Starting Daycare..please Help

[mom-to-claire]

My daughter will be one in January and she and her 2.5 year old brother will be starting daycare when I return to work. We had this all set up prior to figuring out she has some sort of gluten intolerance. I have put down a considerable amount of money to hold their spots so I don't want to lose it. We figure we'll try this route and see what happens but I'm nervous.

Can someone point me to some links that will help me prepare the staff. Ironically (and very luckily) one of her teachers has a daughter who has Celiac so I know that will help tremendously but I still need some more info for myself.

We will likely have to send all or most of her food which is such a pain but I can't take a chance. I am struggling with food ideas for a one year old. She is pretty picky. What kind of milk is best for her to start on? She has whole milk in her gluten free cereal in the morning but won't drink it. I've tried rice milk but she won't drink that either. She is breastfed right now but obviously during the day that won't be an option. She won't take expressed breast milk from a cup or bottle.

What about cheese? What kinds can I offer her? Are they any "convenience" type foods suitable for her age that I can send? I am going to have to start baking but haven't yet.

What products should I be watching out for (bath, medication, lotions). This is all very new for me so I'm not really able to give daycare as much info as I'd like.

[Fiddle-Faddle]

I can't help much with the food issues except to say that my kids loved plain broiled salmon, which I flaked up and sent in a bowl with rice. They also liked avocado. Seems to me that Tinkyada rice pasta would be good.Careful with rice milk--Rice Dream is not gluten-free.

If it relieves your anxiety any, 2 of my kids refused bottles and cups--they just flipped their nursing schedules and nursed through the night instead of during the day. This was not as insane as it sounded--I was too tired going back to work to get up in the middle of the night, so I put the baby in bed with me; baby got to nurse as much as he wanted, I got to sleep--and baby got the Mommy-time he needed, which nobody ever tells you, but when you go back to work, babies NEED Mommy-time; they don't care if both of you are asleep as long as they get to be near you enough.

When they are ready to sleep alone through the night, they will.

Good luck!

[Juliet]

My daughter is just over a year old (not quite 13 months) and my son 3 (he's the celiac). Because of his condition and age, I'm keeping her on a gluten free diet, too. Some of the things she can eat that are convenient snacks:

Wagon Wheels (you can get these at the grocery store in the baby aisle)

Puffed rice cereal (I use the Whole Foods brand, it just melts away in the mouth & she loves it)

Puffed corn cereal (Nature's Path brand or Arrowhead Mills - in plastic bags)

Cheese (she loves it - I just crumble it up into bite size pieces)

Health Valley Rice Bran Crackers (again, break up into small pieces - kind of like a graham cracker)

She also likes bananas, very thinly sliced pears & apples, beans (black beans, garbanzo beans, even refried beans). If we're going out somewhere or I leave her with someone, I just bring some of the rice or corn cereal, cheese or small yogurt (have a small insulated bag w/ a freezer insert to keep it cold for hours) and some fruit. She also still eats some jar food, too, so that helps. She won't drink milk or juice, but she does drink water in a sippy cup. She didn't like Almond Breeze either. She breastfeeds the rest of the time.

[zachsmom]

Ihave a 14 month old.....

He is the Celiac.

You can use Yo baby Yougurts.... cheese ... Boars head turkey.... scrabled eggs...

fruity Pebbles... Carrots ... peas ... chicken breasts...

The wagon wheels have saved my life. I would put a little water in a sippy cup.. and try to start the cup... my son watched my older babies drink and tried to drink theres ... and i fixed his... But yesterday I went to Boars head web site and they said that all there foods were gluten free EXCEPT the ones that were sandwhiches made inthe store with graveys or sauces... ( um DOY) or DUHHHH. And Land O LAkes .. actually has a gluten free section and I am impressed... they even give you a gluten free flour recipie... and people here are using this... But when you get the flour... you can make mini pancakes, and a bunch of stuff that the baby can eat... I am working on sugar cookies for the baby. But with some time... you can make many of the stuff your self... I have also found that wallmarts brand allways has gluten free on all its products.... I am going to thank them.... But I am going through everythign you are..... I have a celaic 14 month old.

[Guest nini]

my daughter was 3 and in daycare already when we were both diagnosed with Celiac. Her transition to the gluten free diet at daycare was not impossible and I was very fortunate that the Director and her Assistant had both seen my daughter's health deteriorate and they were more than willing to help accomodate her.

I provided most of her food for her, AND gluten free playdough for the entire class which I made. The Director created a section of the kitchen for my daughter's food and they had strict allergy cross contamination policies already in effect so I was not worried about letting them prepare her meals there from what I provided. (Your situation may be different).

I have a newbie survival kit on my website (just click link in my signature below and then scroll to bottom of page for link to newbie kit) That might give you some ideas...

Feel free to e-mail me at nisla@comcast.net with any questions

[FeedIndy]

We have recently discovered a snack called Baffles that are gluten free. I found them by accident in my regular grocery store. They come in cinnamon, caramel, chocolate, cheddar and barbecue. We currently only use the cinnamon for DD, but we are considering taking the older girls off gluten as well so I'll be buying the savory versions to replace some cracker snacks they love. The Baffles are quite good-I can't seem to keep the rest of the family out of them and easy for a little one to handle.

Dora Stars cereal is gluten free, made by General Mills and a new hit at our house. Her favorite treats are Mi-Del arrowroot animal cookies. Mostly she likes fresh fruit and that is obviously gluten free so it works out. I even buy fruit cups to have on hand.

Good luck!