is quite positive.

I haven't run across bacon that contains gluten, although watch out in restaraunts for bacon bits. I know Tony Roma's bacon bits do contain gluten.

There is no such thing as a little celiac. My daughter doesn't always have symptoms and it is hard for us to tell when or what got her as she doesn't have an immediate response. I have found that the longer she is gluten free, it takes less to show a reaction and the reaction tends to be more severe. You may find this to be the case with your little guy as well.

You will need to keep him as gluten free as possible. We do have a mixed kitchen in our house, but some families choose to have their kitchen completely gluten free. To do this, we try to keep one counter for gluten free foods only. I also keep a set of wooden spoons and a strainer that are kept free of gluten. She also has a shelf in our pantry for her foods. He will need his own toaster (I bought a cheap one for under $10 at Walmart that works well enough), and I was able to purchase bread bags in case she goes to a relatives and wants her toast.

You should also keep a dedicated tub of margarine, jelly, peanut butter, etc. as these containers tend to collect bread crumbs easily. I mark all of these with a green sticker so everyone knows, I use these for cooking her meals to make sure it is kept safe.

If you are wondering about which foods are safe, I would start with a natural foods store to start. Their staff is usually knowledgeable and they tend to have a bit more of a selection. Once you have a handle on reading labels, then venture out a little more. Also starting with fresh foods and meat is a good way to get going.

Lastly, I would suggest joining your local Celiac group if there is one. Ours had a ton of information to hand out when we joined and the information was invaluable. There is also the opportunity for the kids to get to know each other with things like Christmas parties and summer camps.

Hang in there, it does get easier.

No silly questions here.

We don't purposly let them have gluten. All of my daughter's issues come from cross-contamination or the rare bone headed move on my part.

Although we try our best, I think it's inevitable to get glutened once in a while. You can't beat yourself up about it, it happens to anyone who takes the chance to eat anything. Once it does, you just to plug your way through it.

Welcome to the board, you will find alot of great advice here.

Thanks again to everyone else for your suggestions.

I just found this on their website. Pretty good overview and the links at the bottom of the article have some solid information

Open Original Shared Link

Thank you everyone for your responses.

I think it helps just to know we are not the only ones going through this. Now to get the hubby to understand that she isn't meaning to act this way; at least he ususally just gets frustrated and hides out in the garage.

Just wondering if anyone has any good suggestions on how to deal with a child that has been glutened.

My 9 year old daughter doesn't have an obvious reaction right after she has been glutened. She will complain of a tummy ache for a couple of days and then the mood swings hit. We can deal with the physical complaints, but the emotional ones are driving me nuts.

She flies into a tantrum at the slightest provacation and it can take over an hour to calm her down. There is no reasoning with her at all. It is like all logic has left her brain.

I know this is a reaction she has to gluten so I try not to punish her too much, but how do I make sure that she understands it isn't ok to be so disrespectful? And how do we manage these episodes with out losing our own sanity.

Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

My daughter can't tolerate oats either. We have had some luck with Quinoa flakes in recipes instead of oats and there is directions for hot cereal although we haven't tried it yet.

Thanks for the info, we try to make it out there a couple of times a year and this will make it much easier.

Welcome to the diet.

I found that my daughter didn't like any of the gluten free breads for about the first 6 months. I think she was comparing it to the texture of wheat bread. After that she slowly started to like it a bit more. At first she would only eat it in french toast, now we have finally gotten to the point where she will actually eat a sandwich. She likes the plain white or the tapioca cheese bread from Kinnickinnick.

I make her muffins from a mix for breakfast instead of toast (a bit cheaper too). We have always had good luck with the Gluten Free Pantry mixes.

As for pasta, we prefer corn to the rice brands. I find the texture is much closer to wheat and it doesn't get as mushy.

I would get your daughter involved in cooking some of her own foods, she may be more invested in giving them a good try instead of after one bite saying she doesn't like it.

Thanks so much for posting this. I have always given my daughter Yogos thinking they were ok so I decided to check the Kelloggs website. This is posted under FAQs on the Canadian site:

Question:

Gluten: Does Kellogg's* produce a gluten-free product?

Answer:

As a leader in the food industry, we fully understand and are aware of the special dietary needs of many people. While we do market a wide variety of cereals to meet consumers varying taste preferences and nutritional needs, we do not manufacture a gluten-free product. All of our products contain a natural wheat and/or malt which both contain gluten.

Guess that makes it easy, don't buy any Kelloggs products.

We usually have good luck with Swiss Chalet, they are very kid friendly.

I'm in the midst to see if my little one is Celiac. Her blood work was negative, but so was mine. The doctor here in Calgary said that he is diagnosing more silent celiac patients then ever before. The Children's hospital just did a test of 1000 children and 17 came back as positive for celiac. That is 1 in 58!

Hi,

I am in Calgary as well. Just to let you know the Children's hospital has been great with us. You can always message me if you need any local help.

Darby

Glad to hear you are finding your way.

Just one note, most granola bars are not considered gluten free. Oats are usually contaminated with gluten unless they are specifically processed to be gluten free (the package would state this). Also, some celiacs, like my daughter, are not able to tolerate even the certified gluten free oats. Our doctor suggested waiting a full year before even trying these oats to allow the gut to fully heal. I have found some gluten free granola bars made with quinoa that aren't too bad.

I try to make brownies and cookies at home and then freeze them for her lunches and snacks. She also eats puddings, jello, and cheese sticks as a quick snack.