New And Overwhelmed

[mommyto2cuties]

Hi everyone,

Well my little guy is now 13 months old but since he has been born has been battling problems with vomitting, diahreha (spelling!), slow growth, we even went backwards on the growth chart, eczema, strange rashes on his mouth when introduced solids. He ended up having a life threating reaction to eating food that contained eggs and so we had him tested and he tested positive for:

peanuts, all tree nuts, eggs, peas and wheat. So now I'm on this path of finding which foods he can eat that meet all this criteria. It is very frustrating and right now I feel as if he can't eat anything (which I know is not true but I'm so overwhelmed). I just found this all out last week. It seems as if everything out there has peanuts or wheat or eggs in it!!!

I have no problem with cooking from scratch, but I am concerned about cost. Also, as I've been researching his wheat issues I think I realized that I may have celiac and never have been diagnosed. Nearly everyday of my life whatever I eat comes immediately out (sometimes within 30 minutes of eating) I am bloated and have diahrrea. The gas and pain is is awful. I've been tested in the past and had a sigmoidoscopy but they said I just had irritble bowel syndrom. My mother was diagnosed with the same and my brother has a 'nervous stomach' and throws up alot. I don't think I ever considered celiac, I had never heard of it before. But now that my son has it (and my husband as NO issues at all) I can't help but think I have the gene, given all my family history.

So now I'm looking to follow this for myself and my son, to see how I feel and he is required to. But some of this stuff seems VERY expensive and we are on a budget. Plus some of the things I've tasted are TERRIBLE and expensive!

I was wondering if you all had any resources for sample menu plans, diets etc for little guys, and if you have a list of foods that you know taste good and are cost effective and what is a waste of time to buy and taste, I think that would help!

This is so confusing!

[Kay DH]

While it doesn't seem so now, your life is changing for the better. The diets can be daunting. Do you have a Vitamin Cottage or similar grocery in your area that has a nutritionist for advice? Your doctor can refer you to a nutritionist, as well. Since you are on a tight budget, 2nd-hand stores frequently have cookbooks for special dietary requirements. And there are recipes and such on the web. Basically, you can't trust almost all processed foods. These are expensive anyway. Write down a list of what you can eat. Keep it simple while you are adapting to the new diet, you can still eat meat, some grains, most fruit and vegetables, etc. It takes time to go through the grieving process with these changes in your life, but the changes become automatic through time.

[missy'smom]

Start by making a list of what you CAN have. Then ask yourself "what can I make with these?". Cooking from scratch is generally cheaper than buying packaged foods. Keep your menus simple at first, back to the way previous generations ate. Don't try and go out and replace all the usual things. It is expensive and tiring. In time you will find alternatives and ones you like but for now, keep it simple. I replaced, and still do, cookies and the usual snacky foods with things like Jello, fruit etc. In time as you learn more, feel less overwhelmed and more able to take on new things, you will be able to get back some things.

There is a way to replace eggs in baked goods with flax meal, just google flax meal egg replacer and you'll find instructions.

There is sunflower nut butter "sunnutbutter" or pumpkin seed butter as an alternative to P.B.

Rice crispy treats are very do-able with various gluten-free cereals-Rice Chex from General Mills, Envirokids Koala Crisp, Erewhon Rice Twice and a couple other varieteis from the same line