New Here My 18month Old Has Celiac's

[jenn33]

Hi everyone,

My name is Jenny and I have two boys a 3yr old and 18 month old. Our 18 month old was diagnosed with Celiacs on 11/19. His symptoms started in July about 2 weeks after we started him on a "normal" diet and off of formula. Starting the first week of October he got much worse. Poor guy had no energy a huge belly and the worse diapers I have ever seen (even worse than roto virus lol). Anyways after making my doctors office start blood test to figure him out we came to the conclusion he has Celiac's. On the 24th of November he was starting to swell all over his body so we packed him up and headed to the Children's hospital an hour away from home where we stayed for 3 days. They did the biopsy while we were there and we are hoping to here back from that any day. He has been gluten free (to the best of my knowledge) for a little over a week and is already showing signs of improvement. Finally my baby boy is wanting to play and smiling again. I know we have a long road a head of us but I am so thankful that we figured it out and can move on. We will be getting the whole family tested although none of us show symptoms.

This is all very new to us and I was hoping you could help me with dinner choices that the whole family can enjoy. I have been winging it and trying new things but it has been stressful since we all know how picky toddlers can be. He also goes to daycare where I have been packing his lunch any good ideas for that would be helpful too.

Sorry so long thanks for all your help in advance

Jenny

[GottaSki]

Welcome Jenny!

First, take a deep breath -- it's great that you have a diagnosis and know what you can do to help your son.

These first days/learning curve are the toughest. It took about a month for our house to come to grips with gluten-free and find all the hidden gluten in our home.

Keep it as simple as possible for now. Grilled Meat/Fish, steamed vegies, fruit, nuts, rice, potatoes.

I know I saw a list of kid friendly food recently, I'll try to find and add to your post.

Hang in there!

p.s. I have a daughter named Jenny - her son went gluten free because of severe stomach problems when I found out I was celiac - he was 18 months and is doing much better eating gluten-free.

[GottaSki]

my post submitted twice...not sure how to remove the second copy

[GottaSki]

Below is one old list I found, I know there are more lists in other posts -- plus other members will give you lots of ideas. Be sure to ask if you have questions during the learning curve.

+++++++

That's really all you NEED to buy from the specialty stores. You will like the Kinnikinnick White Tapioca Bread as much as your child will.

From your regular grocery store you can purchase snacks:

fruits

veggies

Fritos corn chips

Cheetos

Lays Stax potato chips

Lays regular potato chips

cheese sticks

yogurts

cold cuts *read labels *ask deli clerks to wipe down slicer before slicing your order

raisins

nuts

make own trail mix

fruit snacks packs

popcorn

jello

pudding

rice pudding

rice crispy treats made with Post fruity pebbles or cocoa pebs

Meals:

Hot dogs Oscar Mayer

chili

beef stew

chicken soup

tacos

nachos

burritos made with corn tortillas

bologna Oscar Mayer

salad

rice Brown is more filling than white

Post fruity Pebbles Post Cocoa Pebbles

Classico Alfredo sauces are gluten free!

scrambled egg burritos on corn tortillas *hint for preparing corn tortillas* lightly warm on each side with a pat of butter* softens to texture of flour burritos!

bacon

You can make so many meals from the regular store. So many. Until your financial situation permits, you can make your son Pizza on a slice of Kinnikinnick bread. That's how my son still PREFERS it even though I have the Kinnikinnick crusts, and Chebe bread.

[celiac-mommy]

I agree with Lisa. It took me longer to totally get the hang of it, but I didn't have all these wonderful people to talk with for a year and a half after my dd was diagnosed! Thank God for this forum and all these wonderful people!!

