Does my child have an intolerance to Gluten? When my wife and I found out our son was no longer on the growth chart we were a little concerned.
He has always been a little peanut for his age, but his growth slowed down.
Before he was on solids, he had a little chunk to him.
After being on solids for awhile he started to thin out (total opposite of his big sister).
He has eczema on his legs but he started to get really bad flare ups on his face as well.
Being so small and having these flare ups on his face made him really look unhealthy.
I was shopping at our local Fleet Farm on a Saturday afternoon and brought my son with.
An older gentleman made a comment that I should start feeding my son.
That sure didn't feel too good.
I never told my wife about that because she would feel terrible.
Our son never seemed to have an appetite.
He whined a lot and had really odd looking stools (ALWAYS).
We never even knew what Celiac Disease was or even what Gluten was.
When we met with a growth specialist he had suggested a Gluten Intolerance or Celiac Disease.
Of course that wasn't his only thought but it got my wife and I thinking.
So we did a ton of research and since he had almost every symptom of Celiac we started him on a Gluten Free diet.
We are about 2 months into the GF diet and a lot of the symptoms have gone away.
He still has eczema but he no longer gets the bad flare ups on his face.
His stools are much more normal looking.
He has a healthy appetite (although a very picky eater) and seems generally happier.
After seeing his pediatrician we discovered he is back on the growth chart (though still very small for his age).
We don't have a test showing us that he has Celiac or a Gluten intolerance but we are going to keep him on the diet for awhile.
We may introduce some Gluten into his system in the future just to see what will happen, but for now we are going to stay the course.