Just Some Questions....

[JacobsMom]

Good Morning everyone....Well it has been almost a week since we started the Gluten Free diet and I am amazed at the changes in this kid. You wouldnt ever think that just by doing this it would help. I am so happy...I know have a normal little boy who is being a boy instead of a couch person...

Does anyone out there give their children any special vitamins or anything just to help them? I know at one time when he was having diarrah alot and they diagnoised him with C-Diff ( not the correct spelling ) she told me to get a proiobotic...(sp) but I could only find it for adults to take in tablet form...When I talked to my doc she said I may want to give him that again and I told her I couldnt find it and the pharmacist acted like he didnt know what I was talking about....I was going to look at the Wild Oats store on saturday and see if they may have something.

Second.....His stomach blows up everyday by the end of the day....The GI doc said that should go down when he gets going really good on the diet...Anyone else have this and about how long did it take???

Last My babysitter has been a angel this week about what Jacob needs to eat...I have taken his stuff for the most part but yesterday when I picked him up she said LOOK what I gave him...I read it and it didnt say anything that I thought he couldnt have....I am not 100% sure I HIS MOTHER is doing this right so I was thinking YOU have no clue...I will get her some stuff together to keep so if she wants to try to buy she can but I would rather just take his lunch...Anyway it was a Healthy Choice Grilled Chicken WITH Gravy and mashed potatoes...She said I washed the gravy off just in case and just gave him the chicken...Well I was in a hurry so I took the box to church and while I was reading my eyes went straight to WHEAT STARCH.....Washing off the chicken didnt do any good did it???

I will just have to tell her NOT to buy him anything and he has to eat what I bring...NICELY

Well better get to work...Have a good day everyone and God Bless..

Brandi

[Terri-Anne]

Hi Brandi,

To answer your question, yes, I do give my son a daily multi-vitamin. The wheat free diet can be low on B vitamins, and Logan was having adverse symptoms of a vitamin B deficiency, so we definitely needed to do something about it.

In my opinion, washing the gravy off did NOT help. While the intentions were good, the reality is that she washed off all the gravy (and therefore wheat starch) that she could see! Tiny, invisible, trace amount molecules, would have remained, and is enough to make the intolerant body react. My son can have a reaction to a food that has been manufactured on factory equipment that has previously had a wheat product through it, even though the company assures me the equipment is washed thoroughly before changing to the wheat-free product. At home, we use two separate collanders. One that only potatoes, vegetables and gluten free pasta are drained in, and the other that only regular wheat pasta is drained in. Before we started this, we found that, despite being washed between uses, the plastic collander must have been porous enough to hold onto enough wheat molecules to make Logan sick. You don't have to be able to see the wheat particles for them to be there, and capable of upsetting your son's system!

Keep up the good effort! You are only a week into this, and everything will get easier. Just remember you MUST be very, very diligent, and sort of extreme in your caution in order to avoid gluten. Wheat lurks EVERYWHERE in our culture!

[Guest taweavmo3]

Hi! We are about exactly where you are right now. Emmie is almost 3, and was just diagnosed a couple of weeks ago. I got two books, Kids with Celiac, and the Incredible Edible cookbook for kids. Emmie is for the most part gluten free, but I'm sure she is still getting gluten from cross contamination. I don't have non stick cookware, so I'm sure some is still getting in her food. I haven't bought different collanders, cooking utensils, the sandwhich cutter is right next to the forks and spoons she uses.....the list goes on and on. My husband is being helpful, but he's just waiting on me to become informed, then inform him......errrrr. If I mention something else we need, I can see him get tense b/c it means spending more money. Although I knows that he realized the importance of all this, I just wish he's make more of an effort.

Anyway, that's my rant for the day! Sorry, just wanted to say hello too, since we are both at the starting point. I was wondering about the vitamins too, and most of the parents on here seem to also give a nutritional supplement like Boost or Pediasure. I'm guessing there is a need for extra nutrients on this diet??

[KaitiUSA]

I recommend giving your child liquid vitamins. I take Liquid Vitamins Plus by Utrition and it is ultra absorbable. Aside from that I would have him take enzymes and probiotics as well.

