Children With Celiac

[cdobbs]

hi,

About 3 weeks ago I was diagnosed with celiac. My five year old came bACK WITH GLUTEN SENSITIVITY and I just received my 2 yr old results today. of course he has celiac. any advice with me being a full time working mom and providing meals for my son at daycare? I mean how can i keep him from feeling different or how do I know they arent cross contaminating the food? I am in a complete shock right now. Do I wait till he hits public scholl aged bc I can control his food better then? I dont have to worry about other kids giving him their food. well atleast not as much as 2 yr olds. Any advice with this would be great.

thanks

christi

[lovegrov]

You might also ask for help at the forum below. I know there are numerous people there who have faced this problem.

Open Original Shared Link

richard

[tarnalberry]

definitely don't wait to put him on a gluten-free diet. do investigate whether or not preschools need to follow regulations for dealing with the disabled (celiac falls under that label), and do get a bunch of research and go talk to the school. work with them, helping them understand what's going on and what needs to be done, and see how things go.

[cdobbs]

thanks, its just frustrating when you really hoped the test would come back negative and they dont. i just wanted some posistive news. oh well. well get thru this as everyone else does.

thanks

christi

[tarnalberry]

you have positive news - you now know how to keep him healthy and feeling good! :-) (I'm one of those "find the bright side to everything" sort of people...) Seriously, with the way it affects the system, you could have been looking at far more frequent colds/flus/other illnesses, more upset stomachs and/or bowel problems, and problems with sleep/temper/mood. I know it's hard when starting out - it seems SO OVERWHELMING, but it will get better over time. Keep reading, keep learning, and keep cooking. I'm not a parent yet, so I'm not so helpful on the specific ideas, but between this board, and the delphiforums board, there are a lot of parents who'll be able to help you.

[lesliewatts]

My daughter who has Celiac will be 2 in October, I am a housewife, so I don't deal with daycare, but I have friends whose kids have food allergies and have done fine. The big thing is to ALWAYS send his food and ask he be helped first. ALso ask for him to sit in the same cchair and space at the table to reduce contamination. Send his snacks and make sure they know he can't do play dough, fingerpaints and all other paints need to be checked.

Call me if you want to talk.

Leslie

919.852.0834

[mpeel]

I discovered that my now 4 y/o probably has celiac just a month after returning to work fulltime. Talk about throwing you for a loop. Here is how I handle things:

1. I do NOT trust anyone to give her food I have not provided for her. Cross-contamination is too much of an issue.

2. I try to provide her with normal gluten-free food. She loves ham rolled around pickles (or cheese if your little one can handle that, we can't). Naturally gluten-free soups I make in my crock-pot while at work. Fruit, lots of fruit.

3. I cook/bake almost all weekend. I have a pretty good routine down and when it gets thrown off course, I am completely messed up for the week. I get up Saturday morning and get breakfast started (usually pancakes so they can be reheated all week or waffles). Then I start a load of laundry. I may also whip up some gluten-free muffins while cooking the pancakes. I have a great cookbook, well two actually, and bake lots from them so my girls do not feel left out. I can do gluten-free chocolate cupcakes, bread, brownies, muffins, chocolate chip cookies, etc. My girls never liked snadwiches much so I was accustomed to alternative lunches. Many potatoe chips are naturally gluten-free, same with corn chips.

4. We went nearly completely organic. The ingredient lists are so much easier to read. There is very little question about what this or that ingredient is. And, on the rare occasion there is, the product is often labeled gluten-free. My girls LOVE Envirokids cereals. Most are gluten-free and they have great old standbys -- KoalaKrisps are cocoa crispy type things. Panda Puffs are peanut butter like things, Gorilla munch is a lot like Kix and Amazon Flakes is a lot like Frosted Flakes. They are organic and gluten free and loved at my house. Plus, stuffed in a ziploc bag, their playmates never know they are not "normal" but healthy and safe.

5. Prepare prepare prepare. Get a freezer. Bake 5 batches of muffins on one weekend. Bake 4 batches of cupcakes the next. Get the idea. Then just pop them in containers and into the freezer. When packing a lunch, stick in an individual container and stick in their lunch box. It is thawed by lunch. If doing morning snack, you might want to stick it in the toaster oven for a couple of minutes to thaw it out some.

6. Mornings - I get up and hour and 15 minutes before the rest of the house. 1st I walk the dog (very relaxing) and then I make lunches. My girls are not old enough to do their own yet. Plus, I figure I am better able to handle the lack of sleep. My girls miss about 1/2 hour to 1 hour a day of the sleep they are supposed to be getting since we commute to school. I got fancy coolers for their lunches. There is a top semi-insulated compartment and a bottom very insulated compartment. Then there are a couple of pockets for utensils, napkins, etc.

I am sure I am forgeting something. This is so routine to me now, I barely think about it. Also, this has been a very stressful week for me. My mind is shot!

Michelle

[Boojca]

My son is 2 1/2 and was just diagnosed in June, he's in a daycare as well and I work full-time. I don't know what kind of daycare your son is in, mine is in a home so it's not a big center and he's been there since he was 8 weeks old and thankfully Debbie is maticulous about cleaning....she even cleaned out a whole crisper drawer just for his stuff!! My son doesn't have to be careful of dairy, though. So this may not help you if you do.

Anyway, here's what I send for his lunchs:

Hot Dogs (he can't get enough)

Ore-Ida French Fries (again, can't get enough)

Amy's Gluten-Free Cheese Pizza (I often make one for dinner then send the rest with him the next day for lunch, but I do leave a whole one in her freezer for "emergencies")

KinnikKinnick Bagels (cinnamon raisin are his favorite)

Bologna rolls or ham rolls with cheese

Pastito (?) Mac & Cheese (it's the gluten-free version of kraft, and it's pretty good)

Spaghetti

Chicken Nuggets (Homemade, the Welshire ones aren't available here)

I can't think of anything else, but maybe this will help??

[hapi2bgf]

My daughter has the peanut allergy, right now at least she is not a celaic - I am. I work full-time and she goes to day care full-time. I make extra portions for dinner and pack lunches with the leftovers right after dinner.

Most daycares are more than willing to help as long as you provide the info and the rules they need to work with. Just think of your child as money they DO NOT want to disappear. Mine goes to a peanut free school and they have all kinds of other food allergies there. I still had to teach them how to read the labels. I pack her party foods, but she can eat the regular meals. The teachers work with the kids to not grab and share foods and drinks. Also, leave a non-perishable snack bag in the classroom for the day that something comes up.

Provide whatever toys and supplies your child will need like play dough, paints, etc. Be very clear that the teacher and everyone understands the cross contamination problems.

Good luck

[cdobbs]

thanks again. all the info given is extremely helpful. we are working on getting my kids gluten-free at school. its getting there slowly. my goal is to have the both of them totally gluten-free every where within a month. i think if i take it slow it will be alot easier on me than jumping straight into it like we did our home. if i could get some energy right now it would go faster but cant push myself to hard. anyways thank youll very much

christi