Pregnant With Cd, How To Feed Baby?

[gormlg1]

I just found out yesterday that I'm pregnant, about 4 weeks. I have celiac disease, my husband does not. Of course I know that I cannot eat any gluten (I wouldn't whether pregnant or not), but my question is what to do after the baby is born.

Do you treat them like they also have celiac disease and just avoid giving him/her formulas, foods, etc that may cause gluten? or do you give mainstream products and just keep an eye out for the symptoms (now that we're all pretty confident & familiar with what they are?). I know there's a chance it can be carried on to the child, but how do you know for sure if it is? do you act as if it is and go gluten-free or do you give mainstream until otherwise indicated?

Thanks very much!!!!!!!!!!!!

[lovegrov]

Standard advice now is to just allow gluten whenever you normally would (6 to 8 months, I think). In fact, some evidence indicates that withholding gluten could help trigger celiac if the child has the genes. Personally, I don't see the sense in forcing a child to be gluten-free unless necessary.

richard

[Jnkmnky]

Is breastfeeding out of the question? From all indications, breastfeeding prevents or at least lessens the chances your child will develop a variety of health issues in the future. I'm not a militant breastfeeding type. Don't take this post that way.

[KaitiUSA]

Breastfeeding is the best thing for the child. Breastfeeding is known to be a preventative for celiac disease in children.

[Jnkmnky]

Kaiti, is Graves disease associated with Celiac disease?

[KaitiUSA]

Graves disease is a form of hyperthyroidism...and yes thyroid problems are highly linked with celiac. I'm not even being treated for it at this point because the levels are low enough its not enough for meds yet because its in beginning stages. They monitor it every 3 months.

[Jnkmnky]

Does Graves follow a steady progression of worsening? Or does a gluten free diet stop the progression? I can't even wrap my mind around all the women I know who have been treated for hypothyroidism! When a person says they have hypothyroidism, are they really saying they have Graves Disease? I just thought of my cousin who has been treated for this for the past ten years.

[KaitiUSA]

The gluten free diet may or may not control it. Each time I have had blood tests it has been ALOT worse. Since going gluten free though each time I have had my test it has been worse but not by much. Hopefully it will not get worse but we'll see.

Hypothyroid is different from Graves...Graves is a form of hyperthyroid.

Either can be associated with celiac.

[connole1056]

If you are gluten-free then obviously if you breastfeed your baby will be gluten-free in the short-term. At about four months when solids are introduced you will have to decide what to do, so you do have at least a year to decide. Don't worry about it now since that could harm you and/or the baby. I am not saying don't think about it, just don't stress about it. Anyway, I would never subject a person to the gluten-free diet unless he had a clear diagnosis of celiac disease. If your baby is a celiac and is eating gluten-free then the test results can come back false negative so I advise feeding your child a regular diet. If you want a blood test after birth, that can be done quite easily although there is some controversy about testing young children. I am for it, but others are against it, thinking the results are not accurate. Even doctors do not agree, so you have to decide for yourself. Thankfully, you have a long time to gather info about these issues so you can make a choice and be confident in it.

Congratulations on your pregnancy!!

[cdford]

There have been several recent articles about this very question. The advice that seemed to be generally agreed upon in all of them was that the baby should be breast fed ONLY until at least four months, preferably a little longer with grains being introduced in very small amounts (beginning with a teaspoon a day was the suggestion) at 4 - 6 months. Apparently giving the grains earlier than 4 months caused a significant increase in problems and waiting until after the six month mark had a smaller increase in problems. The suggestion was to gradually increase the grains after the initial couple of months and not to change that unless the child became symptomatic.

[Guest Lucy]

I am EXCLUSIVELY breastfeeding until 5.5 to 6 months. Then I will introduce rice cereal with some fruits and veggies.

I did not breast feed my son who has diabetes and celiac. I was told by my endocronologist that breastfeed will DEFINATELY increase my newborns chances of NOT getting celiac or diabetes.

I myself eat gluten. So I think my newborn is. I don't know what the body does to gluten before it is turned to breastmilk. I too have heard that withholding it too long can be just as bad as introducing it too early.

Do what you feel. There is advice from everyone out there. This is my advice, I STRONGLY believe in breastfeeding. I tried with my eldest son and daughter and gave up because it seemed too hard. My youngest is now 4 months old and I am still breastfeeding. I am SOOO proud of myself. I wanted to give up so many times, then I thought of how hard it is to see my 2 year old suffer with diabetes and celiac (the celiac is alot harder), and I kept going.

TRY IT.... Give it at least 4-6 weeks, You will be soo glad you did.

[Guest nini]

I seem to remember something about not introducing potential allergen type foods until at least 1 year. Does that include gluten? Weird to me since the ped.s office had things like samples of Cheerios to give out to moms of babies at like 6 months... I wasn't on a gluten-free diet when my dd was born, she was breastfed, and then started on cereals and pureed fruits and veggies... And she still has Celiac... hmmm I don't know. Ask your Dr.s and get their opinion.