Celiac disease, also called celiac sprue, nontropical sprue, and gluten-sensitive enteropathy, is a condition that causes an extreme reaction to the ingestion of gluten. When someone with celiac disease consumes gluten, the immune system overreacts and damages the small intestine.
Though celiac disease may not be diagnosed until adulthood, it is often diagnosed during infancy and adulthood. Common symptoms of celiac disease include abdominal pain and diarrhea. Celiac disease in children often causes irritability.
Before the infant begins to eat food containing gluten, and it than with celiac disease may have normal digestion and growth. As foods containing gluten are added to the infant’s diet, the infant with celiac disease may experience diarrhea, projectile vomiting, a distended abdomen, irritability, poor weight gain, and poor growth.
Celiac disease in children often causes poor appetite and poor growth. The child symptoms may temporarily cease during adolescence. The symptoms of celiac disease may reemerge in early adulthood.
The only known treatment for celiac disease is to follow gluten-free diet. If a child is diagnosed with celiac disease, it is often beneficial for the entire family to follow gluten-free diet. This prevents the child from being exposed to foods containing gluten in the home and may reduce stress on the parents caused by needing to watch the child’s intake of food at all times.
Some parents of children with celiac disease experience anxiety about the child attending school. While attending school, the child is likely to come in contact with food that contains gluten in the school cafeteria and perhaps during student birthday celebrations or snack time.
A parent should discuss the child’s celiac disease and need to follow a gluten-free diet with the child’s teacher, school nurse, and school dietician. Some parents also meet with the school principal. The school must provide the child with gluten-free alternatives in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
A child who has been diagnosed with celiac disease needs to follow a gluten-free diet for their entire lives. Foods containing wheat, rye, and barley contain gluten. Other foods may also contain gluten such as frozen french fries or lunchmeat.
Parents will need to educate their child about following a gluten-free diet. Parents can gradually give children more responsibility for following a gluten-free diet and teach them how to read food labels and identify which foods contain gluten.