What Do I Feed Him?

[jayhawkmom]

My 11 month old has been having "D" issues for a little over a month now. I've started noticing pieces of food in his diaper, so I took him to his pediatrician this morning.

With my daughter's history (and mine) - he said he would not be at all surprised if CS is the reason for the D. In the meantime, we did a stool culture and he's sending it out, but he doesn't think they'll find anything, since he thinks it's gluten related. And, the Ped said that we should be going gluten-free with him.

On one hand... I'm thrilled. Due to my daughter's positive response to the gluten-free diet - he said that in his opinion, invasive tests are not necessary for our son. (He also said that he believes she has Celiac regardless of what the tests say!) He's such a terrific doctor!!!!

But, what in the world do I feed this little guy??? He doesn't have any teeth yet, and most of the foods I'd been feeding him (like a dumba$$) are wheat laden... such as Gerber Puffs and the likes.

Due to SOOO many food allergies in our family, we've been taking it REALLY slow with him with regards to introducing new foods and such. So many baby foods have pasta in them, for the bigger kids.

I do plan to make some of my own babyfoods, with rice pasta (Tinkyada,...Yum) and such. But, what else can I feed him?? OH, he's also lactose intolerant.

Eyeyeyeyeyeye.

[Fiddle-Faddle]

We gave our babies broiled salmon (no seasoning)--just flake it, it doesn't require teeth and is VERY nutritious! Also peaches, pears, plums, avacado, hummous, sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, and tofu cubes (and we didn't even know about gluten then!)

If D is an issue, skip the stone fruits and do bananas and sweet poatoes, rice cereal, and mashed potatoes (no milk).

[2kids4me]

mashed potato

sweet potato

banana

applesauce

gluten-free pasta

mashed cooked carrots

chopped up beef in the blender with/ without some gluten-free broth

chopped/blenderized chicken with / without gluten-free broth

buckwheat porridge

brown rice porridge

I made all my own baby food by using the masher blender a lot, I just mushed up what ever we were having after they were old enough to digest whatever we were eating for supper.

That's all I can think of right now, lots of moms with celiac babies will come on board and help you with even more ideas.

I like your doctor!!!!!

[katecopsey]

I agree with the idea to make your own baby food. Whatever you eat (assuming you are cooking gluten-free) will be fine for him. Blend the meat with potatoes and mushable veggies like carrots and peas. Add alittle gluten-free stock if needed. I used to freeze the food in ice cube trays so that I could take one or two out at a time. Although none of my babies were celiac, I wanted organic foods for them and nowhere was selling organic veggies 20yrs ago!

[jayhawkmom]

My little guy has had nothing but organic since birth. I thought I was doing something good for him. I know that he's getting the healthiest choices, but even the organic baby foods have wheat and oat flour.

I'm certainly not opposed to making my own baby foods! I just wish this poor guy would get some teeth!!! =)

[Michi8]

My little guy has had nothing but organic since birth. I thought I was doing something good for him. I know that he's getting the healthiest choices, but even the organic baby foods have wheat and oat flour.

I'm certainly not opposed to making my own baby foods! I just wish this poor guy would get some teeth!!! =)

Making your own baby food is a great idea. Don' rule out slightly more solid foods though...even without teeth the gums are quite strong...he may be okay with whole, soft cooked carrots for example.

Since you're taking the introduction of foods slowly, are you also trying to avoid other potential food allergens/intolerances as well? I consulted an allergy nutritionist when my son was born and she went over the method of safely introducing foods to an allergic baby, and gave me a list of foods with their potential for allergic reaction...I found it very helpful in determining which foods to introduce first. I've also read that grains/cereals are a poor choice of first food, because of how hard they are on the digestive system. I didn't know that before starting my son on solids. We chose a plain rice cereal that had absolutely no additives...no iron, minerals, formula, etc...just plain brown rice.

Check out this Open Original Shared Link for more info (it's the same chart given to me by the nutritionist.) Plus here is a Open Original Shared Link of when it's best to introduce different foods to an allergic baby. Of course, with a baby who is potentially celiac, the introduction of gluten-containing foods would come last or not at all.

Michelle

[eKatherine]

Don't worry if you find undigested bits of food in his diapers. It is perfectly normal and happens to people of all ages who don't chew their food extremely thoroughly. We don't have 4 stomachs to digest cellulose like cows do.

