What Do You Feed Your Babies?

[siouxsie]

My son is almost 5 months and I just found out that I have celiac disease. Since he is thriving on my breast milk despite the fact that I've only been gluten-free for about 2 weeks, his pediatrician has suggested he have cereal in addition to nursing whenever he wants in order to compensate for the low levels of iron and calcium in my milk. In just 3.5 days, the rice had binded him so badly that he could barely poop since it was so hard. Then I tried oatmeal which I think has given him sores in his nose and a rash, both very subtle. Had I not been diagnosed myself, I wouldn't even notice probably, let alone link it to the cereal...I would just attribute it to the cold weather. I'm stopping the cereal to see if the rash disappears and his nose heals but he is always so hungry I want to give him something. It's got me so crazed that I don't even know the right questions to ask his pediatrician. I hope to call tomorrow though. Any suggestions of what I can feed him? His ped suggested to hold off on veggies and fruit till 6 mos because of possible allergies from starting too early but feeding him cereal when he mseems to have celiac, or may have celiac just doesn't seem right. He loives eating so I need to come up w/ something. Any suggestions for what to feed him or what to ask the doctor would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Suzanne

[DLayman]

We are so in the same boat! My little guy is 5 months this week! I tried the rice cereal but he got very gassy and uncharecteristically fussy. So we started giving him bananas. Even just a regular overripe banana mushed up he loved it! I doubt there is much chance of bananas setting off an allergic reaction! And if he is getting rash and irritiation from oatmeal I would tend to say the opposite of your doctor!

In I believe it is Sweden. there is a high prevenlence of Celiac and they tell mothers to nurse their babies for at least six months and to ABSOLUTELY NOT give them anything that could have gluten till after that point..

I am personally going to stick with the bananas, and not even every day.. if they are thriving you don't have to worry too much! And too much iron can really bind em up!

You could always suplement with a good soy formula!

Is this your first little one?

For us this is #4~saved the best for last! he's great (as long as mommy stays gluten-free) otherwise everything that goes in him comes out!

[kejohe]

My son is 3 y/o now, but I made his rice cereal from scratch. Just steam or boil white or brown rice like you would if you were making it for dinner, but with a little extra water. Then I just put it in my food processor and pureed it with his formula until it was runny enough.

When I started him on veggies, I mixed a tablespoon or so into his rice cereal, one veggie at a time and I treid only one new veggie a week, so that if he had nay reaction, I knew it could only be one thing. It worked out very well.

[siouxsie]

Thanks for the tips. I agree about the bananas and my son loves them so I'll go back to letting him have them once in awhile. I thought of making my own rice cereal but wasn't sure how or if it would have the nutrients he needs...maybe I'll give it a try. His dr. said to stop the oatmeal and try the barely. I'm willing to try and see if he has a reaction since I'm still not sure if he's really having a reaction or if I'm over noticing things because I'm looking for something. Dr. also said I can add a bit of prune juice to his rice cereal so he won't get too stopped up which I think will be the best for us. I have a five yr. old daughter but we had no problems back then. Rather, we didn't know there was a problem. I'm the first in my family to be diagnosed w/ celiac disease and we always thought we had no food allergies in my family so I wasn't looking like I am now. I believe as mothers we need to trust our instincts but it's tough when my fears cloud my judgement. Hearing from you guys helps to calm my fears and encourage me to trust that I know what my son needs. I'm so glad his dr. is always available and really listens to my concerns. We'll see how things go. I'm sure I'll have new questions soon.---Suzanne

[kejohe]

Hi Suzanne,

I was a liitle worried when I first started making my sons rice cereal too, because, you're right, plain rice doesn't have everything they need to thrive. But I talked to his Doc and he was the one who suggested mixing it with a fortified formula. That way, he not only get thet the nutrients from the formula, but the needed calories and intro to solids with the rice. My son has no other food issues except the celiac disease and I started him on solid foods at 3 1/2 months. He was born with teeth, and I couldnt breast feed any longer, and the formula alone wasn't satisfying him.

Anyway, I'm sure it will all work out for you. Knowing what I know about celiac disease I would be scared to try Barley cereal though. I don't know about you, but my sons reactions are worse if he has had a barley contamination than just wheat. He gets so sick, even from malt extracts. I don't think your being paranoid, because as we all know, celiac disease is hereditary, so I think your smart to look out for the signs.

[Annaem]

Rice cereal is at least gluten free. Barley and oats is not! so i would not be introducing these cereals if i was you. As for the constipation if you introduce a veggie it will help with the constipation. Choose a food that is not allergenic. I don't think they recommend bananas as a first food i believe i was told orange and green foods first. Furthermore, your dr is concerned about him getting vitamins. So if the cereal is not working can you introduce a little formula instead. For me, when i was breast feeding they told me that they would have to give him b12 supplement and iron. But if you introduce some formula which is what i have done you don't need to worry about any supplements. As for making the rice cereal yourself although i love this idea, the point of introducing it is to get some iron in there and you can only get that from the store bought stuff. the dr. told me introducing a veggie with the cereal will help the constipation. How about brown rice cereal from my organic baby.??

[Ursa Major]

Your pediatrician is extremely ignorant when it comes to nutrition. There is never any good reason to feed a baby anything but breast milk until a year old, definitely not before eight months. Babies will have iron stores to last them until 12 months old, at which point they are old enough to eat meat to get their iron. They ABSOLUTELY do not need iron from any outside source until then.

To suggest giving a five month old baby cereal because of not getting iron from breast milk is ludicrous!

