Hi Introducing Myself

[MichelleW]

Hi all I am new to the forun and I wanted to intro myself. My name is Michelle ad for the last 3 months I have been dealing with the diagnosis process for my 18 month old son Aiden.... Today we got the confirmation after going in for the colonoscopy and endoscopies. Thinngs is now I am completly overwhelmed with the whole thing. where do I begin.. I live out in the sticks so I dont have good supermarkets..... I am in central ma and only know of 1 other kid who has celiac.....

Thanks

Michelle

[Imanistj]

I am fairly newly diagnosed at age 65. The gluten-free diet can be quite expensive and if you have medical bills high enough (I believe it is 7.5% of your total income) you can declare part of the cost on your income tax. You might do well to have professional advice, at least this year, to make you aware of all the record keeping necessary. If your medical expenses aren't enough this year, they may be next year. You have an advantage because your son is so young he may not realize he is eating gluten-free substitutes for his regular food. I hope he isn't yet used to eating fast food because, for the most part, that will be out. I have found the hardest thing to substitute is good tasting bread and I have just discovered Udi's white sandwich bread. I have ordered it directly from Colorado but buy the end of the month a local health food store has agreed to have it in stock. Do you have Hannaford's supermarkets near you? They usually have a good selection of gluten-free food. I don't think Wegman's is in MA--that is my favorite store in NY. If you can't find foods your son likes tell the folks on this forum and you will get lots of help. If you haven't yet seen a dietitian ask local celiac patients for suggestions. Find a celiac support group and pick their brains. I know there are groups called ROCK--Raising Our Celiac Kids. If you can't get to a local support group sign on to several forums and find which one/s are most helpful to you. This is the second forum I joined and I find I am very comfortable here. Hang in there and I am sure you will get lots of responses from parents of young children.

[Lisa]

Hi Michelle and welcome to you!

My first bit of advise is to keep things simple and it does not mean costly. It's been a long time since I have fed an 18 month old, but I and expecting my first granddaughter soon, so I will be learning once again.

Meats, fish, fresh veggies, rice, potatos, fruit, all in natural form are gluten free.

Here is a list of companies who will clearly list all forms of gluten (ie. wheat, barley, malt and rye). Just read the label and if those words are not there...no gluten)

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Open Original Shared Link

[jenn33]

Michelle

My 18 month old son was diagnosed the week before thanksgiving and I am finally starting to get used to the idea. It was hard at first but there are lots of things he can eat. Hamburgers with out a bun, certain brands of hotdogs, cheese, fruits, veggies. I make my own gluten free chicken nuggets and the whole family likes them. I suggest looking online there are lots of places you can order from and lots of things you can buy at your normal grocery store. Hope things go smoothly for you.

[larry mac]

Hi Michelle,

I buy very few health food store gluten-free products. It's not just the cost, but IMO, they mostly suck big time. All the cereals are expensive and basically inedible. A little kid might not know the difference, but I do. Hopefully he can tolerate the gluten-free chex varieties. There's also Trix (I think that's the one, correct me if I'm mistaken folks). Not as good as Fruit Loops, but not bad. Also, there's a chocolate one, besides chocolate chex, can't remember the name right now. Maybe a couple more at the regular grocery stores. Kix, yuck but kids might like it. As always, it's imperative to thouroughly read the ingredients label looking for wheat, barely, rye, malt, and oats. And that's on every and all products you buy, all the time, without exception.

I realize there are extremely sensitive individuals that for whatever reason can't tolerate some products or foods that theoretically shouldn't be a problem celiac-wise, but I can eat amost anything that doesn't have wheat, barely, rye, malt, and oats in the ingredients list. I regularly consume regular fritos, cheetos, tostidos, potato chips, any kind of tortilla chips, potato sticks, munchos, funyuns, corn tortillas (any brand), m&m's, snickers, any kind of cheese out the wazzoo, eckredge breakfast linkies, any kind of mustard, any kind of sour cream. Frozen gluten-free waffles. I eat a lot of baked/grilled chicken, instant mashed potatos, canned vegatables, crock pot chuck roasts with beef stock (I love all the new box stocks, especailly the Rachel Ray stock-in-a-box) and lots of seasonings, with carrots and potatos, pork chops, pork roasts, boil in bag rice, hamburger patties as a meat entree, store bought rotisserie chicken (watch out for wheat in the seasonings), homemade taco soup, chili, tacos, chalupas, nachos all the time. Jack in the box tacos, I know they're disgusting, but I love 'em, they have a special machine they cook them in so no major cross contamination. Of course there is always risk from workers handling gluten items at any restaurant.

I love my little oven, use it all the time. It's a Black & Decker countertop convection oven/broiler/toaster, $59. I had a Krupps before that was also great, but cost 3 times more. Cooks super fast, super good. Requires some figuring out, not as forgiving as big oven.

You just need to find out how he's improving and if he has any other intolerances.

best regards, lm

[seezee]

Hi all I am new to the forun and I wanted to intro myself. My name is Michelle ad for the last 3 months I have been dealing with the diagnosis process for my 18 month old son Aiden.... Today we got the confirmation after going in for the colonoscopy and endoscopies. Thinngs is now I am completly overwhelmed with the whole thing. where do I begin.. I live out in the sticks so I dont have good supermarkets..... I am in central ma and only know of 1 other kid who has celiac.....

Thanks

Michelle

Not sure where in Central Ma you are but Mass is pretty little as you can drive across the entire state in 2 hours.

Children's Hospital Boston has a large celiac support group and the GI doctors that specialize in celiac are excellent.

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I don't think you have to go to Children's for a membership since it is run by families. They have parties where vendors come and you can sample/buy foods and meet other parents . My daughter is 11, but we met two other girls her age through the support group.

Whole foods has a lot of stuff and there are two small markets off of 95 that have tons of stuff.

Open Original Shared Link in Reading and

Open Original Shared Link in Needham.

We live in Cambridge, but I truck out there occasionally.

and there are a few gluten-free bakeries - one that just opened in Belmont called Glutenus Minimus

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and this one that I think just does mail order although some cafes around here sell their stuff:

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You can mail order most of the mixes and dry ingredients online and can get fresh meats, fruits, and vegetables from your local market.