[Guest nini]

I made all of my daughter's baby food including teething biscuits, well before I knew that gluten was the problem. I also froze the baby food in ice cube trays then transferred the cubes to labeled freezer bags... mostly I stuck with fresh organic fruits and veggies, but when she was old enough to digest other stuff I started puree'ing some of what I was making for meals and would freeze that too.

fresh mashed bananas and avocado were always a big hit before she got teeth, fresh fruit juice popsicles was another one she liked, yogurt (if he can tolerate dairy)...

one of the easiest meals to make was take cooked rice (white or brown) add chicken broth and cooked chicken, cooked peas and carrots and blend in food processor or mash with fork if you don't want it as mushy, to this day this meal is still one of my daughter's favorites (not mushed up of course!)

[mamatide]

I do plan to make some of my own babyfoods, with rice pasta (Tinkyada,...Yum) and such. But, what else can I feed him?? OH, he's also lactose intolerant.

If it were me, I'd give him whatever I was eating (but processed in a blender of course). Stew. Spaghetti Sauce and gluten-free pasta. gluten-free cereal (cheerio-type stuff gluten-free of course). Mashed avocado is a GREAT food. Beets. Carrots. Mashed potatoes. So so much. Skip the processed baby foods and look to your own kitchen. You'll save an incredible amount of money in the process too!

When you eat something, just take all the extras and process them then freeze in ice cube cups. Pack them in baggies and label them clearly. You can pop them out and defrost them as needed.

Just think of what he CAN eat vs. what he cannot eat.

even without teeth the gums are quite strong...

LOL. I can attest to that. I breastfed two children 1 year each and gums are very powerful biters!

[ThoulasMom]

We have a very similar situation except my 11 month old is severly lactose intollerant! We made organic food for both of our kids (neither have ever eated baby food from a jar). It is challenging since the babies are so young. This is what she eats:

Rice crispies

Corn flakes

Plain organic chicken breast that is poached in chicken broth and cut into bitesized pieces (I sometimes cook and apple with the chicken and give her that on top)

Gluten free cookies

rice cakes

Gorrilla crunch cereal (it's like kix)

Mac & cheese with rice pasta, soy cheese, soy butter and sometimes ham

Newman's wheat free fig newtons

Crepes with applesauce (i found a great recipe to make crepes with cornstarch instead of flour)

Veggies sauteed with tofu and teryiki sauce

Tofu nuggets (tofu dipped in soy milk and coated with corn flakes or tapioca breadcrumbs and baked)

soy yogurt

We make a lot of combinations of tofu, veggies and rice noodles (just found them at Trader Joe's for $.99!!)

These are some examples. Our pediatrician won't remove the restrictions of nuts, fish, berries, eggs, and sweetners and we can only use egg replaces while baking and molasses while baking. That has opened our options somewhat, but it's still frustrating!!

I have been scouring the internet for other options of items to make for you. I'm finding that my best bet is making recipes and 1/2 the recipe.

Good luck! I am with you in the frustration department!

[Esther Sparhawk]

Whole Soy & Co. makes a yogurt that's vegan, casein, whey, and gluten free. It looks funny, but tastes as good as the real thing.

In the fall, I make my whole family split pea soup, but I never call it split pea, because that sounds nasty. Instead, we call it Fairy Flower Soup. The rumor around our house is "If you eat enough fairy flower soup, you may start to grow fairy wings out your back!" Girls love that sort of thing. With boys, you might have to disguise it with another name like "Nascar Motor Power Soup" or something...

Mechelle

[Nic]

We have a very similar situation except my 11 month old is severly lactose intollerant! We made organic food for both of our kids (neither have ever eated baby food from a jar). It is challenging since the babies are so young. This is what she eats:

Rice crispies

Corn flakes

Plain organic chicken breast that is poached in chicken broth and cut into bitesized pieces (I sometimes cook and apple with the chicken and give her that on top)

Gluten free cookies

rice cakes

Gorrilla crunch cereal (it's like kix)

Mac & cheese with rice pasta, soy cheese, soy butter and sometimes ham

Newman's wheat free fig newtons

Crepes with applesauce (i found a great recipe to make crepes with cornstarch instead of flour)

Veggies sauteed with tofu and teryiki sauce

Tofu nuggets (tofu dipped in soy milk and coated with corn flakes or tapioca breadcrumbs and baked)

soy yogurt

We make a lot of combinations of tofu, veggies and rice noodles (just found them at Trader Joe's for $.99!!)

These are some examples. Our pediatrician won't remove the restrictions of nuts, fish, berries, eggs, and sweetners and we can only use egg replaces while baking and molasses while baking. That has opened our options somewhat, but it's still frustrating!!

I have been scouring the internet for other options of items to make for you. I'm finding that my best bet is making recipes and 1/2 the recipe.

Good luck! I am with you in the frustration department!

Are you using real rice crispies? If so, I believe they have malt in them which means gluten. I know envirokids makes a cereal that looks like cocoa crispies so thats what we call them even though they are gluten free.

Nicole