16 replies to this topic

[superKITTIE]

My boyfriend and I are in the process of buying a house together so of course the topic of having children together has come up. He suspects he's had celiac disease since he was about 15, but he never started eating gluten free until he was about 21 (he's 23 now). Since I've met him I've gone crazy to learn the ways of gluten free for him (he especially loves my macaroni & cheese! hehe). I do not have celiac disease. And although it's quite expensive, I don't mind eating gluten free with him, as a frequently do.

Now my questions. If I were to have children with him, would I have to eat gluten free during my pregnancy in case the baby inherits celiac disease from him? I do know that not everybody shows signs of it & that it doesn't always appear right away. And would I have to continue to eat gluten free, should I choose to breast feed (which I probably would)? Like I said, I don't mind eating gluten free, I would just like to know for sure so I don't hurt the baby or myself.

The internet hasn't been very helpful in my search so any information anybody has would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[jswog]

I'm no expert, but from what I understand, you have no need to worry during pregnancy, but you will need to watch baby for fussiness and/or other reactions during BF should you chose to eat gluten. If you do chose to be gluten free while BF, you'll have to watch as you introduce gluten to LO.

[Takala]

With the common genes for celiac, about 30% of the population carries them, HLA DQ2 and/or DQ8, depending on your ethnic group (some higher, some lower) and where your ancestors originated from, but only about 1% of the general population goes on to develop the disease. There is another group of gluten intolerant people which have many of the same symptoms, but they do not test out as having celiac disease, the latest research by one expert, Dr Fasano, suspects up to 5 to 7 % of the population could be gluten intolerant. There may be (there is very likely) more genes involved. It is unknown what the real triggers of each condition are, other than they frequently show up after stresses such as infections, injury, surgeries, pregnancy, environmental toxins, taking too many anti inflammatory drugs which caused leaky gut, etc.

This means that unless your boyfriend has had his genetics tested, you don't know for sure which category he falls into, and if, and how, the resulting offspring could inherit the tendency towards celiac or gluten intolerance. You could also be an unknown carrier. You don't know if you would have your child be born vaginally or by c- section, which it turns out, influences the type of bacteria your newborn gets "seeded" with during the first hours, which will affect its health for the rest of his/her life. (if you want to really blow your mind, start googling gut bacteria articles... and how vaccines could effect this.... just don't do it in front of some people or you risk getting called an "anti- vaxxer" ).

So, in other words, you will not automatically have a celiac/gluten intolerant child, it doesn't depend on what you eat, but you would want to watch carefully for how the baby reacts, once it is born. There are some people who think that avoiding highly allergenic type foods during the first year are a good idea, anyway, but even so, nothing is cut-and-dried.

[Skylark]

There is no reason to avoid wheat during pregnancy if you are comfortably tolerant of it. Pay attention to reactions to your breast milk though. As jswog says, some people with celiac disease, like me, are sensitive to wheat from infancy and it will come through in your milk.

You mention buying a house. The most considerate you could do for your boyfriend is to keep the house gluten-free. No gluten in the kitchen, and no gluten-containing pet foods. There's nothing better for celiac disease than a kitchen that's been cleaned well and doesn't ever have breadcrumbs or flour in it! Eat your gluten elsewhere, whether you are pregnant or not. Even better, you don't have to worry if you have a gluten intolerant or celiac child because your home is already gluten-free.

By the way, it shouldn't be expensive to eat gluten-free unless your boyfriend is still pretending to eat a "normal" American diet and relying heavily on the overpriced gluten-free baked goods and pasta. Rice and potatoes are as cheap as wheat and safer because most so-called gluten-free breads still do have traces of gluten. You can also go with mainstream desserts like flourless chocolate cake, pudding, or ice cream rather than expensive gluten-free cookies.

[superKITTIE]

Wow this is such great information! Thanks so much everybody!

