Any mums of coeliac toddlers out there?

[FSB]

DD (27mo) has just been diagnosed with coeliac disease. We've had her on a GF diet for 2 weeks, and the difference in her mood and energy levels already is incredible! I was just wondering if anyone could tell me how soon we'll see a change in her body shape (less bloated tummy, and weight on arms & legs).?
Also, any tips or words of advice greatly appreciated :)

Bloating should go v quickly, speaking from my personal experience - mine went within a couple of weeks :) I went gf with my ds.

Make sure to give her quality proteins, eg red meat/caserole, egg etc as to build muscles and grow she needs protein. My ds now a teen, but we got rid of cereals as apart from added vitamins, they give you calories/energy, but are not that nutritious - and you need proteins to build muscles.

I found best resource ever in celiac.com, inc their forum, simply awesome, there is a section for parents of babies/young children.

Thanks nightcat, I'll check it out...

She's a pretty terrible eater at the moment, only really eats carbs, but that's the next step (getting tough about the fussy eating). Need to up the meat factor!

:)

the fussiness comes from the fact that wheat/gluten suppresses digestive enzymes in the stomach (eg stomach acid), so many celiacs pre-dx can't usually cope with meat and go veggie, you need to go slowly with meat to build up the system.
Unfortunately you can't build muscles from carbs, my ds was so starved of nutrients that had muscle wasting pre gf

That's interesting.. We thought it was odd that she was naturally gravitating towards a veggie diet!..

I know this is an old thread, but just came across it. My 4yo is suspected coeliac - we are waiting for an appointment for the biopsy to confirm whether or not he has it.

He is a very fussy eater, with a bloated tummy and low weight for his age (though not underweight). Also anaemic. I will not be surprised if it turns out he has it.

Has the whole family gone gluten free? How have you found it? What about siblings?

my dd was diagnosed age 4. we eat gluten free for all eg pasta (supplement prescription with sainsbury free from, dove farm, tesco free from, about 1.99 a pack of pasta serves 6-8 ) etc.

other non-coeliac eat normal bread, she has only Gf of course.
baking flour etc - doves farm GF flour used for all.

breadcrumbs -GF for all.

freezer food like fish fingers - GF for all.

lots of meals you can amke naturally gf eg roast dinners / fish, ,meat anyway - use cornflour to thicken gravy etc, meats potatoes non gluten anyway.

it is fine - the only issues are eating out some places (nandos, wagamma are good; pizza hut/pizza express is not! carluccios does a GF pasta menu . watch out in pubs and pub chains for chips which are batter coated in flour - get used to asking to please see the packet of frozen chips to check is "potatos adn oil" and not "potatoes, flour, oil". .

and chiildens parties- always send with pack lunch box with sandwiches and GF cake.

Very good tip about the chips, cestlavie thank you! i've started another thread about coeliac with some helpful tips.

will have to wait until we get the appointment for the biopsy to know if DS is definitely coeliac, but I have the feeling he will be at the moment.

Hi RedRiding... welcome to the club!

it does sound likely that's what your DS has got. we opted not to have the biopsy, as we felt it was too invasive for little DD and also we got her on the GF as soon as we got the blood results back and didn't want to effectively keep her poorly for another 6-8 weeks whilst we waited for an appointment. But her antibody blood test results were 200 (anything over 10 is positive diagnosis), so it wasn't really a grey area!

we haven't gone completely GF as a household, but one thing i have found is that, as she's got better and better, she has become more sensitive to tiny trace amounts of gluten, so we now have separate toaster/butter etc and she can't have chips in a restaurant if they fry them in the same oil as the fish goujons.

there's also trace amounts of wheat in really uneccessary things... like normal brand cornflakes & rice crispies/ stock cubes/ cloudy fruit juices(!) etc, so you have to buy special versions. we've had great success with the GF ranges at Sainsburys and Asda, as well as home-made chicken nuggets/ fish fingers using crushed GF cornflakes instead of breadcrumbs.

my DD is still young (2.5) but i'm amazed at what a great understanding she has of what she can and can't eat and she never kicks up a fuss when i say she can't have the croissant/cake/sausage/biscuit that she wants. she must really remember how crap she used to feel all the time...

that said, i'm not looking forward to the kids party phase, especially when she gets to an age where she doesn't want to be different from her friends :(

Thank you FSB - I'm enjoying your gluten-free recipe tips on my recipe thread. Have you seen reduced bloating and weight-gain now? We are not gluten-free yet (waiting for biopsy which will hopefully be soon) but very keen to get started and see some benefits for DS1.