Our household is about 98% gluten-free. It's so much easier that way, little to no risk of CC. My son was diagnosed when he was 2 and we had a much more difficult time with him than our daughter (diagnosed at age 4). She was able to understand more so why she couldn't eat certain things and could associate her stomachache with the gluten. Max, however, went through quite a rebelion at school, eating gluten foods off other kids' plates before the teacher could get to him because he was frustrated, angry and just didn't get it. He's 4 now and it's like old hat for him. He knows what he can and can't have, we have a snack box for him at school so we don't have to deal with any CC from the kitchen and I pack a full lunch every day. I let the kids help plan meals and grocery trips. We focus on what they can eat and not what they can't and after you get the hang of it, you'll probably start to experiment more with cooking and baking. It's my mission to learn as much as I can and teach them everything I learn so when they are grown and out on their own, I've make it that much easier for them. Look at it as a positive adventure than a negative.

We're all here to help!!

[nmlove]

My kids are 4, 2, and 5 months. Here's some of what we eat:

Snacks - cheese stick, yogurt, cheese/lunchmeat roll-up, nuts, peanut butter on rice cake, EnviroKidz rice bars, fruit leathers or sticks, any fruit or vegetable, mini muffins on occasion

Lunches - hot dog, lunchmeat/cheese roll-up, mac-n-cheese, pancakes, eggs, leftovers, corn tortilla quesadillas, soup (chicken us a favorite), always add fruit/veg

Dinner - meat, at least one veggie (or two with no fruit)

Some favorites - Meatballs, taco night (they like to eat it without a shell too), pizza

In general I try to balance it out. We're eating a lot of meat but I'm slowly working on that.

[jenn33]

Thanks ALL!! I plan on doing some MAJOR CLEAN OUT this weekend and restocking the house Wish me luck!

[GottaSki]

Good Luck!

[Mom of a Celiac toddler]

First of all: I am so sorry you had to watch your little boy suffer so! The hardest part of my life was watching my son pre-diagnosis, because I knew he was not "normal." He is now a very happy 22 month old that can not be slowed down!!

Glutino sandwich cookies are just like Oreo's for a special treat.

Chebe pizza crust is better than any glutened pizza crust I have ever had!

Authentic Foods or Mama's pancake mix.

gluten-free Waffles.

gluten-free granola bars.

Annie's rice mac and cheese., and the tapioca bread that has already been mentioned.

Those are pretty much the only things we buy from specialty stores. We do lots of fruits and veggies, smoothies are big hit and I'm able to sneak some veggies in there!

Nutella and PB are pretty big with him, he gets bored with PB so we switch to Nutella for a while then switch back again.

Something that has been really helpful for me is Amazon. They have a huge selection and once you know what you will go through a lot of, you can sign up for their subscribe and save service (cancel at any time) to save even more!

You are fortunate in that he won't remember what he is missing! My son doesn't even ask for goldfish anymore because he has his own special snack cupboard. When his older brother gets something from his snack cupboard my gluten-free kid goes to his cupboard and gets something special for himself!

Keep asking questions-the people here are never ending for support! It is the most amazing community!!

Hi everyone,

My name is Jenny and I have two boys a 3yr old and 18 month old. Our 18 month old was diagnosed with Celiacs on 11/19. His symptoms started in July about 2 weeks after we started him on a "normal" diet and off of formula. Starting the first week of October he got much worse. Poor guy had no energy a huge belly and the worse diapers I have ever seen (even worse than roto virus lol). Anyways after making my doctors office start blood test to figure him out we came to the conclusion he has Celiac's. On the 24th of November he was starting to swell all over his body so we packed him up and headed to the Children's hospital an hour away from home where we stayed for 3 days. They did the biopsy while we were there and we are hoping to here back from that any day. He has been gluten free (to the best of my knowledge) for a little over a week and is already showing signs of improvement. Finally my baby boy is wanting to play and smiling again. I know we have a long road a head of us but I am so thankful that we figured it out and can move on. We will be getting the whole family tested although none of us show symptoms.

This is all very new to us and I was hoping you could help me with dinner choices that the whole family can enjoy. I have been winging it and trying new things but it has been stressful since we all know how picky toddlers can be. He also goes to daycare where I have been packing his lunch any good ideas for that would be helpful too.

Sorry so long thanks for all your help in advance

Jenny