Newly Diagnosed

[RyLexmom]

Hi,

My 4 year old son has just been diagnosed with Celiac Disease...blood work and scope. We haven't heard 100% on the scope results yet, but our GI doc that did it said it looked like Celiacs. We are trying to switch over to be gluten free now, we have an appt with the doc and nutritionist in Jan. My son is very picky and only eats a few things anyway...chicken nuggets, grilled cheese, pasta, pizza, peanut butter and jelly...and baby carrots and all fruits. Then of course, all the snacky things...chips, crackers, goldfish, cookies..etc.

We tried a bunch of things from Whole Foods and some local places and aren't having too much luck with him liking these things. I bought the gluten free pasta at WF but it wasn't good. We tried rice noodles tonight and they seemed better. The breads we have gotten aren't too good. We tried some gluten free pizza crust but he only took a couple of bites.

My question is, how do you get a picky preschooler to switch and like it??? I am so overwhelmed and not a cook so I don't know what to do! Any help with brands or ideas would be so appreciated!

Thank you!

Kelly

[Lisa]

Hi Kelly and Welcome!

You've found a great place here. Here is a wonderful link to the Celiac Survival Guide:

Open Original Shared Link

[Amyleigh0007]

Your situation sounds a lot like mine. I have a picky 8 year old Celiac son and I am NOT a cook. But, I had to learn really quickly to make the basics. I make chicken nuggets using Pamela's baking mix and McCormick chicken seasoning. I make waffles and pancakes using Pamela's baking mix. In my opinion, most of Pamela's mixes are really good. We like the vanilla cake and brownie mixes. As for prepared foods, Amy's frozen mac and cheese (make sure it's the gluten free kind) is REALLY good. There is an Oreo type cookie made by Kinnikinik that my son likes. Annie's makes a good boxed mac and cheese (make sure it's the gluten free kind). Lays Stax are a favorite snack. My advice would be to buy a few things at a time in small portions to see what your son likes and doesn't like. In the beginning, I made the mistake of buying lots of things that my son took one bite of and hated. What a waste of money! Your son is young and his taste buds will change. It's hard for them at first but we are 9 months into it and my son has slowly opened his mind to some foods (he would have never eaten anything with BBQ sauce before his dx and now he loves BBQ chicken and pork steaks). Give it time. He might surprise you!

[dandelionmom]

My daughter was just like your son when she was diagnosed. As she started feeling better she got much less picky. She'll try anything now and even likes some of it.

Getting the right brand of gluten-free food makes all the difference. I always check here for product recommendations before buying stuff. So far we like the Kinnikinnick breads the best. But it is only good if it is toasted. For pasta we like the Tinkyada the best. For pizza crust, we like the Chebe mix (it makes a thin, crispy crust). I am not a cook either but I've had to learn!

One sneaky thing that we did was we gave her more treats than I ever would have. Yummy things like flour-less peanut butter cookies. And we talk about how that treat is gluten-free and soooo yummy. That way she started to really like the idea of gluten-free foods.

It also helps to involve her in the shopping and food prep so she feels some ownership of the food.

I hope some of this stuff might be useful for you!

[bear6954]

My 2 1/2 yr old use to hate gluten free food. For a few months I could only get him to eat cheetos and chips. As he began to heal, he began to try new foods. We like the trader joes organic brown rice noodles. They have the same texture as regular pasta. I cook mine for 15 minutes because my son likes it softer. Enjoy life cookies are pretty good. As someone else said, he loves lays stax. He also eats go gurt and cheese. I make his pizzas using corn tortillas. I toast them, then add sauce and cheese and cook in the toaster till the cheese melts. For spag. we use trader joes noodles and we mix ragu traditional and 7 herb (its really good). He eats lots of mashed potatoes. Our dr told us to hide powered milk in food to help with my sons protien intake.

[RyLexmom]

Thank you all! All of the advice/comments are extremely helpful!

kelly