Gluten Sensitivity in Children

Lila
Autumn
Noelle

Sensitivity

When my first born was one she began having thick runny noses, knee pain, loose stools and insomnia. She wanted to be held all the time and could only nap for 1/2 hour per day! It was exhausting to put it lightly. We were both miserably sick and tired. Her symptoms were constant and I didn’t know what to do. Her doctor didn’t want to do any allergy testing. He wanted me to put her on Zyrtec until she was 5, at which point he would test for allergies. That seemed utterly stupid to this crunchy mamma. I couldn’t imagine using that much medicine for 4 years! I began praying for answers and after discovering my own food intolerances I began researching.
I quickly learned that gluten sensitivity is highly genetic. I decided to take her off gluten, dairy, soy and eggs to see if she felt better. She was now 2 and had been struggling for a year. Within 2 weeks of taking her off those foods all her symptoms cleared up and she began taking a nap for an hour and a half every day! She slept through the night and had energy. Her doctor’s exact words were, “Well thank you for that diagnosis! We never would have found that out!” Wow!
After 6 months I put her back on those foods to test her again and all her symptoms came back. That was all I needed.
By age 11 she began to be able to eat eggs and soy without a reaction and occasionally dairy.
Our second and third daughters also had diarrhea, insomnia and runny noses from gluten. All three have a reaction at a different intensity, but nonetheless, they all react negatively.
We have learned to take treats with us to birthday parties, and they know that cheating will only make them feel terrible. No one likes to feel sick, so it isn’t hard to stay on the right path.

Here is a great article on gluten sensitivity from Gluten Intolerance School.

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