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Heather,

Here's our experience . . . though not exactly like
yours.  My CD was diagnosed after the birth of our
first child.  I responded immediately to the diet and
was counseled to keep my child GF for the first two
years.  At two we introduced a normal diet and held
our breath . . . not really, we actually do diagnostic
testing every two years.  We have followed this
practice with all three of our children.

The two-year diet is based on mostly common-sense:
babies and toddlers rarely have a "normal" digestive
pattern.  Their physical symptoms can be so easily
triggered by illness, teething, new foods, etc., as
well as true disease, that it becomes a magic trick to
figure out what-caused-what.  A GF diet will at least
eliminate THAT as a possible cause and allow you to
deal with the "normal" toddler's peculiarities.

So far, only one of my three children has tested
positive for CD and she was diagnosed by blood-work at
age 4, long before she began to suffer any overt
symptoms.  She has never been "sick" from CD and is
learning to accept her diet as a natural part of her
life.

It is vital that a suspected CD child be on a diet
FULL of wheat when any testing is done.  The "experts"
recommend 3-6 months of such a diet before the testing
is done, however, you will have to decide how much
diet your child can stand before the side-effects are
too much.  Our pediatric-gastro doctor that was
content to use family history PLUS bloodwork to make a
diagnosis, and no EGD was required.

Any specific questions?  Remember, as the MOMMY, you
are the expert on your child.  Any doctor is only an
expert in disease.

Danelle in Kansas

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