10 Mos. Old-possibly Celciac?

[nikki8]

Hi,

I'm going to try to make a long story short. I was diagnosed in Nov. and my 2 1/2 year old son was diagnosed in early January. My second baby was a chubby little boy until I had my biopsy in Oct. and was away from him for 4 days. My breastmilk supply went down and then he's had ear infections and other things occur. He started losing weight. In Dec. I became really worried about his weight. I was still nursing almost exclusively at that point. He would only nurse for a few minutes 3 times a day. Doctors thought it was because of repeat ear infections.

Then a few weeks ago, I took him to a new doctor. I told her I would do whatever I needed to to help him gain weight including supplement more with formula. She advised me to offer him the bottle as much as possible. Last week I would nurse in the morning and offer the bottle throughout the day. He would barely drink any. Some days he would nurse the one time and drink only 2 oz. formula for the whole day. I finally stopped giving him any Gerber baby snacks, like the wagon wheels, veggie puffs, teething biscuits, etc. Three days later, he started drinking like crazy. Taking 20 oz. a day! I was so happy. He still nurses in the morning and then I give him formula the rest of the day. He has always been a happy baby, but he's even happier now.

Sounds like Celiac to me. Could be a coincidence, but given the family history I doubt it.

But I am wondering what kind of baby snacks can I give him? I got Perky O's thinking they'd be like Cherrios, but they are very hard and don't dissolve like the Cherrios. What can I give him? Are there recipes for teething biscuits or something like that? Or a gluten-free product I can get for him?

Thanks all,

Nikki

Another question: he never had diareah, in fact was always constipated with hard stools, until I took away all gluten. Then he had diareah for a few days. It's better now. But does anyone know why?

[mommida]

I heard the gerber wagon wheels are gluten free. Envirokids have some nice gluten free snacks for kids. (animal cookies) My kids are out of that stage and I can't remember their favorite snacks.

30% of "non-symptamatic" celiacs have constipation.

L.

[jayhawkmom]

I have a can of Gerber Wagon Wheels sitting right next to me. Yes, they are gluten free and they dissolve very easily and quickly.

[hannahsue01]

Diareah is not a requirement. My oldest daughter who is 5 had constipation for years. Our youngest who is 15 months has normal poop that gives her a bloody rash. She also spits up when getting glutened but never spits up any other time. I can't coment on him not eating as our baby has a feeding tube in her tummy and has never eatin more than a few oz. in a day.....but this sapossidly is from being premature. She had sever reflux while getting breast milk while I was not gluten-free.....this stopped after she only had fomula....they now have her on pediasure since she is 15 months old and wieghs 15lbs. We have found quite a few things that she will eat that are gluten-free. I agree that the perkeos arn't exactly baby friendly. We found arrowroot cookies that are pretty good made by middel.....we have found these at the health food stores and HyVee. We also use the freeze dried fruits and vegies by gerber. The gerber wheels are ok last I knew. She also loves the baby wieners. The Gerber baby rice is ok. We have givin her other cereals such as the dora one or cocoa pepples. She eats allot of cheese including shredded cheese. She eats allot of yougurt as this is her favorite but we have to feed this to her ourselves or she wouldn't get any in her mouth. For along time before she could eat more we would grind whatever we were eating and feed it to her.....anything from roast and potatoes to speghetti. She now eats more things like lunch meat and whole cooked vegies or bananas. She loves to eat anykind of pasta and eats allot of chicken breasts and ham. Good luck and hope your little guy does well.

[FeedIndy]

Mi-Del makes an animal cookie that my DD adored until we discovered her soy intolerance. Gerber sells, in addition to the wagon wheels and other process foods, freeze-dried snacks for toddlers. These are just straight up dried bananas, apples, corn and strawberries so they are gluten free. There may be other flavors by now too. Envirokidz cereals are good-DD likes Gorilla Munch the best. We treat those just like we did Cheerios before we knew of celiac disease.

