According to my husband, David Sulman, a gastroenterologist: With celiac sprue, symptoms (diarrhea, malabsorption) don't appear until wheat, rye and/or barley have been introduced into the diet. If the child follows a strict gluten-free diet, these symptoms disappear and he/she develops normally and can live a normal life. Many children lose the symptoms and can eat normally again at a certain, unpredictable age. Some of these people, decades later, again develop diarrhea and malabsorption and need to resume the very restrictive diet. There is a celiac support group, and the doctor should put the family in touch with it for help with the diet and other aspects. (We don't have the address at home, but could post it later if needed). Celiac disease really can only be definitively diagnosed with a small bowel biopsy. It is often misdiagnosed, as a cause for chronic diarrhea. We do not know how breastfeeding fits in, but perhaps others on Lactnet can add in here. David Sulman, MD and Anne Altshuler, RN, MS, IBCLC and LLL leader in Madison, WI