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When Should I Introduce Wheat?

kprince

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kprince Apprentice
kprince
Posted

Hi Everyone-

The day I found out I was pregnant, I also found out that I had celiacs. Though out my pregnancy I heard different opinions on when to introduce wheat. Now that my daughter is 2 months, I wanted to go to ( who I belive are the experts) You all and see what you opinion is on when to introduce wheat. I am currently exclusivelt breasfeeding. With my older son, I introduced food at 6 months ( rice, oatmeal and barley) and he is fine thus far. Any thoughts would really help-

Thanks,

Kathy

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Jestgar Rising Star
Jestgar
Posted

Well, I have no children, but my suggestion would be, wait until he can talk. That way he can tell you if something doesn't feel right.

ChemistMama Contributor
ChemistMama
Posted

I just went to a talk by Dr. Fasano from the U. of Maryland, he's one of the leading celiac researchers in the US. He's actually doing a clinical study right now to see if delaying giving your baby gluten can delay the onset of celiac.

Open Original Shared Link

He presented some preliminary results that suggested that waiting at least a year is best. His results showed the delaying giving gluten seems to delay the onset of celiac symptoms. I tried fo find his results online with no luck. the link above is for the clinical study. They're only 2 years into a 18 year study, so they don't know really how delaying gluten affects at-risk babies. But to be safe, I'd wait awhile.

Kibbie Contributor
Kibbie
Posted
Hi Everyone-

The day I found out I was pregnant, I also found out that I had celiacs. Though out my pregnancy I heard different opinions on when to introduce wheat. Now that my daughter is 2 months, I wanted to go to ( who I belive are the experts) You all and see what you opinion is on when to introduce wheat. I am currently exclusivelt breasfeeding. With my older son, I introduced food at 6 months ( rice, oatmeal and barley) and he is fine thus far. Any thoughts would really help-

Thanks,

Kathy

I'm not so much of an expert but I can tell you that I followed the American Pediatric guidelines for my daughter and introduced gluten grains around 6 months of age.... she developed celaic when she was 18 months.

My son is now 6 months old and he has the genetic marker for celiac disease. Because of this we are keeping him gluten free for the foreseeable future, there may be a day down the road that he chooses to test the gluten waters but it will be his choice. The new studies suggest that waiting unilt after 1 year old to children "at risk" of celiac either dramatically delays the onset or possibly prevents the disease all together.

I exclusively breast fed my son until 6 months old I was gluten free for about 1 month to see if that helped with his reflux but it did nothing so I am back on gluten.

kprince Apprentice
kprince
Posted
  • Author
I'm not so much of an expert but I can tell you that I followed the American Pediatric guidelines for my daughter and introduced gluten grains around 6 months of age.... she developed celaic when she was 18 months.

My son is now 6 months old and he has the genetic marker for celiac disease. Because of this we are keeping him gluten free for the foreseeable future, there may be a day down the road that he chooses to test the gluten waters but it will be his choice. The new studies suggest that waiting unilt after 1 year old to children "at risk" of celiac either dramatically delays the onset or possibly prevents the disease all together.

I exclusively breast fed my son until 6 months old I was gluten free for about 1 month to see if that helped with his reflux but it did nothing so I am back on gluten.

I did not know you could get your kids tested for the celiac gene/marker. How do you go about doing this?

Jestgar Rising Star
Jestgar
Posted
I did not know you could get your kids tested for the celiac gene/marker. How do you go about doing this?

The gene tested DOES NOT indicate celiac disease. It only gives you information about increased risk. It's a lot of money for something that doesn't really tell you anything.

jmjsmomma Apprentice
jmjsmomma
Posted
The gene tested DOES NOT indicate celiac disease. It only gives you information about increased risk. It's a lot of money for something that doesn't really tell you anything.

This confuses me. My daughter had a negative panel but was IGA deficient so we did the genetic test through Prometheus lab in San Diego. Her results came back negative for any celiac gene. Our GI told us that it would be highly unlikely that she would ever develop celiac as she had zero markers. I thought that told me a lot and felt such peace that she would not likely develop celiac (my 5 yo is our only celiac in the family).

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Jestgar Rising Star
Jestgar
Posted

The genes they test for, the DQ genes, have not been shown to be causative, you can have the gene and not have celiac disease. DQ2, however, has been found in higher percentages in celiac disease people. (Pulling these memories out of my head). DQ8 has also been found in higher percentages, but again, not causative.

I'll try to remember to look up some actual studies tomorrow.

caek-is-a-lie Explorer
caek-is-a-lie
Posted

Wait until at least 6 months of age. It takes babies a few months to grow a proper lining in the gut and introducing gluten before then could increase her risk of getting Celiac later.

Kibbie Contributor
Kibbie
Posted
The gene tested DOES NOT indicate celiac disease. It only gives you information about increased risk. It's a lot of money for something that doesn't really tell you anything.

It is a lot of $$ if your insurance doesn't cover it but mine was covered 100% so I figgured what the heck... I think its smart to at least check with your insurance.

Jestgar Rising Star
Jestgar
Posted
It is a lot of $$ if your insurance doesn't cover it but mine was covered 100% so I figgured what the heck... I think its smart to at least check with your insurance.