The gluten-free diet is a healthy diet for both mother and breast fed baby. Your baby is obviously reacting to gluten and is too young for cereal anyway, gluten or not. In fact, it would be best if he wouldn't be given any solids for another month or two, period.

But if you insist on giving him solids, then things like carrots, apple sauce or bananas would be best.

[loraleena]

I work with pregnant women and infants in their homes offering support around nutrition, breastfeeding, development and parenting. I recently came across an article by a local naturopath named Mary Bove (She has several book). You can google her and read her article on introducing solids to infants. Anyway she says that children born into families with food allergies or intolerances should wait on all grains until 12-18 months and also dairy. She recomends starting with easily digestable root veggies and veggies such as butternut squash, sweet pototo, carrots, peas, green beans. Around 8 months start with greens and other veggies. No soy until 1 year either. Fruits come after veggies are established. Avacodo is another good first food.

To the last replier. The main reason for food in the first year is to allow the child to learn to chew and learn the fine motor skills to learn to eat with hands then spoon, fork etc. Most food is pooped out in the first year as quick as it goes in. Breast milk is the most important food in the first year and you do not have to worry about your child being low on iron. My doc told me years ago that it is normal for a breastfed baby to be lower in iron that formula and that this is normal. Skip the rice for now it is constipating. Make sure you wait a week between new foods to check for any intolerances. Start with one meal a day, and slowly work up to 2 and 3. No egg whites the first year either!

[Pattymom]

MY #4 baby was also the one that needed me to stop all gluten in order for her to thrive. I can only imagine her reaction if I had tried to give her anyting to compensate. Babies do not need cereal ro any other food, breastmilk has it all whether or not you eat gluten in irrelevant. I know with us, given her sensitivities,( I also stopped dairy, soy, all nuts, and processed sweetners), I kept her on only my milk to she was around a year, and then started with fruits and veggies sparingly. She didn't get anythign with gluten until she turned 2, but that's a whole 'nuther story.

Trust your instincts, If you know your baby was fine before, and is no reacting, go back to what worked. Remember we pay the doctors for an opinion, but ultimately we make the choices to help our children thrive.

[2boysmama]

I wanted to add that while breastmilk is lower in iron than formula, it is more bio-available and more efficiently used than iron from cereals or formula. There is no need to supplement with cereal. In fact, before the age of about six months or so, both the AAP and WHO advise against introducing solids at all because the gut isn't "sealed" yet.

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A lot of pediatricians don't seem to realize this information because they're so accustomed to dealing with formula-fed infants (which is VERY different).

[EmmaQ]

La Leche League's book The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding talks about food introductions and the hows. Remember any doc probably has only had 1 hour of nutrition in all of his/her years in med school - ignor them.

Now since you are Celiac, there is a 50/50 shot your kid is too (unless possibly the dad also has the gene at which point the odds go up). A reaction to oats is a good indication not to do barley. I am with holding gluten until my youngest child is 2 or 3 or 4 have not decided. I don't need the blessing of my pedi to do it, I don't care what they think and frankly what I feed the babe has not come up -- don't ask, don't tell... Of course, I have a few kids, so I guess they don't feel the "need" to discuss diet.

Interestingly, if you are a new mom you probably get those ads from formula companies in the mail. I took the time to read the Nestle Good Start one around the time they talk about solids. Do you know it said to not give wheat to any child under 1? I was in shock, but a happy shock -- yeah, someone gets it. Gerber foods have not apparently come to this conclusion w all the wheat in their products for little ones.

Despite a mom's short comings in blood work, the body is going to take all your nutrients and put them in the bm for the baby first, hence your levels may be low from celiac disease or simply not getting enough to cover the both of you. I would not worry about the nutrient content of bm so long as your baby is growing and meeting milestones, etc. I would increase my own supplements.

Now back to food introduction... My 2nd child bfing reacted to gluten in my diet, I didn't know it at the time. He reacted to every food we attempted to give him due to the damaging affects of my bm (cry now more, no tears left on the subject). My friend a LLL Leader finally suggested meat. And you know what, it worked. I gave him flicks of meat off our plain meat. Later I did go back to veggies and fruits, he never has liked bananas one of the worse offenders to his behind.

As for "cereal" it is over rated. It is a "filler" at best. I had a child who was FTT and I used the cereal mode to give him more calories by adding in medical grade amino acid formula and digestive aids. I bought the Earth's Best brand b/c it's iron type is less binding. I also bought Luden (that rice brand) hot rice cereal, it was a bit too grainy for early feedings but now it's fine. As a mom of a few kids, I just did not have the time to home make mush. Tip: A little stage 1 jar of prunes is helpful in unbinding the behind.

FYI - Beech Nut labels all their foods really well for allergens, including gluten. Some of their stage 2 'meals' are gluten-free and they use rice pasta in them instead of wheat like Gerber. A pediatric fellow w Dr. Fasano told me to use Beech Nut foods at an appt w my littlest, she was very helpful.

I take cues from my kids when ever possible, babies are smarter than many give them credit for. My LO is pushing dairy away after vomitting a few times this weekend. I was hoping it was a virus, but w him pushing milk away, I'm going to say he knows it makes him hurt. Just watch their reactions to foods, take it slow, and certainly if he is hungry feed him.

[Glutenfreefamily]

We skipped cereal (not a whole lot of nutrition out of it anyways) and her first food was avocado. She loved it and its a healthy fat, excellent for brain growth. Still does at 4 years old. I never did the jarred baby food, I just bought little 4 oz containers and blended fruits and veggies and put them in the four ounce containers in the freezer. There is no reason you need to start foods at five months for iron. At six months you can bypass the cereals if you want and go straight to veggies and fruit.