2 year old with symptoms?

[worriedmom]

My son has been cronically constipated since birth and I have done everything I can think of the fix it. He is now 2 and while still has constipation problems he has very hard and large bowl movements with blood in them regardless of the amount of fiber her recieved and liquid he takes in. He was also born premature and at a low birth weight. While I have asked his doctor about it on numerous ocassions, he just tells me not to worry. Who do I take him to to get tested for CD? What does the test entail?

-worried mom

[Andi]

I'm fairly new to this too, but I'll share what I know.
My oldest daughter also has been constipated since birth - usually going about once a week. Once she potty-trained, she is less constipated, but now she alternates b/t diarrhea & constipation. It's terrible - I have been there.
An informed pediatrician would be a great start! Where are you & maybe someone on the forum can refer someone?
Getting tested involves a blood test for antibodies (my kids had this done today so we'll see what happens) which isn't always reliable, but could give you more info. than you have now. If you're brave enough, you can have an endoscopy done (a friend of mine had this done & wasn't allowed to go in with her 2 year old son although that may not be the norm), but I think a gluten-free trial is probably the most accurate and least invasive way to test.
This is what has been recommended to me both by my ped. and also by members of this forum: remove gluten for 4-6 weeks and see what happens.
Does your son drink milk/eat dairy? It has a reputation for being constipating and many people who have issues with gluten also have issues with dairy (at least until the gluten is out of their system, anyway) - so you may also want to remove dairy - I personally think this is a probable source of my daughter's problems, but since my husband is a chocolate milkoholic, it's hard to tell her she can't have it. We might have a few battles ahead, but I might just substitute soymilk and put enough chocolate syrup in that she doesn't know the difference - at least for the trial.
I hope this helps - no easy answers, for sure. I have a 3 yr. old & a 16 mos. old and have worries for both of them.
There are so many supportive people on this forum - I hope you find some answers.
Here are a few sites that I think have some really good info. if you're just starting to investigate Celiac Disease: csaceliacs.org, http://www.mayoclinic.com/invoke.cfm?id=DS00319
and of course, this forum is AWESOME! You can hit the search button and look for prior posts of interest to you.
Good luck!
Andi