Most insurance premiums are tied to how much the insurance company paid out the previous year. If you work at a large company, you probably won't notice it. If you work at a small company, overusing your insurance will cause the premiums to go up for everyone.

Kibbie Contributor
Kibbie
Posted
Most insurance premiums are tied to how much the insurance company paid out the previous year. If you work at a large company, you probably won't notice it. If you work at a small company, overusing your insurance will cause the premiums to go up for everyone.

Finding out if celiac disease is a possibility in the future of a child can dramatically change the course a parent takes with said child. As in our case because of this information we have chosen not to give him gluten for the foreseeable future. I do not consider this "Overusing my insurance" by any means.

B'sgirl Explorer
B'sgirl
Posted
Well, I have no children, but my suggestion would be, wait until he can talk. That way he can tell you if something doesn't feel right.

I agree with this suggestion. It can be really hard to read the symptoms when they are little. If the baby is gluten sensitive feeding it to her could prevent the absorption of important nutrients and you won't realize it until the damage is already done.

Amyleigh0007 Enthusiast
Amyleigh0007
Posted

My daughter is 20 months and has never had gluten. I do not want her to go through the same thing my son did before he was diagnosed. It is a no brainer. The world does not revolve around gluten and I don't feel like I am depriving her of anything.

Amelia01 Rookie
Amelia01
Posted

I recently asked the same question to the University of Chicago celiac program (did not receive a reply) and the University of Maryland. Yes, they are just now recruiting for the test program but we are not eligble (we live out of the US). Based on a Swedish study done it was suggested to us by a colleague of Dr Fassano's to start introducing a little bit of gluten starting at 7 months and increasing from there (it was also suggested that we test for the HLA markers).

Of course given any gluten to baby frightens me and I am unsure what I will do.

luvs2eat Collaborator
luvs2eat
Posted

I fed my babies really carefully and only started them on solid food at 6 mo. I didn't know anything about Celiac (I didn't develop symptoms till I was older), but didn't give them some of the more common allergy foods, like eggs and citrus or milk, till they were a year old. I don't guess not feeding them gluten for that year would have changed anything... one of my 3 daughters is a Celiac.

HiDee Rookie
HiDee
Posted

I asked a similar question a few months ago. Here is the link to the thread about what others recommended to me. My two little kids are both gluten-free and I plan on keeping it that way until they are older and able to make that choice for themselves. It just seems to be the most practical choice as both of us are sensitive to gluten. And research keeps changing with so many conflicting ideas about feeding children that I'm just going with my instincts on this one and keeping them gluten-free like mom and dad. After all, it can't hurt if they don't get it.

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      Thanks again for the detailed explanation. Just to clarify, I actually did have my initial tests done while I was still consuming gluten. I stopped eating gluten only after those tests were completed, and it has now been about 70 days since I went gluten-free. I understand the limitations around diagnosing NCGS and the importance of antibody testing and biopsy for celiac disease. Unfortunately, where I live, access to comprehensive testing (including total IgA and endoscopy with biopsy) is limited, which makes things more complicated. Your explanation about small-bowel damage, nutrient absorption, and iron-deficiency anemia still aligns closely with my history, and it’s been very helpful in understanding what may be going on. I don't wanna get Endoscopy and I can't start eating Gluten again because it's hurt really with severe diarrhea.  I appreciate you taking the time to share such detailed and informative guidance. Thank you so much for this detailed and thoughtful response. I really appreciate you pointing out the relationship between anemia and antibody patterns, and how the high DGP IgG still supports celiac disease in my case. A gluten challenge isn’t something I feel safe attempting due to how severe my reactions were, so your suggestion about genetic testing makes a lot of sense. I’ll look into whether HLA testing is available where I live and discuss it with my doctor. I also appreciate you mentioning gastrointestinal beriberi and thiamine deficiency. This isn’t something any of my doctors have discussed with me, and given my symptoms and nutritional history, it’s definitely worth raising with them. I’ll also ask about correcting deficiencies more comprehensively, including B vitamins alongside iron. Thanks again for sharing your knowledge and taking the time to help. I’ll update the forum as I make progress.
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      Thank you! That's helpful. My kids eat very little processed food. Tons of fruit, vegetables, cheese, eggs and occasional red meat. We do a lot of rice and bean bowls, stir fry, etc.  Do you think with all the fruits and vegetables they need a vitamin supplement? I feel like their diet is pretty healthy and balanced with very limited processed food. The only processed food they eat regularly is a bowl of Cheerios here and there.  Could shaking legs be a symptom of just a one-time gluten exposure? I guess there's no way to know for sure if they're getting absolutely zero exposure because they do go to school a couple times a week. We do homeschool but my son does a shared school 2x a week and my daughter does a morning Pre-K 3 x a week.  At home our entire house is strictly gluten free and it is extremely rare for us to eat out. If we eat at someone else's house I usually just bring their food. When we have play dates we bring all the snacks, etc. I try to be really careful since they're still growing. They also, of course, catch kids viruses all the time so I  want to make sure I know whether they're just sick or they've had gluten. It can be pretty confusing when they're pretty young to even be explaining their symptoms! 
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