Quick question for those with dc on gluten free diet.

[CatchingMockingbirds]

Are they exclusively gluten free or does just drastically reducing the amount of gluten in the diet have a similar effect? If entirely GF do you notice a difference if your dc eats something with gluten in it?

Sorry, that turned into two questions , thanks for reading.

Anyone?

I have 2 out of 3 on a GF diet. All 3 have dx food intolerances though, so maybe a different scenario.
Yes, I can tell when gluten has been slipped in (mainly when DH has not had my strong right hand hovering over him!)
We have a very strict no gluten during school time. They sleep better, have better moods, concentrate better (i.e. listen more attentively, follow instructions better)
Our best outcome is that they no longer have constant diarrhoea - which is why they were dx in the first place. That in itself is a bonus. When they do have it, 20 minutes later and it 're-appears' - which can't be good for their mood/behaviour.

yes...100% gfcf and it has helped dd tremendously over 4 months. you need to cut it out 100% to see the effect.

It has to be 100% gluten and casein free to really be effective. It helps with some children, but not others. My son has been gluten/casein free for nearlly a year. It is very obvious on the odd occasion when he has accidently had some gluten, his behaviour drastically changes and it's almost like he's high.

Thanks for the replies. My son has been GF for about a year but not CF, when he has gluten we found that he gets almost like a 'high' too. He also gets spots on his face as well. We've found a drastic improvement with him just on a GF diet.

DP thinks we should still give DS some gluten in his diet so he gets used to it but tbh I wasn't so sure about this.

Hello, am i correct in thinking that even a little gluten/casein can have the same effect as a lot? If so, can anyone explain (in very simple terms!) why?

I was dairy free from infancy; as I got older I gradually became able to tolerate small amounts. I was in my teens when we worked out the gluten intolerance (not clear if true coeliac as emotional/concentration effects prominent, but now seems to be coeliac through the whole family so probably is). For the first few years I really hoped that by sticking off it 100% I'd eventually be able to "get away with" small amounts. In fact I just became more aware of the real effects it has on me and eventually accepted that I had to be 100% careful all the time.

In terms of why very small amounts can be enough to cause the problems, I think you have to remember that the immune system is designed to multiply its response so that it can deal with multiplying infections. So a small trigger can be enough for a significant response.

One of the incidents that clarified things for me, was when I went home and told my mother I couldn't work out what I must have eaten wrong. She realised that the chicken carcasses that had gone in the stock pot to make soup, had still had some stuffing in that she hadn't washed out of them. One serve of soup made from that stock was too much :(