Allergic to gluten in the child: symptoms, diagnosis, treatment

Gluten allergy in a child, the symptoms of which are rather insidious, usually manifests itself during the infancy, when new products are introduced into the diet. Disappears when observing a gluten-free diet and symptomatic treatment.

Gluten and Gluten-containing Products

Gluten is a plant protein. It is found in the seeds of some cereal plants, such as oats, rye, barley and wheat. The second name for gluten is gluten. It is a part of about 80% of everyday human food products, including in products for infants.

Explicit availability of gluten can be found in bread, bakery products, porridges from the above cereals, pastries, mango, pasta, bran. Products with hidden gluten content include gastronomic products, sweets, ice cream, sauces, mayonnaise, dressings, chips, crab sticks and other products into which gluten is added as an auxiliary ingredient.

Causes of appearance

Why does an allergy to gluten in a child? Scientists adhere to the immunological theory. Namely, when gluten enters the digestive tract, it breaks down into the proteins of the fraction - glutelin and gliadin. The latter is perceived by the body as an alien body. As a result, antibodies to gliadin and autoimmune antibodies to intestinal cells are produced in the blood. Its walls are damaged, irritated, and the full functioning and absorption of nutrients ceases. That's why there is an allergy to gluten in a child whose symptoms are often considered manifestations of other diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.

Intestine becomes a place of accumulation of degradation products, and this negatively affects the general condition of the body. In addition, in severe cases, there may be abnormalities in the endocrine, cardiovascular and kidney systems.

Symptoms of allergies to gluten in a child

An allergic reaction to gluten usually occurs when the parents begin to inject their baby. During this period, the child is introduced to new foods in addition to mother's milk. In most cases, especially if the baby gets bad weight, the first lure is cereal cereal, which contains gluten. As a result, allergies to gluten can develop. The child's symptoms appear immediately or even after several weeks and months after the ingestion of the allergen, the so-called accumulative allergy. The reaction depends on the size of the portion, the frequency of administration, immunity, and the state of the digestive system. The earlier the parents discover the symptoms and diagnose allergies, the easier the baby will be.

In a variety of variations, allergies to gluten are evident. The child has the following symptoms:

• Bulging belly. Parents will think that the child is overeating, and the doctor can recognize this as a sign of rickets;
• Poor weight gain and slower growth, in particular after starting complementary feeding. If before the porridge the baby was gaining weight normally, then when the allergy to gluten in a child comes, the symptoms of underweight and a complex lag in development are present;
• Unstable, frequent, plentiful stool (5 times a day or more) of a mushy consistence with a bad smell, bold, difficult to wash off, foamy, of different colors, glistens due to fat.

These were typical symptoms of allergies to gluten in children. In addition, there are a number of others that depend on the presence in the body of trace elements, vitamins and nutrients. Therefore, each child's reaction can be completely different. Secondary symptoms include:

• Capriciousness, tearfulness, irritability, aggressiveness or, conversely, lethargy and fatigue;
• Unsatisfactory condition of the skin - peeling, dermatitis, bad hair - weak, dry. Eruptions on the skin are most often formed on the elbows, knees, buttocks, head;
• Bones often break, even with minor injuries. In healthy young children this is a rarity, because their bones are very elastic;
• Impaired posture;
• Weak muscle tone;
• anemia;
• Problems of the oral cavity - bleeding gums, destruction of enamel, caries;
• Outwardly the baby looks tired;
• Sometimes the child is compared to a spider, because his tummy becomes bulging, and the arms and legs are thin and skinny, like the spider's paws.

That's how the allergy to gluten in a child can manifest itself. Symptoms, photos of which are given in the article, show that the reaction can be overwhelming.

How to diagnose an allergy?

Having found out in the child at least one of the symptoms, it is necessary to urgently consult a doctor. Delay in this issue threatens the kid with a lag in development and deterioration of the body as a whole.

How to identify allergies to gluten in a child? For this purpose, allergotests are performed, and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay is performed. As a result of the analysis, the serum of the blood determines the number of antibodies - antigliadin, autoimmune antibodies to reticulin, tissue transglutaminase, endomysia. In a healthy child antibodies to gluten in the serum are absent or their number is minimal. If the result is positive, then there is an allergy to gluten. Symptoms in infants may appear only after their gluten-containing foods are introduced into their diet.

