Parents with Celiac Disease - are your kids gf?

[milomama]

I was diagnosed with celiac disease last year, when my son was about 18 months old.  I'm a SAHM, so our whole house went gf, since I do all the cooking and since, with a toddler, our kitchen is never tidy enough to keep cross contamination from happening!  I've been treating my son as a potential celiac, and he never has gluten.  He started sleeping through the night on the removal of gluten, without any other prompting, which I took as a sign that gluten wasn't great for him anyways.

But, I'm not sure what to do as time progresses and he spends more time away from me.  I think I want to keep him gf, but I don't know to what level.  If he goes out to a playdate, should he have something with gluten?  Should I worry about reading all labels for him if we're out?

My biggest concern is that celiac can develop anytime, right?  So, even if he were not celiac now, who's to say he wouldn't be in one year?  Also, the symptoms can be vague, I know that I had vague symptoms for a long time before developing GI issues.  In fact, in retrospect, I think I have been celiac since childhood.  So, I hesitate to give him any gluten as I may miss these symptoms.

But, as he gets older and starts to be more interested in what other people have, I don't know if this is overreacting.  

I'm also pregnant with a baby who I am assuming will not be introduced to gluten foods at all.

If you have celiac disease, what did/do you do about your children?

[dogmom327]

Our youngest has celiac. I assume that I am too and I assume DS will be at some point and that any future children will be. I'd prefer DH assume he also has it but he's an adult and gets to make his own decisions. All our our children will be GF permanently (to the extent I can control them anyway, I won't be following them around as adults). The risk is too big to risk it IMHO.

[EmTheWife]

I am GF, though dh is not, and we have a 19month ds who I have made GF as of about 2 weeks ago, after noticing some celiac-like symptoms, mainly recurring diarrhea, rash and 5+ poops a day, and I have noticed a great improvement in his bowel health.

When he's away from home, I pack him GF snacks that he likes, and I make sure that those caring for him know to give him nothing other than what he brings, and it's gone well so far.  All my mom-friends also know he's GF so they are really helpful in watching what they give him, and their kids, when he's around.

I plan to keep him as GF as possible, though maybe when he's older and able to discuss how he feels after eating certain foods, we may try gluten as a regular part of his diet, and at that time also get him tested.

[Koalamom]

I have never been tested for celiac, but my mom was tested positive, and my broother is very allergic. So i am GF and have seen huge changes in my health. My kids are now GF and will stay that way under my roof. I have seen huge changes with my kids after going GF too.

[anjsmama]

I have celiac as does my 3.5 year old DS. When I was first diagnosed, it was just me. I had my own pantry and corner of the kitchen, and DH & DS ate what they liked.  His was "triggered" or developed, or however you'd put it, after a never-ending bout of the flu when he was 2.5 y/o. When he was diagnosed, our whole house went GF. So my DD is 11 mo and has not had any gluten and she won't. We take GF food wherever we go, and send it with DS wherever he goes. He's not even 3 and a half and he knows not to take food from anyone but us. He especially knows that things like cake, cookies, bread, muffins, etc are very likely to have gluten and if offered he will say, "Is it gluten free?" . I've been amazed at his understanding and verbalization. It's not that he's not interested in sweets, he just knows he needs me (or himself, he's quite the helper chef!) to make them in order to stay well. I suppose it's partially fear of just how bad he was feeling before going GF that steers him clear, but he does well. He also thinks it's very special he gets to eat GF. I'm sure he'll change his mind about that at some point . I also bought him a little backpack that he loves and keep it stocked with stuff like dried fruit, GF cereal bars, nuts, and the like in case we get stuck in a pinch or he's with a friend and decides he's hungry, he knows he has his snacks. 

His class at church eats crackers during snack time, but the leaders have been great about not letting him touch them, and I pack dried fruit for him. It hasn't been an issue. One week they said the other kids were curious/jealous about why he was eating differently so I brought them all dried fruit the following week. Haven't heard about it since.