Ok well I have 2 little girls and they have always had digestive difficulties. We've taken the time to do diet trials and have gone to the naturopath and we have a great lot of information. The doctors say there's nothing wrong. They have no 'allergies' to speak of and we're not supposed to modify their diet unless we notice marked improvements by avoiding specific foods... well we do! Wheat and dairy seem to be the culprits. But man oh man.
My 4, almost 5 year old LOVES carbs! She loves bread and pasta and crackers and starchy snacks. We have modified her diet for the most part. She doesn't eat wheat (may be once per month we'll let her have a treat) and we avoid dairy as much as possible. We recently ran out of her spelt bread and I let her have her fathers whole wheat bread that day for breakfast AND lunch. The next day she had it again for breakfast and lunch. She loves her sandwiches and won't eat much else at lunch and since the store didn't have her bread we 'let her have' daddies bread. The third day we had her bread again and switched her back. But that afternoon I got a call from her school to come pick her up because she felt sick to her tummy... right about the time of the most recent H1N1 round. I picked her up and brought her home. No fever, no nausea, no cough, no symptoms except her tummy being upset. After more questioning it wasn't 'upset' but sore. She was in pain. I thought about it and she hadn't had a bowel movement since the day before having her dads bread (3 days ago) and she was officially constipated. We gave her some meds to help with that and once she went she was right as rain.
Her doctor swears that wheat and gluten have nothing to do with her chronic constipation. When doing elimination diets when she is gluten free she goes to the bathroom more regularly. Take out dairy and tomatoes and she is as regular as a very healthy, fit person should be. She tests negative for Celiac disease and as I mentioned she has no food allergies to speak of - so what's the problem??
I guess the reason I am posting this is I am frustrated. I think it IS gluten! But until she tests positive for Celiac can I justify taking gluten out of her diet completely? Not according to her doctor or my husband. Unless he's convinced with solid evidence - he's a scientist - he's not convinced either. People, my husband included, doesn't feel I should be depriving my children of foods without solid proof of there being a problem. Isn't the evidence with improved bowels and behaviours enough for anyone these days?? I'm tired of having to dose her with stool softeners and various meds for something that can be controlled through diet alone.
Does anyone else have similar stories with constipated kids especially?? Any ideas of how to deal with the outside world in this regard would be appreciated.
Another time I'll talk about the issues with my other wee one... similar but different story there.
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