Gluten Free Moms, Please help!

[ldeliberato]

Hi Ladies!

I am 26 weeks pregnant with our first baby. Two years ago I was diagnosed with Celiac and have been gluten free ever since. It was life changing being on a gluten free diet. I can't imagine going back.

All this to say, with this new one on the way, there is a chance he may not have any issues at all with Gluten. Also, we may not see any symptoms till he is older.

If it were just up to me, I would say he will be gluten free too. However, my husband isn't so sure that is the way to go.

Can you tell me any of your experiences, good or bad, in being gluten free and pregnant/raising a baby/etc?

Thanks so much!

[cristeen]

I can tell you that theres a school of thought that says young children cannot digest grains at all prior to about 18 mos. I kept my DS completely away from grain until about 14 mos, and only now at 16 mos is he having it regularly as we're dealing w other food issues (because its one of the few things i can get him to eat).

It is difficult to keep them away from it when you're away from home. But like any other thing, you can do it if you're committed to it.

Rather than proving anything to your DH though, i would suggest you inquire as to why he thinks its necessary. That gives you something to rebutt, and you can address his specific concerns.

[JollyGG]

My husband is allergic to wheat and other grains. I refuse to cook two meals so our whole family is gluten free. It also helps with cross contamination. The kids and I do eat gluten out of the house. But at home there is very little that is not gluten free. They are doing just fine. It doesn't hurt them any at all. As long as they are eating a healthy and varied diet I fail to see why it wouldn't be simpler just to keep a gluten free home.

[Amyjot]

My husband has Celiac disease, but I don't, so we had to deal with when/if to introduce gluten into the diets of our daughters. My oldest is 4 and my youngest is 14 months. When DD#1 was an infant, we asked the Canadian Celiac Association (we're Canadian) for advice on introducing gluten into her diet and they passed on information from the pediatric gastroenterologist they consult with. He said to wait until she was at least 9 months old because her digestive system would be more developed at that point. We actually waited until 10 months because we were so nervous, and then introduced is slowly, starting with baby oatmeal cereal, then barley, then wheat. I continued to breastfeed her into toddlerhood because in the reading I did, breastfeeding while introducing gluten has a protective effect. We did the same for DD#2 and neither of them has had a problem with gluten so far.

Our family dinners are gluten free, but the girls and I eat gluten-containing foods at other times. We decided that if either of the girls were to have Celiac disease, we would make the house completely gluten free. Something we considered when deciding whether or not to introduce gluten was the fact that most gluten-containing breads and cereals are vitamin fortified, while gluten free products are not. This isn't a huge issue for adults, but many small children become picky eaters as toddlers and end up eating very little. So I think it's a bit easier to make sure they're getting everything they need nutritionally if they're eating gluten-containing foods at that point in their lives. For example, many of the toddler snacks may youngest eats when we're on the go are iron-fortified, as are the breakfast cereals she eats (I mainly buy the "baby" cereals designed for infants 12 months+), because one-year-olds have very high iron needs. There are no equivalent iron-fortified gluten-free products on the market that I know of.

So that's what we did, hope you find some of this helpful, and good luck! You'll figure out what's best for your family.

[ldeliberato]

Thank you all for your insight! As of now, my husband and I eat gluten free dinners together. No sense in cooking two meals! However, his lunches will have gluten. Or if we go out to eat, he will eat what he feels like. He is also very supportive of me and my dietary restrictions. Gluten free living has become a part of our life.

I think his hold up on having our kid eat gluten free or not comes more so down to when we are out to eat or when our son will be at a friends house, etc. I'm still on the fence about what we'll do. However, I figure we have time to decide. After all this is our first, and our ideas about parenting may go right out the window on day 1! Although I hope not :)

My plan is to breastfeed for the first year, as I read it will help build his immune system. So, for the first year he will be gluten free.

After that, I'm leaning towards focusing his diet away from gluten, but not necessarily shutting it out all together. What I mean is, I don't what breads and grains to be the main component of his diet. I would rather focus on eating more veggies, fruits, etc. All wishful thinking as I'm pregnant, but I hope we can stick to it!

Thanks again for your thoughts!