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Thank you everyone who responded to my plight on my 3 year old son's
questionable diagnosis and his GI wanting to do a gluten challenge.  It
amazed me how many responses I received to this.  It seems there are
quite a few families with very young children in a similar predictament
as mine, and it's nice to know that we're not alone in this.  Before I
summarize what you shared, I should probably clarify that my son did
have lab work done when he was 12 months old, especially for celiac.  It
was negative.  He did have a biopsy done at 13 months of age...which
showed a great deal of inflammation in the duodenum, flattening of the
villi, and a disaccharide deficiency (he was unable to process/digest
foods with lactase, sucrase, and maltase).... He was never officially
diagnosed with a milk allergy but it was apparent that when he was taken
off dairy, there was a marked improvement, that is, he no longer had
chronic colds, sinusitis, and ear infections, and he no longer was
throwing up.   The diarrhea took much longer to clear up, even after
going GF.  His growth was still stunted even after being dairy and
gluten free for 6-12 months....In fact, he weighed basically the same at
18 months as he did at 12 months of age.... Slowly, and gradually, he
showed an improvement overall, but it has taken him 2 years to get to
where he is now.  He's about 31-32 lbs now, which is fantastic for him.
The primary reasons the GI is rethinking the diagnosis is because there
is NO history in the family tree of CD, yet there is a tremendous history
of allergies on both sides of the family...ranging from food allergies
to airborne allergies to pet allergies, etc.   Due to circumstances,
that is, my plans to re-enter the work world on a part time basis, and
my son's beginning preschool three mornings a week next week, I've
decided against reintroducing wheat back into his life.  There's plenty
going on for him at this point.

Here's what everyone had to say...

- why rock the boat if he's doing well???

- a gluten challenge has been known to make people worse off than they
initially were

- get a new dr/2nd opinion

- any reintroduction to wheat/gluten after 2 years of abstinence can
cause a reaction since the body is not used to it.

- strongly recommend keeping on the GF diet until he's older and better
understands what is going on

- a typical gluten challenge may be like:
   - do a baseline blood test
   - week 1 - give 1/4 slice of bread each day
   - week 2 - give 1/2 slice of bread each day
   - week 3 - give full slice of bread each day.
If no symptoms, increase the number of gluten containing foods each
day/week.  After 2 months, do more blood work.  If negative, then repeat
the blood work at 6 months.  If anything is positive, do a biopsy.

- one person said they're no longer GF due to NAET treatments

- you can be put on gluten and not show any reaction.  Biopsies will
eventually show damage as soon as 6 months and as late as several years
from reintroduction of gluten.

- one parent did a gluten challenge after child was off gluten for one
year.  It was immediately apparent that even trace amounts of gluten
made her child ill.  This parent urged me to do the challenge to see if
my son reacts or not.

- why change the diet?  GF diets are so much healthier than the regular
diet.

- There's a lab in Florida, Better Health USA.  They do blood testing
for allergies, both delayed food and airborne, and CD.  They have a
money back guarantee if you're not better in 3 months and have a
dietician that works with you for a year.  Web site is:
www.betterhealthusa.com.  Phone # 1-800-684-2231.  This organization
helped this person tremendously.