8 Yr Old With Celiac

[c5land]

My 8 yr old dd was diagnosed with celiac about 5 months ago. She has seemed to be handling the diet quite well. Yesterday she came home from school crying, saying that she doesn't want to eat her lunch at school anymore. She said it is too hard to watch everyone eat stuff that she can't have. Today I was at home so I brought her home for lunch, but on days I'm working this won't be an option.Any sugestions on how to help her deal with this, as she will have to be around people eatting gluten her whole life.

[lonewolf]

My son went through this when he was 11. It is frustrating for them, especially during the first year. I would suggest that on days you can't bring her home you make the absolutely BEST lunch for her. Make some kind of sandwich or leftovers (like cold pizza) that the other kids will look at and say, "I want what she's having", really yummy treats like giant chocolate chip cookies, get whatever kind of chips she likes that she can still have, juice in a cool looking bottle or container, some ". I made tons of treats and gave my kids more sugar than I wanted to at first so they wouldn't feel deprived.

[Nikki'smom]

Sorry your DD is having a hard time. My DD whi will be 8 in 2 weeks was diagnosed in the beginning of September.

So far she has been great about the lunches but I still feel bad. What we do is I always ask her what she wants for lunch and if possible I make that. thankfully her friends ahve been great about helping her be ok with home lunches.

There has been a few times with eating out wher eI felt really bad and gave her the choice to eat out and chance it or have mommy make something at home and most of the time she has been asking me to make something.

[missy'smom]

Get a little artistic. There are alot of creative ideas out there on various websites about Obentos(Japanese style lunches). Cut heart shaped sandwiches, flower carrots, octopus hotdogs etc. If you're a busy working mom, there are ways to prep ahead and have a stock on hand so that it doesn't take much time to put it together in the am. Check out Lunchinabox.net and the links posted there.

[EBsMom]

Check out this thread....maybe it will give you some inspiration!

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Rho

[Darn210]

Ask your daughter what she is missing the most . . . she saw her friends and classmates eating something that she would have liked to have had. One particular lunch at school was particularly troublesome for my daughter so I would make the gluten-free equivalent for it that night for supper. She was very happy with that compromise. She didn't need to have it at the same time as her friends, she just needed to know that she could have it, too.

[gfgypsyqueen]

It seems the beginning of the school year is the worst time for my kid too. She has a nut allergy so she is the odd ball at school lunch too. She can't have the school lunch so that hurts her feelings too. She also came home one day not in tears but pretty close. Turns out some kids were teasing her becasue she couldn't have PB&J and couldn't believe she had never had a PB&J...blah blah blah. It's hard to be a kid and its harder to be different than everyone else. But I can't stand the pity party for very long. We have the talk about waiting until the allergist says it is time to challenge a nut and the consequences if she tries one on her own. She knows this is a life long allergy and it will only be by th egrace of god that she out grows it. We talk about our friends who have more food allergies and have less food options. Try to put it in perspective.

After all that we decided that she needed "Cool" lunches from home. So now she gets cold pizza and cold chicken nuggets. Hot dogs. pasta. Very few boring sandwiches. Cheese and cracker work some days. Apples are always a favorite but she wont dip in carmel sauce?? Cool drinks and snacks make a big difference to her. So cupcakes with TONS of frosting are in the lunch box periodically. She has more say in her lunch box contents and she helps in the kitchen even more. She LOVES to make gluten-free Chicken nuggets with me. Mainly becasue they go to school with her the next day!

The bonus is little sister who has Celiacs and dairy and shellfish allergies gets cooler lunches now too! She's little so she doesn't tell me if she doesn't like much. If food comes home, either I gave her too much for lunch, or she didn't like it.

[buffettbride]

Check out this thread....maybe it will give you some inspiration!

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Rho

Amen. Bento is the BEST!