Glutened And Pregnant

[angel42]

I hope this post makes sense since I am writing through brain fog. So in addition to a total brain fog and feeling like death, I am worried about the baby. Did anyone have kids before they were diagnosed and if so, are your kids ok? I have heard it was very bad to get glutened while you were pregnant since it can hurt baby. Can anyone help?

[mamaw]

Yes, I & my daughter both had our children before being dx'd. Mu daughter has full-blown celiacs along with the youngest son who failed to thrive . I older boy is intolerant & started to show more reaction so we took him off all gluten too.

The 2nd little guy was only 2 1/2 when he went through the endo & colonoscopy. He's now in first grade & doing great.....on the diet.

Sorry I didin't have better news

[stargazer]

Hi Angel, I have three beautiful, healthy daughters. I always had trouble with my stomach, anemia, and fatigue, but no one knew it was Celiac. I'm 43 years old and was just diagnosed last year. My three daughters are 18, 16, and 14 years old. So far, two out of three have been tested and are not positive for Celiac. I had normal pregnancies and deliveries. I guess at that time, my Celiac was asymptomatic. Good luck to you.

[cruelshoes]

I hope this post makes sense since I am writing through brain fog. So in addition to a total brain fog and feeling like death, I am worried about the baby. Did anyone have kids before they were diagnosed and if so, are your kids ok? I have heard it was very bad to get glutened while you were pregnant since it can hurt baby. Can anyone help?

I have 3 children. I had 2 pre-DX and 1 post-DX. THe 2 I had before my diagnosis were born prematurely (35 and 36 weeks gestation) and were small but healthy. I carried my post diagnosis baby to full term (38 weeks) and she was also healthy. My pre-diagnosis pregncies were very difficult but my post-diagnosis pregnancy was normal. I hope this puts your mind at ease.

[gfgypsyqueen]

Hi Angel42,

I got pregnant with my first child as the celiacs started up. Three years after her birth I finally got a diagnosis of Celiacs. Her pregnancy was cake walk. Losingthe baby weight - a sinch! Within a month I was fitting into my "big" clothes. By the time she was 4 mths old I was below my pre-prego weight. Turns out I was starving and malnurished.

About the baby. Perfect. Average height and weight. Healthy baby. TERRIBLE COLIC!!!!!! Funny enough when I stopped nursing the colic got a little better...hmmm. Years later I can say she probably was never getting enough to eat. She and I were fighting over the same few calories being absorbed. BTW Drs never saw a problem! UGH!!!!

For the second baby I had biopsy diagnosed celiacs well under control. Pregnancy was awful. High stress life and job. OB not receptive to Celiac issues. I was glutened 6 out of the 9 months. I was highly sensitive while pregnant. Everytime I was glutened, she would flip out in the womb the next day. Non-stop action. The following day, no movement at all. Terrifying. The last glutening brought on labor.

About the baby. Perfect again. Happy and healthy. Also had colic. Alternative medicine fixed the colic. This child had supplemental bottles while nursing. Early on we knew she had a problem with dairy. Two years later it was finally clear she has a dairy allergy, shellfish allergy, and maybe more. At 9 mths her health problems kicked in. She stopped growing at the same rate. She went from 75th percent to 3rd percent in a year. TERRIBLE Diaper rash that lasted for months. Drs said she was petite. I said she was starving and should be fat based on the amount of food she eats if she is just petite. Celiac biopsy inconclusive. CF/gluten-free diet is helping her.

Both kids are happy, healthy, cute, very smart, fun kids. Both kids have food allergies. The 2 year old just went gluten-free 2weeks ago. Seems to be helping

As for your pregnancy, be extremely careful about what you eat/touch. Ask/demand a specialist track the baby's growth while pregnant to ensure growing at right rate and getting the nutrients needed from you. Be sure to take the vitamins. Drink ensure type drinks. Pack all food to have at hospital-they won't get it right. IV's are safe. So go withthe epidural

When the baby is born a celiac blood panel will come back with your results. You have to wait a bit for the baby's system to fully take over.

Hope this wasn't too much info

[missy'smom]

Pregnancy was my trigger I believe but I didn't learn that I had celiac disease until 8 years after. I don't know if I had active celiac disease during pregnancy or just after delivery. I definitely had it ight away after delivery. I had gestational diabetes too but my son was a healthy happy child and I had a good pregnancy and easy delivery. DS was born with one kidney but that seems to have come from genes on my father's side-my mom's side is where the celiac disease comes from. He also has ADHD but that seems to come from Dad, who is Asian-no celiac disease there. DS had a celiac panel and was clearly negative and doesn't has active celiac disease that we can tell. So, no problems other than an unlucky combo of genes.

[jerseyangel]

I wasn't diagnosed until I was 49, and have 2 healthy, grown sons.

I had stomach problems from the time I was a child--they actually got worse after the c-section birth of my second.

