Preventing coeliacs disease in babe

[clairebear3]

My DH was diagnosed with coeliacs disease about 9 years ago.  As I understand it our DD has a 50% chance of developing it.  We went to her ped yesterday to ask when it would be best to start introducing solids and gluten to minimise this chance as much as possible.  He said to start her with pureed veg around 4-5 months, fruit around 6 months but to hold off with anything with gluten in it until a year.  I was wondering if anyone else has any experience with having a babe when one of the parents is a coeliac?  She currently gets about 600-700 breast milk and 200-300ml formula a day and is 11 weeks...

I was also looking for a company that does DNA testing but they all seem to be based in the UK/US not here in Belgium, they also all seem to require blood and not cheek cells...

[QueenOfTheMeadow]

Hi clairebear3.  You should check out this celiac disease foundation website.  They have a lot of great iinformation. 

Celiac disease is genetic, so avoiding glutens is not going to keep her from having celiac disease.  You either have it or you don't.  Keeping glutens out of your dd diet will keep her from developing damage of her digestive system, not keep her from having celiac disease. 

That being said,  you can have a gluten sensitivity, without having celiac disease.  Celiac disease runs in my dh's family, and even the people in the family who do not have celiac disease, still tend to suffer from stomach upset, excema, and other issues when they eat glutens.   For example, my kids don't have celiac disease, but they do have a gluten sensitivity. 

To diagnose celiac, they usually take blood first to determine celiac disease, and then depending on those levels, they do a small bowel biopsy to confirm.  That being said, you do have to be on glutens for usually 4 weeks prior to the testing to get acurate results.   I've never heard of DNA testing for it though, since they aren't sure exactly what causes it.  Basically, they haven't been able to isolate a gene that causes it. 

Good luck!

[clairebear3]

Hi Queen!

Well over here they talk about the disease being active or not.  My DH will have had it since birth but it only became a problem at around age 22.  If he eats anything with gluten he will feel the effects within an hour, probably because he follows his diet so strictly he's then hyper sensitive to the smallest amount.  The DNA test is available in the UK and US, in the UK it costs around 300pound and is done via the post using droplets of blood.  Apparently they can tell whether you are genetically pre-dispositioned to it (not whether the disease is active or not) or if you have no genetic pre-disposition.  It would be so nice to know if it was negative from an early age, then I wouldn't be worrying every time she had a tummy upset.  I think it's a good thing to wait until a year with gluten though, if she's going to suddenly get violently sick I would more rather it be when she's a bit older!  I do worry about her missing essential vitamins in the meantime though...