The increased amount of eosinophils, immunoglobulins E, G in the blood most often indicates an allergic reaction. The doctor will make the final diagnosis on the basis of the tests and the existing symptoms. For a more accurate picture, the doctor should know what kind of diet the child has recently had. A good assistant in the diagnosis will be a diary of nutrition, in which the parents note that they ate a little baby, in what quantity and from which period the products began to be introduced, which was the reaction of the organism to them.

Prevention of allergies

To reduce the risk of developing allergies to gluten in the baby, it is necessary to promptly introduce complementary foods (not earlier than six months) and as long as possible to breast-feed the baby. Start feeding should be gluten-free porridge - rice, buckwheat, corn and one-component vegetable purees.

It is important to monitor the quality and composition of food for the baby. New products give to try gradually and keep a diary of observations of the reaction.

A lactating woman can eat foods that contain vegetable protein. It does not get through the milk into the baby's body. In some cases, the baby is fed or supplemented with milk formulas almost from birth. Gluten may also be included in their composition, therefore it is necessary to take responsibility for choosing a mixture responsibly. Children suffering from allergies are given a gluten-free mixture.

Methods of treatment

After the allergy to gluten in a child whose symptoms are similar to many other childhood diseases has been diagnosed, treatment should be started immediately.

The first thing to do is to switch to food that does not contain vegetable protein. To do this, you need to know which products contain gluten, and which do not. Unfortunately, not everything that is sold on the domestic market is labeled for the presence of vegetable protein. On packages of foreign products that do not contain gluten, a crossed-out spikelet is depicted. So it is more convenient to purchase the right product if there is an allergy to gluten in a child.

Medication is prescribed by a doctor to help the child cope with allergy symptoms. Symptomatic therapy implies the use of antihistamines, drugs that adjust intestinal peristalsis, enterosorbents, vitamins to boost immunity, immune stimulators of the gastrointestinal tract, which help restore microflora, anti-inflammatory creams and ointments.

These activities eliminate allergies to gluten in a child. Symptoms, treatment Which passes in several stages, can be tracked by means of repeated testing. One of the ingredients of some medicines is gluten, so when choosing them, you need to be careful.

Nutrition of the child for allergies to gluten

The main meal for infants, including those suffering from gluten allergy, should be about one year old mother's milk or gluten-free milk formula. The introduced lure should not contain vegetable proteins.

List of products that can be used for an allergic reaction to gluten:

• Natural dairy products, eggs;
• Fresh, natural fish, meat, poultry, not marinated, without spices;
• Natural, not processed beans;
• Rice, buckwheat, millet, corn, cinnamon, amaranth, flour and products from these cereals;
• fruits vegetables;
• Vegetable and butter;
• Sweet - marmalade, marshmallow, chocolate, certain varieties of ice cream and sweets;
• Root crops, nuts;
• Jelly, freshly squeezed juices, natural cocoa and tea;
• Tapioca, teff, sorghum.

What should be excluded from the diet?

All products in which gluten is secretly or explicitly included:

• Barley, wheat, rye, oats. All products and products made from them. Pearl barley, semolina;
• Canned food, marinades;
• Sausages, sausages, semi-finished products, by-products;
• Some seasonings and spices, ketchup, mayonnaise, sauces, mustard;
• Concentrated soups, broth cubes;
• Oriental sweets;
• Some food additives;
• Confectionery products - cakes, pastry, biscuits;
• Yoghurt, whole milk.

Celiac disease and allergy to gluten are the same?

Celiac disease is a congenital and inherited intolerance to gluten. With this disease, the plant protein is absolutely not absorbed and not digested by the intestine. Celiac disease remains for life, forcing the patient to consistently adhere to a strict diet. If the disease is not treated in time, it can provoke complications in the form of serious diseases.

With allergies, the walls of the small intestine are irritated with plant protein, and it is absorbed by the villi in the intestine in part. The allergy to gluten disappears, if it is diagnosed in time, treated and adhere to a diet.

Gluten allergy is not a sentence

Many parents wonder: "Will the child develop an allergy to gluten?". This often happens. It is observed in children under the age of three, then in most cases the allergy passes.

The main thing in the fight against allergies to gluten - you need to be information-armed and timely to carry out prevention, diagnosis and treatment.