Coeliac Disease in Children Coeliac disease is very hard to identify in children. Intollerance to gluten can exhibit itself at any age although very young babies will not have been exposed to gluten if breast-fed or given quality manufactured baby foods, hence coeliac and disorder will not be observed. Once the child has started to be weaned they will incur gluten in their diet and any gluten intollerance will be noticed some three to six months after this stage. With mild gluten intolerance you might see that your child is restless after eating, has a mildly swollen abdomen and is generally irritable. Actually the reaction to gluten might be so mild that it is takes many years before the gradual reduced ability to absorb food nutrients shows as poor appetite with poor growth and a skinny appearance. In the more extreme situations your child could refuse to eat, be lacking in energy, have a large, swollen abdomen and produce pale, greasy stools with each nappy change. Continued exposure to gluten will lead to a 'failure to thrive' as your child's ability to absorb food gradually decreases and they extract little value from each meal. If, after discussions with your doctor, you suspect that your child is intollerant to gluten and has coeliac disease one of the first actions to be taken is to order a coeliac blood test. Modern tests are very sensitive to the antibodies the body produces when it reacts to gluten and show with high percentage accuracy where the gluten intolerance is present. Coeliac disease in children is then confirmed by a biopsy where a microscopic tube is passed through the mouth and stomach to facilitate the extraction of a small section of the small intestine. The presence of gluten in a Celiacs diet leads to the flattening of the small hairlike projections in the small intestine limiting their ability to absorb food nutrients. As this process carries on these hairlike projections are damaged and this can be seen under a microscope when examining the biopsy. This process is not as stressful as it may appear although of course it is not undertaken lightly. Coeliac disease in children needs to be diagnosed properly as other conditions, such as lactose intollerance, can produce very similar symptoms and you do not want to condemn your child to follow a gluten free diet for the rest of their life on a miss diagnosis.

Gluten Free Tips #1 Advise the chief. When you go to a restaurant or when you go to a friends tell the chief that you are allergic to Gluten. Most will be very aware of the condition, it is covered in most culinary courses, and they will be only too happy to help you. Gluten intolerance is only one of a hundred food intolerance in modern society so catering for a guests food preferences is all part of the standard service for a modern restaurant. this.

Gluten Free Tips #2 Read the label. These days most manufacturers print the full list of food ingredients on the food packaging for the foods you buy in the shops. Read the ingredient and reject any food products that are not clear. There are many suppliers so reward the ones who try to help you.

Gluten Free Tips #3 Take restaurant cards on holiday. When you go on holiday to a place that speaks another language you do not want to trust to your rusty language skills to explain to the waitress that you are gluten intolerant. Take a foreign language prepared card outlining your condition. In this way you do not put the waitress under pressure, the details are clearly explained in the local language and the card can be passed direct to the chief avoiding any miscommunication.