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Gluten Free Formula

betsy7

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betsy7 Rookie
betsy7
Posted

Hi,

My son and husband both have Celiac Disease. We're expecting baby #2 very, very soon. I'm planning to breastfeed for at least a year and follow a gluten free diet myself (my son's gastro recommended this). But, I want to have a backup formula for supplementing and/or emergencies.

The CSA gluten free book shows that Enfamil products are gluten free, but I wanted to check with other parents to get their feedback as well. I am always uncomfortable when I look at a company's Website (i.e. Mead Johnson/Enfamil, Nestle, etc..) and they don't mention or answer any faqs about being gluten free. I feel like they may tell me individually that their products are gluten-free (I'm still waiting to hear back from them). But, by not stating in print that they are gluten-free, they are safeguarding themselves and leaving open the option to change their minds about whether or not their products are gluten free.

I just want to be 100% sure when it comes to the only food our baby will be eating....

Thanks for any advice!!

Betsy

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Fiddle-Faddle Community Regular
Fiddle-Faddle
Posted

I would recommend getting a really good pump, and expressing your own milk for backup and emergencies (but it's definitely a good idea to check out formulas in advance, too).

Most (but not all) babies seem to have trouble adjusting from breast milk to formula--formula is SO much harder to digest.

Best of luck!

betsy7 Rookie
betsy7
Posted
  • Author
I would recommend getting a really good pump, and expressing your own milk for backup and emergencies (but it's definitely a good idea to check out formulas in advance, too).

Most (but not all) babies seem to have trouble adjusting from breast milk to formula--formula is SO much harder to digest.

Best of luck!

Yes, that's definitely my plan... but I want to have a backup on hand if for some reason we need it.

jaysmom Rookie
jaysmom
Posted

There is a formula that is gluten free along with alot of other allergy triggers.

It's called Neocate and is not available over the counter like Enfamil or Similac and it's very pricey. Insurance will cover it but documentation of prior formulas or breast milk must be mentioned along with the reaction. If the child has serious GI issues than that's different.

IT is a prescription type formula and can run about $30-40 a can. ( I work in pediatrics and know the horrors of ins)

Here is a link with the nutrition information :

www.shsweb.co.uk-neocate-prof-docs-neocate.pdf

or just google Neocate infant formula

Best of luck

hannahsue01 Enthusiast
hannahsue01
Posted

We use Similac Advance w/Iron (liquid concentrate) and we have been assured that it is gluten free. From what I have been told....most all infant formulas are gluten-free but I would contact the companies directly to be sure. We are currently using Pedia Sure wich I know is gluten-free but that is for older babies. I agree with the above and try to pump extra milk if you can. The medella pumps are pretty good....I have used two of them....one in the hospital and one that wic gave me and they both worked well. To store the milk in the hospital they had us use bottle liners and close them with a tiny rubber band. Good luck and congradulations on your new addition to your family.

TCA Contributor
TCA
Posted

We went through every formula you can imagine with both of our kids to use as backups and supplements and even the gluten-free ones were hard on their tummies. Hopefully you won't have as much trouble as we did. We ended up on Neocate, which is very specialized, but the only thing my daughter could handle was breastmilk til she was 16 mos. My son nursed til 20 mos. I applaud your efforts of going gluten-free when you don't have celiac. I did the same and then discovered I have gluten issues too. Good luck!

Fiddle-Faddle Community Regular
Fiddle-Faddle
Posted

I'm curious--would anyone know which (if any) formulas contained gluten in the early 1960's?

My mother was told I was allergic to cow's milk because of diarrhea from Similac, so I was put on soy and did fine. But when I was a toddler, someone gave me milk and I was fine, so she gave me regular milk after that with no problems.

She is now wondering if what gave me the diarrhea in the first place was gluten in the Similac, but I don't know how to find out if it ever had gluten.

Anybody know?

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Nikki2003 Contributor
Nikki2003
Posted
I'm curious--would anyone know which (if any) formulas contained gluten in the early 1960's?

My mother was told I was allergic to cow's milk because of diarrhea from Similac, so I was put on soy and did fine. But when I was a toddler, someone gave me milk and I was fine, so she gave me regular milk after that with no problems.

She is now wondering if what gave me the diarrhea in the first place was gluten in the Similac, but I don't know how to find out if it ever had gluten.

Anybody know?

I saw on the nestle good start website that their formulas are gluten-free also.

Celina

Electra Enthusiast
Electra
Posted

My daughters GI doctor swears up and down that for years he worked where they studied the effects of formulas on babies and (his words not mine) NO formulas have wheat or gluten besides the ones that contain cereal!! I KNOW this is incorrect because I picked up a can the other day and the first ingredient I saw was wheat. I almost passed out because my son had severe vommiting problems as a baby. He was tested for everything and we even thought he had Eosiniphilic Esophogitis at one point, but he tested negative for everything. Well he still throws up and they swear when they did the biopsy for EE that they would have seen Celiac if he had it, but the kid was only 2 and it probably would not have showed up.

They actually checked his records for me because my daughter is being tested by the same GI's office, and they tell me that there were no signs of Celiac, but I have yet to meet any lab or anything that will diagnose (or look for something) that was not ordered, so why would they even being looking for Celiac. I could be wrong on this one, but usually if they are testing for EE that's all they will test for.

If my daughter comes out negative then we are getting a new Pediatric GI. Our problem is that there are very few of them in our state, and as it is we have to travel an hour and a half to get to the one we go to, and our insurance will not allow us to go out of state, unless we've exhausted all the instate options grrrrrrrr. Lets hope they can find something, because she's got DH so I know she's got Celiac.

Good luck and I'm sure you'll have good luck with breastfeeding. I was unable to breastfeed any of my babies exclusively (I just didn't make enough milk no matter what we tried-and trust me we tried it all), so anyone who can exclusively breast feed is a very lucky person (in my opinion ;))

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