3 Year Old Newly Diagnosed

[jules1317]

My daughter who is almost 4, was just diagnosed yesterday with Celiac from blood tests and a biopsy. She is anemic, malnutritioned and has a very large belly with a very petite body.....she is still in 2T clothing.

She barely eats anything except pasta and cereal and I'm concerned that when we start her on the gluten-free diet that she'll eat even less. Can anyone recommend any gluten-free foods for a very picky eater? Also, she attends daycare full-time. Any advice?

[jerseyangel]

Hi Jules and welcome! I'm sure you will be getting a lot of good ideas from those with small children. If she likes pasta, Tinkyada Pasta (made of rice) is excellent. Most of us here love it--it's as good as "regular". Envirodidz makes some really good cereals--in kid-friendly flavors. They also make snack bars that resemble Rice Krispy treats. Both of these can be found at Whole Foods, and some regular grocery stores. I'm in NJ and can get both at Shoprite--and Acme had begun to carry Tinkyada!

[Guhlia]

Tinkyada pasta will DEFINITELY become her favorite food if she's a pasta lover. You can buy the Kraft powdered cheese in a shaker bottle and make her "Kraft" mac & cheese w/ the Tinkyada noodles. It tastes exactly like the real thing.

If you don't mind the sugar overload, Cocoa Pebbles and Fruity Pebbles are both gluten free. The envirokidz cereals never really tasted right to me, but I know a lot of people really like them. There's a Cheerios substitute called Perky-O's. I'm pretty sure that's what they're called. They come plain, frosted, or apple cinnamon I think.

If you like to bake, I would recommend getting the Incredible Edible Gluten Free Foods for Kids cookbook. It's amazing! There are lots of kid-friendly recipes that are adult-friendly as well. My favorite is the banana bread. It tastes like the real thing.

Good luck finding new foods that she enjoys! I would also recommend reading up on the topics on this forum for important information on personal care products, cross contamination, etc.

[wonkabar]

My daughter who is almost 4, was just diagnosed yesterday with Celiac from blood tests and a biopsy. She is anemic, malnutritioned and has a very large belly with a very petite body.....she is still in 2T clothing.

She barely eats anything except pasta and cereal and I'm concerned that when we start her on the gluten-free diet that she'll eat even less. Can anyone recommend any gluten-free foods for a very picky eater? Also, she attends daycare full-time. Any advice?

Hi! My 3 year old son is on a gluten-free diet and is a big eater. Needless to say, I have to have lots of options. We all love the Gluten Free Pantry mixes. The chocolate cake mix is great....no one ever knows it's gluten-free. I make cupcakes with it and use Duncan Hines Classic Choc. Frosting and sprinkle them with non-perells. They'll never know! Gluten Free Pantry brownie mix is also a big hit at our house. I made them for Easter and nobody knew! I add extra chocolate chips and just sprinkle them with powdered sugar when they're done. If you use the Gluten Free Pantry gluten-free flour, you can follow the Nestle CC Cookie recipe...I called Nestle and they told me their chips were in fact gluten-free. They came out fine. Some of the Edy's ice cream is gluten-free, too. Check out their website. Jello Choc. pudding snack packs are also gluten-free. Those are just some of the snacks we keep around. He likes fruits and veggies, too so that makes things easier. Hope this helped!

--Kristy

[TCA]

I have a list of foods my son will eat (very picky) if anyone wants a copy - just PM me.