I am not one to buy into hype in regards to food intolerants and allergies. Even though my husband was allergic to dairy as a kid and as an adult is gluten intolerant I was still very skeptical to it all as I had no allergies and with the rise of gluten free products assumed it was all part of a money making scam.
It wasn't until my middle child at 2 years old was not growing out of the soft poos - not only that they smelt and where always not formed.
My instant reaction was that she may be dairy intolerant and took her off all dairy products for 2 weeks, I didn't see any change and after googling it quite a bit I had almost convinced myself it was "toddler diarrhoea" which everyone had said it happens for a few years then they grow out of it.
My issue was the smell, after reading up on all of this it was apparent that the food she was eating was basically going straight through her. She was always hungry, she got tired around mid day and would go and have a rest on the couch and would drink a lot of water.
I ended up ringing a childrens allergy centre as I was told by the doctor the only way to find out about any type of allergies was by testing for it. The lady I called was very helpful and said it was expensive for the test (around $300) not that the money was the issue but speaking with her more she said that you can not get a conclusive result if someone is just "intolerant" and doesn't have a full blown allergy.
Unsure what to do at this point I spoke to my husband about it in which he said that he thought she might be Gluten intolerant. Again skeptical me couldn't understand how some bread could have such an affect but I thought it would be our last resort as I really couldn't figure out what was happening with her.
One week into no Gluten she started to have these formed poos! I don't think I have ever been so excited about poos before, I was actually letting everyone know what had happened and how excited I was about it. Not only that everyone has noticed the difference with her. She is eating better, she is not so tired in the afternoon and she has stopped drinking as much as she used to.
We are still in the experimental stages and I am finding some stuff sets it off but we now know the main cause and can now start to help her have a normal life with some Gluten Free products.
My husband actually got tested in the end and found that when you have celiacs disease you actually have 2 genes and he has one gene making him intolerant to gluten so the chances of my daughter having this one gene is also highly likely.
If you have any Gluten free recipes or any tips you have acquired if you are seasoned gluten free parent then please share below!