I have a 2 1/2 year old son who recently tested allergic to soy. He also came down with hives from dairy products in November and his allergist has ordered that we eliminate dairy despite the skin prick test not showing an allergy. So he is currently soy and dairy free and him mood improved greatly. He also had horrible dry, itchy skin (excema) that has cleared up considerably since taking away the dairy (he no longer scratches until he bleeds but still has very dry skin).

Recently, however, he has been complaining that his stomach hurts, has had horrible gas (not really smelly but VERY loud and painful sounding). He also has had BMs that are mushy, like he used to have when he ate soy. I am wondering if there could be a gluten problem since he has been sick lately and refused to eat much of anything other than crackers and baby oatmeal (his comfort food). He has also had a very large behavioral change and has started throwing temper tantrums when he has NEVER thrown one before (I know he is 2 but he is close to 3 and those are usually a younger 2 kind of thing).

I am gluten free but never tested positive for celiac disease (negative bloodwork and inconclusive biopsy -- three months gluten-free and then 3 weeks eating gluten for the biopsy with results showing chronic inflammation but no blunted villi). I know his school is very careful about keeping him soy and dairy free and we don't eat either one at home, so I can't just chalk this up to an accidental soy or dairy ingestion.

The one other explanation is possibly that this is just a side effect of a horrible cold he has had for about three weeks with a very stuffy nose and tons mucous running down his throat.

Does anyone have any ideas? Should I ask the Dr about testing? Would testing even be remotely accurate at his age?

Thanks for reading my long post.

I know no one has responded yet. but I just got back from the Dr and he suggested that (based on my son's history and my improvement since going gluten free) that I do a trial gluten-free diet. He did not order any lab work and the test my son had almost a year ago only tested for tTG IgA and immunoglobulin A Serum and both came back in the normal/negative range.

So, I have a few questions:

Should I ask for more test before trying the gluten-free diet?

If I do change his diet, how long should I keep him gluten-free if I don't see an difference right away?

What types of changes would indicate a positive response to the diet?

BTW, he's 2 1/2 and not very good at explaining what he is feeling physically, so I will not have a lot of feed back from him.