BabyWhispererForums.com
EAT => Food Allergies => Topic started by: LCBO0912 on February 12, 2008, 17:10:19 pm
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Hello,
I have a very acute case of Celiac disease. When I was around 7mos old, I started getting very ill and ended up being hospitalized as a baby for six months (it was not a well known disease back then and my symptoms had escalated to extreme malnutrition). I've been on a lifelong gluten-free diet and the odd time I accidentally ingest gluten, I have severe and immediate reactions. I also have an allergy to related grains like corn.
Because of my own problems, I am very scared to introduce gluten to my son, who is 6mos today. First, Ben has reflux and it was pretty severe until about a month ago. At that time we put him on new medication as well as started giving him two thickened feeds a day. We also started solids around that time. We've had him on rice cereal as well as a few fruits and veggies and so far, so good!
We did try him on oats for two days, but he refused to eat them the first day, and the second day had some pretty good vomits and a bit of diarrhea. My husband thought it might be his reflux, but I think it was the oats. I took him off right away because my mom told me that in retrospect, that was how I initially reacted to oats, barley and wheat as a baby before I got sick.
I've heard conflicting research about when one should introduce gluten - especially if celiac runs in the family. Some research says to wait until 9mos while some recent research I've come across says it's best between 4 and 6mos. Other research says to postpone wheat until one year, and others say to avoid it (well at least wheat) altogether. I don't know which research to believe. We are going to see his paediatrician tomorrow, so I will ask her, but I would love some advice of when I should try these foods, given our family history.
Your advice is much appreciated! :)
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Hi there my FIL has Celiac as well and my dh just had a blood test to rule it out for himself (he has ulcerative colitis and wanted to make sure it was only that) so we havent tested our boys as they have showed no signs. I am sure you doc could do bloodwork though and then you would know for sure
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I think that given the reaction your ds had when you introduced oats then I would wait until 12 months. However that is just my opinion and not medical advice. My son has multiple food allergies and he reacts this way to wheat which he tests positive to on RAST tests. James tests negative to oats and barley but reacts badly to these also. We are at the moment considering testing for coeliac disease but we need to work through other food related issues first. I hope you get some good advice tomorrow.
Kelly
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My MIL has celiac and our ped recommended not introducing any wheat for our son till he's a year - seems reasonable to me!
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Celiac is in our family too. We waited to introduce wheat/gluten products when our DS was 1 year old (turns out he is not celiac).
Hugs and hope you are able to find out soon and ped can give good advice!
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Thanks for the advice ladies! Sorry it's been a few days - just haven't had time to be on the computer! My Ped. did indeed recommend waiting. She said we might want to try oats again in about a month, but any sign of bad reaction, take him off and wait until 12mos. This all sounds fine to me, but Ben is now totally sick of rice cereal. He's eating fruits and veggies, but I'm not sure what to do about the cereal aspect. Any thoughts?
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You could add fruit into the rice cereal to make it a little more interesting. We also found a gluten free porridge which my son quite liked.
Kelly
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Where are you based? If you are in the UK I can list a few different cereals that are gluten free that you could try. I am not sure if they are available in other countries.
Kelly
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We mixed the rice cereal with every fruit puree we could think of too. Made it thicker but our son loved it. Peach, pear, applesauce and raisin puree were all favorites around our home.
I also mixed in some sweet potato puree with success too.
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Well he initially likes when we mix in fruit, but is on to my tricks after a day or two. I guess I'll just keep trying new fruits as he's introduced to them. He won't even go near banana anymore. He used to love it, and also loved it with rice.
I'm based in Canada. There is a good selection of GF foods here these days (not like when I was growing up!) so I'll look out for the porridge. Do you happen to know what brand it was?
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It is made by Barkat. I am sure there will be something similar in Canada even if it is not the same brand. It contains rice, millet and agar agar. You may need to trial grains seperately. I know there are also cereals available made from quinoa so that could be something else to trial.
Kelly
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Hi,
I have an intolerance to wheat and my naturopath suggested waiting until 12 - 14 months before introducing it to my dd. She loves rice bread toast for breakfast - I toast it very lightly so it is really just warm bread, put avocado or hummos on it and cut it into little pieces. I am not sure how you feel about finger foods yet. We started with them very early (see baby led weaning support threads) and she did really well with them ( she is now 8.5 months). There is also a porridge here (Australia) that is made with rice, millet, banana and apple and it has a totally different flavour and texture to the plain rice cereal. Maybe you have something similar.
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Hi,
Thanks for the tips. We did find a few things, and he seems to be happy again with rice cereal. It was just a momentary break. I do mix in different fruits and so on, but that's ok.
I did try oats again, but it caused a reaction, so we are going to just stay away from all gluten until he's at least 12/13mos.