7 Month Old With Celiac?

[Philippe]

Hi All,

I have a 7 month old son. Very healthy, weighing in at 21lbs!

2 months ago, we introduced Heinz cereals (Barley, Wheat, Rice, etc). Within 3 hours, he started violently vomiting. We stopped giving him cereals after the 2nd day.

Yesterday, we tried the safer bet: we introduced rice cereal as we figured there is no gluten in rice. However, within 4 hours the vomiting started again. Checking the ingredients on the box, I noticed "malt extract".

Are there symptoms out there that look a lot like celiac or is this, in your opinion, celiac?

We're going in for a doctor visit in a week.

Thank You

[ravenwoodglass]

It sure does sound like he failed a dietary challenge with gluten if he is able to eat other foods like say mashed peas or potatos, for example, without a problem? If so I would be more likely to think a gluten issue, rather than another problem.

[Philippe]

It sure does sound like he failed a dietary challenge with gluten if he is able to eat other foods like say mashed peas or potatos, for example, without a problem? If so I would be more likely to think a gluten issue, rather than another problem.

Thank you.

He hasn't had mashed potatoe or peas yet. A dietician has suggested maybe a Barley allergy. She doesn't feel that violent vomiting is symptomatic of Celiac.

And I don't want my son to go through anymore of my adhoc tests!!

Very confused.

[ravenwoodglass]

Thank you.

He hasn't had mashed potatoe or peas yet. A dietician has suggested maybe a Barley allergy. She doesn't feel that violent vomiting is symptomatic of Celiac.

And I don't want my son to go through anymore of my adhoc tests!!

Very confused.

It can be quite confusing, what I should have asked is has he eaten any solid foods successfully? Whether jarred or something you have pureed yourself?

I am hoping someone who has gone through this with a little one will pop in and give you some advice. You may also want to post a query on the Parenting section of the board to give you a better chance of getting a larger number of replies. With a little one that has never eaten gluten blood testing would be worthless. I wish I had some answers for you it has got to be scarey and frustrating.

[Ursa Major]

Actually, your doctor is ill informed. Violent vomiting is quite symptomatic of babies and toddlers with celiac disease! Adults rarely vomit with gluten ingestion, kids don't necessarily have the same reactions to gluten as adults.

I am not sure this doctor will be helpful at all. If it was my baby, I would just not give him anything containing gluten until he is about 2 years old, and then try again (maybe).

There are plenty of foods he could eat that don't contain gluten or other grains. Maybe his stomach is just not ready for grains? Rice is a grain.

Start him out with things like sweet potato or peas, that is a better idea anyway at his age! The decision as to what you feed your baby is yours, and since doctors are notoriously ignorant on anything concerning nutrition, I wouldn't trust any doctor to know what is the best food to give to a baby anyway (and that includes pediatricians, by the way).