[Guest kivmom3]

HI Angel

I have 3 beautiful children ages 6, 4 and 18 months. All of my pregnancies and births went well. I always had trouble with food and GERD symptoms most of my life but being pregnant actually made me feel good. I was on the smaller size for all my kids and my kids were all small at birth but all normal and healthy. I've had my two older kids tested and they are negative. I need to test my daughter but trying to wait until she is 2 at least.

I was also asymptomatic for all pregnancies. I just got diagnosed on June 26 and I am 34 years old. I'm sure things will be fine and your Ob will watch you closely and take care of you and the little one

Gg

[neesee]

Your baby will be just fine!

neesee

[kbtoyssni]

My mother had me and my brother as an undiagnosed celiac. My mum ate gluten every day and I turned out ok Or at least I like to think so Getting glutened isn't good for the baby, but mistakes happen and I doubt one glutening will hurt the baby. And it sounds like your gluten-free except for the glutening so I think your baby will be just fine.

[MySuicidalTurtle]

My Mother had both of us before her diagnosis and we were born "healthy" but were sick when we digested gluten- my borther worse than me.

[angel42]

Thanks so much for all your advice! I am completely gluten free. Yesterday I had something for lunch that I have had a few times before but I guess this time it was contaminated with gluten I actually didn't have that much since I got so sick so fast. I was just worried my little munchkin would suffer if the gluten damaged my gi tract and cut off his/her nutrients. I take my prenate every day and do drink ensure every day so hopefully my little sweetie is ok.

[L.A.]

I have 2 healthy awesome daughters (18 & 20). Enjoy being pregnant and don't worry. Hugs.

[Kaycee]

Congratulations Angel, and good luck with your pregnancy.

I had four sons prior to being diagnosed with coeliac. I have only known I have had coeliac for nearly 2 years. All were pretty normal births except for the third, who had a couple of problems, and I am sure a knot in his cord, and the cord around his neck didn't have anything to do with my having undiagnosed coeliac. He also had a placenta that was a bit too low down, so had to be watched.

All four were full term, three were 9 days late and those three were around 8lbs each. The fourth who had problems was one day late and 7.10 lb, which is still a good size. Three are 6 feet tall including the one who had problems, but my eldest is probalby only 5'7". Three have been tested for coeliac and three resluts have come back negative. They all in their own way have stomach problems, one has developed reflux over the last couple of years, another has constipation issues, which have been present since about 5, another reacts to certain foods which has shown up in his adult life, and the fourth has bouts of diarhoea occassionally (he had quite major constipation before he was 1 year old, but that cured itself when we moved from one city to another when he was one!? That was strange). All are quite individual, and quite healthy and I cannot see how eating gluten while pregnant can do them any harm, but someone might dispute that. Coeliac is more often than not heredity, so it will already be in their genes if they were going to develop it in the long run.

I guess I have problems with my sons, and they might be intolerant, but as the results came back negative, and the boys range from the ages of 18 to 25 there is probably not much hope that I can influence them in going gluten free. I guess they will have to decide for themselves what action they will take. If anything, they are displaying more symptoms than I ever did at their age.

Just as an afterthought, my pregnancies were so run of the mill normal, that after my first child I was not allowed back to the major maternity hospital and had to go private or to smaller units.

But then again, if you are striving very hard to be gluten free and then get accidently glutened it might be a different set of circumstances, but I know my eating gluten did not seem to have any adverse effects. I think Angel it would be beneficial to keep eating gluten free but you will not have much control over accidental glutenings, and I would urge you to try and keep cool about the whole situation. It doesn't do us much good to worry about things we cannot control, that is so much easier said than done, but try and relax.

Cathy

Just an edit. With my first two children I was asked if I smoked as their placentas were quite small. Of course I did not smoke while pregnant! Also I had low iron levels through all four pregnancies. That is probably coeliac related. But I did not learn about that till nearly 16 years after my last baby.

Cathy

[ptkds]

I have had 4 kids before being diagnosed. I may have had active celiac disease w/ all 4, but I am not sure. Definetly the last 3. My biggest baby was 7 lbs 2 oz, and I am overweight. (which is weird because normally if a woman is overweight, she has a bigger baby; at least according to the "experts")

I had lots of early contractions, and I was always VERY tired during my pgs. I don't know what I would have felt like w/out having celiac since I don't know when I developed it. But all my kids are healthy and happy for the most part. My 3 youngest dd's have celiac, though.

IMO, you and your baby will be fine. I don't think getting glutened 1 time will do any harm.

ptkds

[goldyjlox]

I had both my kids before really knowing that I had Celiac and I found that being pregnant made al lmy symptoms go away. I did end up with small babies, my daughter was 4 days late and was 6.5lbs and my son was born premature at 36 wks weighing 4.4lbs but I had Preeclampsia with him, not sure that it is related. but my doctor said that I am ASymptomatic...so I dont get sick to often. Dont worry about your baby and enjoy your pregnancy.