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Thank you for all the helpful responses.  Here is my summary.  Carol

Study done in Sweden that found that the quantity of gluten consumed early
in life correlates with the age at which celiac develops.  One author of
study is Ascher.  Blood tests are not likely to be accurate for a baby, and
you can only do them after continuous exposure to gluten.  Recommend doing
the gene test through Enterolab.

Many young peds. say to hold off feeding all children any gluten for the
first year or two.  If suspect, some advise to wait until they can talk and
tell if they are feeling sick.    Some are sensitized to gluten by eating
too much, so the longer you hold off and the less you eat at a young age
when the digestive system is immature, perhaps the less likely they will
activate the disease.

Keep the child GF, my dr. feels the teen years is soon enough to find out
when he rebels.  Keep him GF until he’s about 8 at least or his brain will
get affected.

Loot at http://forums.dephiforums.com/celiac/messages for inf.

Child will not develop CD if not exposed to gluten.  Exposure to gluten plus
a viral infection or other trigger is needed to develop CD.  Little gluten
exposure may be OK and child will not get sick.  Testing for children is
hard to get done.  Some tests available by mail order.
CD panel of celiac antibody blood tests are not reliable for children under
the age of 2 because of their immature immune system.  There are many false
negatives.  If the tests are positive, especially the endomysial and or  tTg
tests, these are over 90% reliable.  Then proceed with a biopsy.  Person
must be be eating gluten liberally for the antibodies to develop and damage
show up.  Challenge for more than 2 weeks to a month.  Pathologists tend not
to understand and diagnose early stages of CD and the blood tests tend to
pick up middle to late stage CD.

Dr. Fassano, a leading researcher in CD at U. Maryland says you should
introduce wheat at 6 – 12 months and if there are symptoms get the child
tested before going gf.  I f no symptoms test child at age 7.  Biggest
mistake is putting a child on the gf diet before testing.

Several people wrote they keep their kids GF in their house but let them eat
anything outside of the house.  They watch carefully for symptoms but don’t
deprive them of gluten containing foods totally.  They also watch strongly
for children’s preferences in food and use that as a sign.


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