Son newly diagnosed

[sexysisam]

Celiac disease runs in my family so I tested my son at Enterolabs and his work came back with positive for a gluten sensitivity. Since he's so young (not even 2 yet) I don't want to do the biopsy, so I'm just going to assume, given our family history, that he's celiac and not just allergic to wheat/gluten.

So anyways, I was reading in Jules Shepards book The First Year Celiac Disease and it says that when one family member is celiac the whole household should change to gluten free as well as the kitchen/pantry/etc. should be completely gluten-free to avoid cross contamination. We live with my parents, so that's not gonna happen here. Do all the GF people change over their whole family, or how do you keep the GF food "clean"?

Also I am thinking of doing the GAPS diet to help heal his gut faster. Any tips or ideas. He's kind of leery of eating because he hurts.

Thanks.

[dannic]

Poor baby. (about his tummy hurting)

We went gf/cf as a family. I really am paranoid about xcon. DD is pretty sensitive--she can't even be in a home with something containing gluten baking in the oven. If I had to worry about it in my home, it would drive me batty. (Esp when they're little and picking things up off the floor, ect) I also didn't want dd to feel different socially at home. She'll be different food-wise everywhere else. At home, she is the norm.

I know some do just fine with a mixed food household. So obviously it's possible, lol. And when you're living with others, that is obviously going to factor into the equation. GL!

[lil_miss_understood]

welcome and sorry you can join us.
we aren't fully gf in my house but we don't use gluten flour for cooking/baking. only pre-made gluten containing items in the house.
cc concerns:
anything plastic holds onto and then "leaches" gluten- this is also true for cast iron, wood, non-stick coatings and any other porous food prep/serving item
the toaster- you can get bags for toasting in to prevent cc
dish towels or rags, sponges etc
crumbs falling on food/food prep areas etc

also, some people react to gluten in cosmetics, hygiene items etc
If we had gluten flour in the house, things would be much more difficult and I can see having to wash plates and anything used to eat before every meal to prevent cc.

[kjbrown92]

DS, DD2, and I are gluten free. DH and DD1 still have gluten. We have a 4-slot toaster. DH and DD1 use the right hand slots. We use the left hand slots. We have two separate pizza cutters, two separate pizza pans, etc. I don't use the wooden spoons for our stuff. Only plastic cutting boards that can go in our super hot dishwasher are used for us.

A friend of mine with two sons with celiac also have a mixed household. She and her DH still have gluten-containing things, and the kids don't.

[sexysisam]

Thanks for all your replies. I really appreciate it.

I might have to scrub out a few cupboards and keep all our stuff in airtight things - including a new cast iron pan and new plates, cups and silverware for my little one.

On a good note, he is doing so much better with his outbursts. We just thought he was an ornery kid, but after going gluten-free for just 1 1/2 weeks we noticed a huge change in his temperament.

[Marnica]

Hi...Im in a similar situation. DS (almost 2) just got enterolab results. We did the gene testing too though so I knew he has the gluten sensitivity gene but not the celiac gene.. He and I are going GF but DH refuses too (although he should since apparently DS got 1 gene from him). Frankly I had not even thought about CC and things like that. Geez, more the stress about I already feel totally overwhelmed and the last 1.5 weeks hs been very hard since I am not much of a cook. DS who is already small and skinny has lost a whole pound since going GF. This worries me!!

I suppose I will be doing what you are now and cleaning out some cupboards and thinking about CC

[sexysisam]

Hi Marnica,

Sorry to hear we're in the same boat. I've really liked reading Jules Shepard's book. She has a lot of positive stories about going gluten-free. I actually copied a quote from her book yesterday as I was reading: "Having a food-related cure returned the power to me." Which helps me realize that I have the power (at least for now) to help my son get better and better, I don't have to rely on unethical pharmaceutical companies and deal with all the uncontrollable side-effects of medication. Although I'm still VERY overwhelmed. Today while I was re-washing all the already clean dishes my son was going to use for breakfast I kept saying: "I can do this. I can do this."

One thing that's helped my son maintain and even gain weight is we give him a Boost meal replacement drink for lunch - it's gluten- and lactose-free. He will only drink it if it's cold though. My sister also advised me to serve 6-8 very small meals because Gryff still equates food with pain. But slowly he's learning to eat more, so that's good.

[kjbrown92]

It's been mentioned on here before that mini-meals = weight loss, 3 main meals = weight gain.

Make sure you're compensating with lots of high protein/fat things. When I put my food intake into www.fitday.com it turned out that I was getting like 60% of my calories from fat (I'm gluten, dairy, soy, corn free). I use coconut milk and coconut oil, eat pine nuts (and some other nuts), etc. We use high fat cuts of meat, and oil in a lot of things. If I do make something with flour, I chuck the sponge after I scrub that pan. If something can't go in the dishwasher, it gets washed 2-3 times by hand, if it's been "glutened". I clean the counters a lot during the day (my kids all eat at different times with school schedules) and I'm home during the day. I started buying pizza dough for DH and DD1 so I wouldn't have to spread flour on the counter anymore, so they can still have their pizza, it's just less likely to be a problem.

[Marnica]

Originally Posted by sexysisam

Hi Marnica,

Sorry to hear we're in the same boat. I've really liked reading Jules Shepard's book. She has a lot of positive stories about going gluten-free. I actually copied a quote from her book yesterday as I was reading: "Having a food-related cure returned the power to me." Which helps me realize that I have the power (at least for now) to help my son get better and better, I don't have to rely on unethical pharmaceutical companies and deal with all the uncontrollable side-effects of medication. Although I'm still VERY overwhelmed. Today while I was re-washing all the already clean dishes my son was going to use for breakfast I kept saying: "I can do this. I can do this."

One thing that's helped my son maintain and even gain weight is we give him a Boost meal replacement drink for lunch - it's gluten- and lactose-free. He will only drink it if it's cold though. My sister also advised me to serve 6-8 very small meals because Gryff still equates food with pain. But slowly he's learning to eat more, so that's good.

Hmmmm Boost...I looked at the ingredients and am not impressed. Basically corn syrup and sugar as the main ingredients...not good for you!!! It has soy in it anyhow and DS has a soy allergy so even if it had stellar ingredients, no can do for us. I worry about him being skinny and I want him to gain, but turning to things that really are not good good for you and are full of sugar and corn syrup...I just can't do it!!!