Fresh fruit is a big hit here. My toddler can't seem to get enough bananas. The Gerber Graduates fruits & veggies are gluten free, but the meat isn't always and the meals/entrees are not (most are pasta pickups). There is one Gerber microwaveable soup that is gluten free-chicken & rice.

[Fiddle-Faddle]

What kind of formula are you giving him? I am going to go out on a limb here and say that I suspect more of a casein problem than a gluten one. The reason I say this is the timing that you described--the changes in his health coincided with your supplementing with formula.

When you say he was losing weight--was he losing in terms of actual pounds and ounces or losing "points" on the percentiles chart? If it's the second, that's actually typical for his age, especially if he's recently learned how to walk or is crawling and cruising more interestedly now than before.

If he is still nursing in the morning, I would go back nursing the rest of the day instead of giving him formula, or else pumping every couple of hours the rest of the day and offering that to him in a cup. What is the point of giving him formula, especially in a bottle? THere is nothing necessary in formula that breast milk doesn't have, but there are over 100 substances in breastmilk that are not in formula, such as immunoglobulins, white blood cells, and the perfect fat/protein ratio that your baby needs, not to mention the far more highly digestibility. Obviously, he did very, very well on your milk--and is NOT doing so well on formula. Besides, it sounds to me like he was so full of snacky foods, he didn't have ROOM for anything else.

I realize I am in the minority here, but I think it's never a good idea to give a baby "snacky" foods. Make every calorie count towards nutrition. That's WHY you are giving your baby solid food. You're not giving him these foods for convenience! I gave my babies at this age things like flaked broiled salmon, tofu cubes (although there is a lot of debate about soy right now, you might want to research that a bit), mashed sweet potatoes, peas, avocados, bananas, and peaches.

As far as celiac is concerned, most pediatricians advise against giving a baby under a year ANYTHING that contains one of the common allergens (wheat, whole milk/cheese/ citrus, strawberries, peanuts, etc.). It should not be an issue at this point.

On rereading your post, you were giving him Gerber wagon wheels. Pasta swells up like crazy in a little tummy anyway, even without a celiac tummy. Not a good food for a baby. And it's wheat--a potential allergen for anyone, even without celiac in the family.

Hannahsue, I am also wondering about the advisability of giving freeze-dried fruits to a 15-month-old, especially one with a bloody rash! THat's an awful lot of concentrated fructose--sugar--and seems like that would cause a lot of digestive irritation. What's wrong with fresh or even canned fruit? And weiners, cookies, and pastas seem like empty calories to me. I apologize if I'm misunderstanding anything here.

Maybe my views are overly rigid because of what my first baby went through, but it seems to me that if a child is under 2, they should only be eating meat, fish, vegetables, fruits, and dairy (and a lot of people would argue against the dairy, too), and possibly whole grains (obviously not gluten ones if celiac is in the family)..

There is plenty of time for cookies and cereal when they are older. Just another opinion!

[jayhawkmom]

On rereading your post, you were giving him Gerber wagon wheels. Pasta swells up like crazy in a little tummy anyway, even without a celiac tummy. Not a good food for a baby. And it's wheat--a potential allergen for anyone, even without celiac in the family.

Gerber Wagon Wheels aren't pasta - nor do they contain any wheat. I just wanted to clarify that! =)

But, I do agree with most of what you said. I certainly would not be giving a child under a year old freeze dried strawberries and pineapple (which is one of the Gerber mixed fruit dried "stuff" ) I noticed it yesterday and was actually a bit livid. Both are pretty high potential allergens.... feeding them to a baby learning to self feed is a bit risky. I don't really understand Gerber's rationalization on that one!!

[Fiddle-Faddle]

Gerber Wagon Wheels aren't pasta - nor do they contain any wheat. I just wanted to clarify that! =)

Whoops, sorry about that! Thanks for clarifying that. I thought wagon wheels were pasta. What are they?

[jayhawkmom]

They are little corn and rice apple-flavored puffs.

