Does this sound like celiac?

[3 Star Mom]

I have a 3yr. old son who has had chronic diarrhea/loose poop that has been more and more frequent over the las year or so. It is to the point now where we are lucky to have one non messy poop a week. His frequency is very regular, he goes once or twice a day, but it never looks or smells normal. There is also a lot of undigested food going through him.
Some of his other issues are: night waking, dry skin, cradle cap, stomach pain.

We just started a gluten free diet for him to see if that would help. Does anyone know how long it would take to see positive results (like regular poop) after eliminating gluten?

I am having blood tests done and I took a poop sample in to be tested.

If gluten is the problem, I could also use some advice on how to help him heal.
Also he is not drinking cows milk right now, but I haven't been very strict on eliminating all traces of dairy. No gluten or dairy sounds very overwhelming. What are some good kid foods to keep in the house for him?

Thanks mamas!

[Ophelia]

I don't know if DS has celiac (blood test showed not but I'm not sure how accurate they are, they also showed no allergy to gluten), but he is definitely gluten intolerant at the least.

Symptoms when he was a baby: bad cradle cap, eczema, 'productive toots' and runny poohs, mucous in pooh, red ring of doom (skin around anus area is red).

When he was about 2 months old, I cut out wheat (not gluten at first). About 6 days later, all the above symptoms started disappearing. If gluten has been in your DS's system his whole life, it may take 2 weeks or longer for symptoms to resolve, if gluten is the problem or part of the problem.

I believe food issues can also cause fitful sleep. What you could do is cut out all casein/dairy and gluten, then if symptoms clear up (baseline), try trialing dairy first (one at a time, for example cheese only for one day, milk only 3 days later, etc).

My understanding is that if the gut is 'not right', it can cause someone to react to dairy or other foods, even if they are not really intolerant to that food. So for example, I believe I've heard of people being able to eat dairy again after they've healed from having gluten out of their diet.

[tsfairy]

Some show fairly immediate improvement, but as the pp said it may take a few weeks. You also have to be very vigilant about hidden gluten. Once the major sources are out of his system, he may react much more strongly to very small amounts. Check labels carefully on processed foods, make sure utensils and pans, cutting boards and toasters are not shared with gluten items.

Kid-friendly healthy foods: fruit, veggies, tortilla chips (check the label for wheat though!), hummus, Lara bars, gluten-free granola bars, gf cereal, eggs, gf waffles...

[scsigrl]

If you are doing blood work, he HAS to be ON gluten for them to be accurate.



Sounds like it could be. Know that if the blood work is + they will try to have you do an endoscopy for a true DX. I would try to talk them into a year long GF trial and watching his blood levels before I would do the biopsy (I wish I would have insisted on that for us. Our biopsy was inconclusive but diet changes are showing it is pretty much a sure thing).

Chex, Cherrybrook Kitchen, corn tortillas, rice cakes, fruits and veggies. I can go on if you need more ideas

[3 Star Mom]

If you are doing blood work, he HAS to be ON gluten for them to be accurate.

I was not aware of this before they did the blood work. He was off gluten for about 3 days prior to drawing blood, is that enough to make it inaccurate?

[scsigrl]

I would call your doctor for her/his opinion. I would call first thing tomorrow if they are in or on Monday so you know if you need to start on gluten again ASAP to get a proper result.

[APToddlerMama]

That sounds almost exactly like my son a few months ago. We went gluten free...no change. We had him tested for allergies and took those foods out...no change. Finally we took sunflower oil out too (which had been added in when we went CF) and everything improved dramatically. He tested negative for celiac but he was already off gluten, so who knows. I'd keep experimenting with diet.