Celiac Parents

DEBBIE33CASEY

Anyone diagnosed with Celiac Disease?  I haven't decided how soon to test LO or if I should introduce gluten and watch for symptoms.  Anyone out there already been?

Tara Ell

I'm interested to see the responses. My baby is not here yet, but I am thinking I will not introduce gluten until he is at least 5 years old if at all. It is so hereditary and my mom, sister, and I all have it and it took us 20+ years to finally get a diagnosis. Celiac disease made me a horribly sick child and I don't know if I can bring myself to give gluten to my baby knowing he may have it and then watching him get sick! I have to do some more research but I have heard that you can not get an accurate diagnosis until the child is at least 5 years old.

cjb62803

Hello, I am new to this board, but decided to lurk over here tonight.  My DS has celiac disease and was diagnosed at 2 1/2 yrs old.  I didn't know really anything about it until his diagnosis.  For about a year he became extremely picky about eating and my pedi blew me off for that year stating he was a normal toddler.  Well, finally when he had blood in the stool, he felt he need to see the GI and we initially had bloodwork.  That came back elevated so they did the upper endoscopy that diagnosed him.  We have gotten used to eating gluten free(the entire family), but my DS is still very picky and just started feeding therapy for all the food aversions due to pain/diarrhea.  Do you have any family history of celiac disease?  If I didn't have a family history, I would probably just watch for symptoms, but that's just me.  Good luck!

DandelionMom

DD was diagnosed at 3.5 and I was diagnosed soon after.? The problem with keeping kids gf is it makes it very hard to get a diagnosis (which is necessary to get the schools to work with you).? From my research, it looks like it is best to breastfeed as long as possible and start feeding gluten between 6-12 months.? But who knows, the research seems to be always changing!??

If you haven't checked the forums on celiac.com yet, try them out.? I think they're really helpful.??

Kris&Amy

I don't have a LO with Celiac, but half my family has it. If they do the blood test and your LO has not had anything with gluten in it yet, it'll show up as negative. I'm not sure if they'll catch it with the other tests that they run  either because of the lack of gluten in your LO's system.

In my family, no one was diagnosed until later in life (like until their 20's or 30's). It was like they were fine eating regular breads and things, and then after a change (having a child, getting sick), they were diagnosed with Celiac.