We bought some for our son to take as a "travel snack" - and quite honestly.... he hates them. He liked them when he was first attempting finger foods, but now he just pushes them away and shakes his head no.

[April in KC]

Hi Nikki, I have been running into this trouble with my 8-1/2 month old. I'm not sure yet if it's gluten he has a problem with or just multiple food allergies.

A great, baby-friendly, gluten-free snack I found is Gluten-Free Cheecha Krackles. They are puffed potato rounds that dissolve easily in the mouth. I bought them for the baby, and he liked them so well he cried for them when he ran out. It was cute. My older boys would happily eat lots of them if I let them. I tasted them, and they're pleasantly mild, slightly salty but not overtly salty like potato chips (and not sharp like chips, either).

If you're interested, you may have to order them by mail. I think I ordered mine from www.allergy-grocer.com, but there are other places you can get them. Be aware that the company also makes gluten-containing snacks. If you order from an allergy specialty shop, you'll probably only see the gluten-free varieties. Just be sure to read.

I like the fact that they're clearly labeled gluten free, dairy free, nut free, trans fat free.

April

[Juliet]

I also give my littlest one puffed rice cereal, not "Rice Krispies." I've even seen a bag of just puffed rice cereal at the grocery store. I also will give her puffed corn cereal, but when she was a little smaller I broke them in half. Then I just gave her bits of cheese that she could pick up, small thin slices of pear and apple, and also gluten free bread (I normally use the Gluten Free Pantry Favorite Sandwich Bread mix). I now also give her soft cooked whole vegetables, especially carrots.

Luckily for our family, the only food issue we have with our little ones is gluten, so we haven't had any problems with the other major food allergens. But I understand why others would be more concerned with some of the problems they've experienced.

[nikki8]

Thanks to the last few posts for your supportive ideas. I was pretty turned off to this forum by an earlier post when I was criticized for giving my baby snack foods and the suggestions that that was the reason he was having problems. When you are so scared and seeing your baby consistently lose weight and not thriving, the last thing you need is to be criticized for what you were doing. Especially when you come to a forum for support.

Juliet, I have not seen puffed rice or puffed corn that does not contain malt. Can you tell me the brand that you use? I've noticed that we are not very sensitive to cross contamination, so I'm not too worried about that.

Thanks again,

Nikki

[Juliet]

I've been snapped at, too. I think that some people have had such serious problems with their children, not just Celiac Disease, that they have real reason to be concerned about ALL food and want to make sure that everyone else knows that it can be a serious problem for nearly anyone. I understand that position since I'm pretty much an activist when it comes to gluten and explaining what it is to everyone around me, but I also know that it's hard enough to get around the idea of just removing gluten in the diet without having to deal with other allergens at first. Everyone in the end has to make their decisions on what's best for their own family and for their children themselves, the rest of us can only give the best advice we can

Whole Foods brand makes a "Crispy Rice" cereal that's closest to "Rice Krispies" and is normally cheaper than "Rice Krispies" when bought at a grocery store (but not necessarily cheaper than what you'd get at Target or Walmart). Nature's Path also makes a crisp/puffed rice cereal that's pretty good. The cheapest brand I can find for plain puffed rice is from Arrowhead Mills - it comes in a plastic bag and they also make puffed corn which is similar to popcorn without the kernel and no salt. Her favorite was the "Crispy Rice" cereal from Whole Foods. I also gave Rowan Rice Crunch-ems and Corn Crunch-ems from Health Valley - they're similar to Corn Chex and Rice Chex without the gluten. When she was that small I'd break them up, but now at 15 months I can give them to her whole. She also likes the Gorilla Munch, Panda Puffs, and Koala Crisp (cocoa flavored puffed rice - special treat time) from EnviroKidz (also a part of Nature's Path company), but none of them were right for her until she hit about 13 months. The Gorilla Munch and Panda Puffs were too crunchy, and we avoided cocoa until after she turned a year. Those three also have a little more sugar than the other cereals.