I had planned on going gluten free with my boyfriend, so there won't be any gluten in my kitchen! And yes we are just starting to discover the wonders of rice & potatoes, haha! Had been eating a ton of noodles which are quite expensive. Before we were together, his lived with his Grandma and she purchased & cooked him all his meals. Grandma's spoiling left him a very hungry man when he moved out, haha! I have been experimenting with the baked goods. He says my blueberry muffins are better than Grandma's!

[Skylark]

Awesome! I'm so glad to hear you're keeping the kitchen gluten-free and that your baking is going so well. I love making cookies and muffins with almond flour.

You might like a rice cooker. It's the first thing I bought when I went gluten-free and it was money well-spent. It's so much nicer to not worry about watching a pot of rice and burning the bottom!

[jswog]

You might like a rice cooker. It's the first thing I bought when I went gluten-free and it was money well-spent. It's so much nicer to not worry about watching a pot of rice and burning the bottom!

My husband already had a rice cooker when we got married. I had never used one before, but I'm not sure I could live without it anymore! Even just the other morning (bad MS), I needed something bland to eat and didn't have the energy to actually make anything. I pulled out the rice cooker and just had to dump in the rice and water. I was able to go back to bed for a half-hour and get up to some hot rice to eat.

[superKITTIE]

I had heard from a friend that the rice cookers make rice similar to what you would get at a Chinese food restaurant, kinda sticky. Which my boyfriend isn't really fond of. Is there a way to make it less sticky, or is it being sticky not true?

[kareng]

I had heard from a friend that the rice cookers make rice similar to what you would get at a Chinese food restaurant, kinda sticky. Which my boyfriend isn't really fond of. Is there a way to make it less sticky, or is it being sticky not true?

I don't know if the rice is sticky. We like un- sticky brown rice. I just cook it on the stove. You could cook extra and put it in the freezer. There are also " 10 minute" versions and I even found a 90 second microwave packet. The cheapest way would be the regular.

[Skylark]

I had heard from a friend that the rice cookers make rice similar to what you would get at a Chinese food restaurant, kinda sticky. Which my boyfriend isn't really fond of. Is there a way to make it less sticky, or is it being sticky not true?

It depends on the type of rice. Sushi rice and other short grain rices tend to be sticky; jasmime or basmati rice cooks into fluffy single grains like you get at an Indian restaurant. You can also control the texture of the rice by how much water you add. More water softens the grains, releases the starch, and makes them sticky. Less water gives firmer grains that don't tend to clump together. You'll also want to fluff the rice to separate the grains at the end of the cooking cycle as it tends to clump during the keep-warm part.

[jswog]

From my experience, I will second everything Syklark just said about the rice. We usually even keep several different varieties of rice around so that we can choose which we want depending on what we are using it for (stickier rice makes AMAZING rice pudding!). Experiment with it a bit. Rice is CHEAP and if you make it in small batches in the beginning, you can throw out a few if they aren't to your liking.

[ravenwoodglass]

It depends on the type of rice. Sushi rice and other short grain rices tend to be sticky; jasmime or basmati rice cooks into fluffy single grains like you get at an Indian restaurant. You can also control the texture of the rice by how much water you add. More water softens the grains, releases the starch, and makes them sticky. Less water gives firmer grains that don't tend to clump together. You'll also want to fluff the rice to separate the grains at the end of the cooking cycle as it tends to clump during the keep-warm part.

In addition I find it helps to rinse the uncooked rice until the water runs clear before I cook it. I can't stand sticky rice because it reminds me of the tasteless goo they used to serve in the grade school cafeteria.

[Skylark]

I bet what your boyfriend likes is Uncle Ben's converted rice, or some other brand of converted/parboiled long grain rice. It's what many Americans think of as "normal rice". It has a mild flavor and the grains stay very separate. It cooks fine in a rice cooker. Chinese restaurants usually use white rice, not converted rice.

[superKITTIE]

Thanks everybody for the rice tips Can't wait to get my hands on a rice cooker and experiment!

[GFinDC]

In the USA you can get Tinkyada brand gluten-free pasta pretty cheap. And Chex gluten-free cereals are available at reasonable prices. Betty Crocker has gluten-free cake mixes also.