In my opinion as well washing the gravy off did not help because of even traces of gluten getting into your system can harm you.

People are different so symptoms going away varies from person to person. Mine took a good 3 months to get back to about 85% and then a few more months to really be symptom free.

Hope things work out well

[celiac3270]

I'm really happy for you that he's feeling better, having, at least, started to cut out gluten. I think it's good for him to take vitamins, since his body had been deprived of nutrients (from destroyed villi). Sorry--I don't really know many gluten-free vitamins besides Centrum...how old is he? Does he swallow pills/vitamins?

Once he's 100% gluten-free, the time varies from person to person in terms of how long it takes to feel better. He could feel fine in under a month or it could take eight months--you just don't know. It also depends on how many mistakes are made along the way.

Gluten is everywhere! And it's quite unlikely that you'll pick up a frozen meal that's gluten-free....first off, gluten can be present on a label in so many different ways; see the forbidden ingredient list at celiac.com. Additionally, gluten can be hidden under natural flavors, artificial flavors, modified food starch, spices, to name a few. Here is another list on maintaining a 100% gluten-free diet. You need to watch everything: prescription drugs, aspirin, and all other medications for that matter, cross-contamination (for example, if you dip a knife into a jar of jelly, spread it on gluten containing bread, and then put the same knife back in the jar for some more, you've just contaminated the whole jar. If you then used that jelly on gluten-free bread, there would be crumbs, maybe too small to see, of gluten....that would make Jacob sick, or at least, damage his intestines, if he didn't feel it). And no--since one tiny crumb can damage the intestines, washing the gravy off of the chicken doesn't work, either.

Finally, with Kraft, you can simply read labels--so if it doesn't say "wheat" or "rye" or "oats" or "barley" or "malt", etc. on the label, you know that it's gluten-free--and not hidden under modified food starch.

[angel-jd1]

I washed the gravy off just in case and just gave him the chicken

Oh gosh, yep definately NOT a good idea. The gravy contaminated the chicken, but who knows if the chicken was gluten free to begin with?!?! Many of those type of things are marinated to make them tasty.

Most frozen dinners from the regular grocery store are not safe for us. Amy's is a great brand to buy. It is usually found in health food stores, but recently Target has begun carrying some of them in my area.

It sounds like you have a tricky situation on your hands with the babysitter. Like you said you will just have to tell her "stop feeding my kiddo" nicely. And teach her some things that she COULD buy to keep on hand. Be brand and product specific (KRAFT whatever in the blue box) Help her understand about cross contamination. She needs to even wash her hands between preparing the other children's lunch and your kiddo's lunch.

Good luck with everything.

-Jessica

[Boojca]

Hi Brandi,

It's me again (will respond to your email today too)

Babysitter: That was a definite no-no with the chicken. You must tell her that unless you have brought it (or approved it) she is NOT to feed it to your son. No way, no how. She will get there, honest, but until you have a grasp on the diet it's not a good idea to let anyone else try. My son is in daycare (it's a home situation) and I gave my provider a copy of Danna Korn's Raising Kids with Celiac book (I have one, my mom has one, my mother in law has one...it's a great book...) and I bring ALL of his food. I bring it at the start of the week so I don't ahve to worry about it every day. He has frozen pizzas there for emergencies, as well as frozen mini-waffles. She's always got chips and hot dogs, too. I bring cottage cheese, peaches, his bread (which she keeps in the freezer...and I supplied her with a toaster just for him), peanut butter, jelly and that all stays there. Then if we have leftovers from the night before, he'll bring that for lunch. She's at the point now where she knows what she can and can't share with him, and even all the other kids are trained that they ask before they share with him. And, god bless him, if they offer him something he says "I can't have that, it will make my belly hurt!" Sometimes it is ok for him to have, but I'm just glad THAT is his first response!

I don't give Brennan any vitamins, but I know he's getting what he needs in his daily meals. He would LIVE on fruit and veggies if I let him, I have to BEG him to eat his meat at dinner, so I don't feel the need to add something he's already getting. Although we did try pediasure when we first started out, but he hated it so there the cans sit, on the shelf, collecting dust. I should donate them to a food shelf before they go bad....

Talk to you soon! Bridget