Gluten-free Rice Cereal And Baby Food

[Mayam]

Hi, I'm fairly new to this board. I've posted a couple of times since my diagnosis in Sept. 2003.

I have celiac disease, as do my two daughters, 4 1/2 and 2 1/2. They ate "regular" solids until their diagnosis in Sept. 2003. I now have a son who is almost 5 mos. I will be starting him on rice cereal, then baby food, after 6 mos. and I plan on feeding him only gluten-free. I will not have him tested and I will most likely keep him gluten-free until he is able to make the decision to eat gluten. Then we will see what happens and/or have him tested, blood and biopsy. This is not a difficult decision for me, as I can't in good conscience feed him gluten knowing he has a family history of celiac disease.

Since he is my only child born since my diagnosis I do not know if Gerber rice cereal is gluten-free. Any idea about jar baby food? Also, I've had no success finding a gluten-free equivelant of cheerios. If there is anyone who has been through this with a celiac baby and can offer advice or info., it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Rachel

[celiac3270]

I'm not a parent and I can't offer advice on gluten-free baby food, but I can tell you that, unfortunately, there is no real replacement for Cheerios. Envirokids makes a couple gluten-free cereals that are like corn flakes or frosted flakes, but there's no replacement that's even decent.

[Boojca]

Go to the Delphi Forums (www.delphiforums.com) and go to the Celiac Support Group, and in there is the most amazing products list you have ever seen including a whole list just of baby food and products. I do believe Gerber is in there, but check it out.

As for the cheerios, sorry, the closest thing is something called Amaranth-o's and some love them and others hate them. I have yet to hear anyone say they were just ok...it's all or nothing apparently. But I have heard that kids, who've never had a cheerios, like them.

Bridget

[Linda74]

My pediatrician told me all rice cereal is gluten free. you can also check out the beechnut website which lists which of their baby food are gluten free

Open Original Shared Link

Good luck!

I am still deciding what to do about my little one. I was diagnosed about two months ago and my little guy is almost 7 months. my pediatrician is encouraging me to give gluten as one normally would and see what happens. I am a little nervious about it, and she seems to be fine whatever my decision.

hope all goes well,

linda

[flagbabyds]

I've never found anything remotly equivelent to cheerios

[kaylee]

Hi,

On the Cheerios front:

I am very aware of the controversy surrounding oats and celiac disease and obviously everyone has to go with what they're comfortable with. That said, here's my anecdotal evidence. My 2 -and- almost -1/2- year- old son reacts severely (as in SEVERELY) to gluten but has had no problem whatsoever with Oatios. These obviously contain oats, but unlike Cheerios contain no added wheat (they are labeled "wheat free"). My personal hunch is that there is no cross contamination (or at least not in the boxes we've had to date) because we have been through quite a number of bad gluten accidents based on trace amounts (i.e. reactions when wheat etc. are not included in the ingredients list but when you call the company they say there is a small risk of cross contamination, or some minute trace amount not required to be listed).

For what it's worth! Good luck.

Kayless

[amandarenee01]

There is a brand I buy at Raleys called Glutino it makes 2 kinds of cheerio alternatives and my 14 month old loves both of them. I have spoken to Gerber and they told me that the rice cereal is gluten free.

[JustCan]

Hi,

I have a 9 month old so I'm dealing with some of the same things. I have celiac and like you plan to keep him gluten free for a while as well. He's also allergic to eggs and nuts so that complicates it further. Anyway, we use Earth's Best rice cereal and aren't doing any of the other grains. Both our pediatrician and allergist were ok with this approach given the family history. I make my own baby food so I know it's gluten/allergen free but I do have a few jars in the house just in case. Just read them carefully. As far as cheerios, there is a rice cereal that's gluten free but it had traces of our other allergens so we couldn't use it. I can't remember what it was though. Instead, we've been using plain old puffed rice. It's the stuff that comes in the bag at Whole Foods or somewhere similar, it's not even in a box. He seems to really like it and is learning how to pick up food using those. We've also given him Chex but he's still having a little trouble chewing those. Good luck!

[EmilyR83]

My son eats the Gerber rice cereal with no problem at all.

Most of the Chex cereals are gluten free(they say so right on the box) and are in kid flavors like chocolate, cinnamon, and honey nut.

[scanita]

Hi, I'm fairly new to this board. I've posted a couple of times since my diagnosis in Sept. 2003.

I have celiac disease, as do my two daughters, 4 1/2 and 2 1/2. They ate "regular" solids until their diagnosis in Sept. 2003. I now have a son who is almost 5 mos. I will be starting him on rice cereal, then baby food, after 6 mos. and I plan on feeding him only gluten-free. I will not have him tested and I will most likely keep him gluten-free until he is able to make the decision to eat gluten. Then we will see what happens and/or have him tested, blood and biopsy. This is not a difficult decision for me, as I can't in good conscience feed him gluten knowing he has a family history of celiac disease.

Since he is my only child born since my diagnosis I do not know if Gerber rice cereal is gluten-free. Any idea about jar baby food? Also, I've had no success finding a gluten-free equivelant of cheerios. If there is anyone who has been through this with a celiac baby and can offer advice or info., it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Rachel

My child likes Chex cereal and it is gluten free there are different flavors. some baby food contains gluten not level 1 read the labels

[momtok&m]

I used Earth's Best rice cereal and Gerber, no problems either way. If you use jarred baby food, good luck There are very few single food varieties, they all seem to be beans and pasta or chicken and pasta or peaches and cereal - you get the idea. Be very careful with Chex, they are really jagged and my little one has a terrible time with them unless they're in milk. We used Kix instead of Cheerios, Mary loves them and no one can confuse them with Cheerios (grandparents, etc)!