My littlest grandboy (aged 9 months) is exhibiting all the classic symptoms of coeliac disease and is currently undergoing various tests to determine yay or nay.
Assuming it’s yay, what have your experiences been? How difficult is it to adhere to a gluten-free lifestyle? Is it beneficial for ALL family members to do the same diet? How do you advise kids to not eat stuff if they don’t know what’s in it? Does it impose a particularly onerous burden on the child throughout their life?
If one DOES keep kosher with the diet, are there any other health issues that are more likely to appear, or does the diet alone ensure that further problems are eliminated?
In other words, gimme the lowdown on coeliac disease/sprue or whatever you want to call it.
I don’t have a lot to contribute here, but I’ll toss out there what I’ve seen. A friend of my daughter’s was diagnosed with celiac after along exploratory process - I think she was two or three by the time she was diagnosed. Once Ava’s diet was straightened out, she improved immediately. She grew quite a bit almost overnight and her mood improved instantly.
She is part of a family of six. They are not all eating gluten-free, but since she’s the youngest they are all very aware of what foods are OK for her. The biggest problem for Ava is eating away from home. She is currently five, so she goes to birthday parties and playdates and preschool and all sorts of other activities that involve food. She is currently rebelling from always having to bring her own food to birthday parties, since traditional party foods like pizza and cupcakes are a no go. She is also starting to tell adults outside her family that it’s OK for her to eat things that it’s really not OK for her to eat. So, all in all, a little challenging. As someone who has her over fairly regularly, it does require some extra thought to find appropriate snacks, especially since my kids are all about the carbs.