Mom Of Newly Diagnost Toddler Seeking Help

[AmyTopolski]

Hi,

My daughter will soon be three and was recently diagnosted. We also have a 14 month old daughter. I guess I'm wondering what other families do about food. For now I have decided to do all gluten free as to not contaminate my kitchen. I make bread, muffins, cookies, ect... We are all eating the bread. I am very new at this and wonder what other families are doing. Do you cook all gluten free? Or just gluten free for family members with Celiac. Any opinions, stories or suggestions would be a blessing!

Thank you

[chrissy]

amy----i have 8 children at home, 3 of which have celiac, and we cook all meals gluten free. it is just easier that way. i do buy crackers, cold cereal and bread for the non-celiac family members because it is less expensive for me that way, but all homemade muffins, cookies, cornbread, etc., are made gluten free. we keep a separate glass bowl with a lid for celiac butter, and we keep separate jars of peanut butter, jam, mayo and miracle whip-----we label these gluten free. we buy squeeze condiments when we can.

[Luvs to Scrap]

Hi and welcome to the board. My DS and DH have celiac. I try to make all meals gluten-free now to make things simpler. Tinkyada pasta was a lifesaver when we discovered it since it tastes "normal". I still buy bread for myself but other than that we are pretty much gluten-free. My daughter is still using up some cereal we had before diagnosis too. I am buying snacks that are safe for both kids so that it is less confusing and there is less chance for cross contamination. My DD is 19 months and is always "sharing" everything. I do the "glop" method on our condiments for now which Danna Korn describes in her book Raising Celiac Kids. Really recommend that book too. If a knife gets contaminated with my bread we get a new one out. I bake almost all of the gluten-free products the guys eat. Bette Hagman's gluten-free Gourmet cookbooks have really helped me to adjust to this gluten-free baking too. We did discover cereal bars by EnviroKidz and pretzels from EnerG that my soon to be 4 year old loves. Take care! Kendra

[rat toe]

hi, i'm becca and I've had celiac for about a year now. I'm the only one who has celiac in my family so I only eat gluten free. the rest of my family eats regular food. My mom or I always make gluten free side-dishes when we make dinner for the rest of the family. At first, I thought it would be a pain to always have to eat differently than the rest of my family but it isn't. We do have two seperate toasters and always keep rice pasta on hand. Making sure things aren't contaminated isn't extremely difficult either. All I do is write my name on containers that can't be shared (like peanut butter, or jelly). We also have a seperate drainer for pasta. I also keep gluten-free frozen pizza on hand ("Amy's" is one of my favorites) in case we order take out. It helps to keep the cravings for "real" pizza down, and it tastes pretty good too. hope this has helped!

[mamatide]

Hi,

My daughter will soon be three and was recently diagnosted. We also have a 14 month old daughter. I guess I'm wondering what other families do about food. For now I have decided to do all gluten free as to not contaminate my kitchen. I make bread, muffins, cookies, ect... We are all eating the bread. I am very new at this and wonder what other families are doing. Do you cook all gluten free? Or just gluten free for family members with Celiac. Any opinions, stories or suggestions would be a blessing!

Thank you

When we went gluten-free for my 5yo daughter back in April the others in the house were continuing to consume gluten in the house. Before long I became the "crumb-nazi" leading the inquisition every time I saw a toast plate in the living room - who ate this? where did you eat it? did you wipe off your clothes? did you wash your hands? did you clean up ALL the crumbs?.... I slowly phased out the gluten and we're 95% gluten-free in the house now.

My family (DH) just cannot be responsible about their crumbs and I insist that home be a safe place for our Celiac daughter to drop a piece of food on the table and still be able to eat it, if you know what I mean. The only gluten consumed is beer, and some non-gluten-free sauces or non-crumby things such as macaroni salad and the like - stuff that is a lot easier to control in terms of cross-contamination and the like.

We've been cruising through the gluten-free recipes to replace all of the old stand-bys and just this weekend figured out how to make gluten-free cinnamon-raisin bagels that really do taste like the wheat ones we used to buy.

I buy pre-packed goodies (lunchables, crackers in individual packs...) for my other DD's lunch and can toss them into the lunch box and have her spread her crumbs at her table at school and not on my table. My husband can get a sandwich at work if he really needs a gluten-fix. Otherwise, we're gluten-free at home.

And it's a lot easier for us - I'm no longer the meanie and we can all enjoy the same meals at dinner time.

As an offshoot, we're all noticing that whenever we eat gluten (the rest of us) we feel like we have a rock in our bellies - I'm being tested next... it's hard to digest that stuff and when your body is unaccustomed to it, it's a shock to the system!

Good luck. Just go on thinking about what you CAN eat (and there is a lot you can eat) and focus on that. It's easy to convert a thanksgiving dinner to gluten-free with a little corn starch and gluten-free bread stuffing (I can give you a recipe if you like) and nobody'll even notice the difference.

mamatide

[Kibbie]

I'm new at this too my 18 month old was just diagnosed, Though it was pricy at $65 Whole Foods in my area has a gluten free cooking class.

I have not taken it yet but I was told that I would get at least 5 family friendly recipies as well as information about how to convert regular recipies to gluten free

The class is on the 19th and I'll let you know how it goes

[ylimaf]

There are six of us in the household. Two of us have celiac disease. Two more have had a positive blood test.

At first we kept the gluten free cooking for just the two of us but now that we are adding the other two the whole kitchen will be gluten free. The last two will get their own bread from the store.

It depends on how your kitchen runs, time, and how cooperative the rest of the members are. It takes alot of time to cook to meals in one. The gluten free folks get thier own dishs and foods. I find it easier to get to jars of peanut butter and etc....

Just talk to the rest of the family and see how they feel about it. My daughter is excited about having father and daughter night out to go to any resturaunt they want while the rest of have to dine at home. I dont know if I should be jealous. LOLOLOLOL

I forgot to mention be prepared for food jags. My 2 year old (was dieing at 1 year old from celiac disease) is still insisting on eating tortia chips instead of regular lunch and dinner. This has been going on for 2 months now. One day he will enjoy something new. LOLOLOLOL

[TCA]

When we started it was just me going gluten-free because of nursing my celiac daughter. Then my son was diagnosed and it was just too hard to keep things separate. We went gluten-free in the house and it has been soooo much easier. He's not tempted and I don't have to worry about CC. My sig has a link to another discussion that might have some tips to help you go gluten-free around the house. Good luck!