How Strict While Pregnant?

[gfreewife]

My husband has Celiac Disease and I do not. I do follow a gluten free diet with him, but at about 95%. I never eat any form of breads or pasta, but if I'm out to lunch without my husband I do not worry about marinades, salad dressings, or sauces. We are thinking about having a baby in a year or so, so my question is: When I become pregnant, and while obviously being unaware of if the baby has Celiac or not, should I be following a gluten free diet at 100%?

I've read many posts from women who actually have celiac and are wondering about diet during pregnancy, but like I said, I don't have it.

Any help is appreciated!

[GlutenFreeManna]

If you don't have celiac (or a gluten intolerance) I don't think you need to worry about it. If you keep your baby gluten free then you will not be able to get him or her tested for celiac when they get older.

[tarnalberry]

If you are not celiac, you do not need to be gluten free during hte pregnancy. IF the baby appears to have failure to thrive issues or other issues that suggestion digestive trouble, you would want to try going gluten free as it can be passed in breastmilk, but until then, you don't have to change your diet.

[AgainstTheGrainIdaho]

That's is a tough question. It's hard to tell if he/she will have that allergy. My guess would be no gluten and just make sure that you are getting enough of the nutrients that gluten grains carry from a better source like Quinoa. If he/she is allergic, it would be better to start off his/her development with everything on the good side and when born you will see pretty quickly whether or not he/she has the same allergy as your husband. From what I've read, the accuracy for testing for the gluten allergy seems very inconsistent and most just figure it out on their own by the way they feel,act, or elimination diets and you too will be able to tell when that child is born by gassiness,fussiness, rashes, sickness and so on. While nursing you'll know by what you eat, just keep a food log and compare to the way he feels within 6 hours of eating, sometimes right away. Also a GREAT gluten-free vitamin for pregnancy is MegaFoods Baby and Me vitamin. You'll get Tons of great nutrients and it's free of Gluten, wheat, corn, Soy, Dairy herbicides and pesticides. All the MegaFoods are free of those too. Good luck

[domesticactivist]

Celiac is not an allergy! It is an autoimmune disease! There are not always visible and identifiable symptoms, especially early on.

I have not seen any studies about celiac disease and the diet of the non-celiac mother during pregnancy. Anecdotally, I have heard of effects on sensitive babies/toddlers breastfeeding from mothers who eat gluten. I'd do my best to avoid it, but not beat myself up for a slip here and there. When breastfeeding I'd be more careful, and I'd raise baby to be gluten-free for convenience and just to be on the safe side.

You could do genetic testing to calculate the risk that your child has celiac disease. If the child wants to be able to have gluten later in life, a challenge and testing could be done. That would be better IMO than potentially damaging the child from toddlerhood on just so that testing can be accurate.

As for first foods, breastfeeding is great, then very cooked veggies (start with the orange ones), then meats. It's very easy to make baby food at home while making your own dish and you don't need to worry about all the stuff the processed food has in it.

[lovegrov]

I've never seen any indication that the mother who does not have celiac need stay gluten-free. Even with a parent with celiac, the odds are still strongest that the child will never have it.

richard

[gary'sgirl]

From my experience, I would definitely encourage you to try to stay away from gluten while pregnant and breastfeeding. I think the advice that Domesticactivist gave was really good.

I didn't know i had Celiac disease until my third child was 5 months old. I found out because all three of my children had problems since they were 2 or 3 weeks old, and I had been pursuing finding out what was wrong with them (while ignoring my symptoms). I wish we had known about Celiac being in the family before I had kids, because what we all went through was so hard and exhausting. It's really hard to see your child not feeling well and having doctor after doctor tell you that there is nothing that they can find that is wrong - you are probably just exaggerating.

All three of my kids had sleeping problems, it got to the point that at the worst they could not sleep for more than 10 minutes at a time and would wake up screaming like they were in pain. There were many things that were not right and I think that it would have been much better if they had not had any gluten until they were old enough to be able to tell me if something hurt or didn't feel right. there would have been a lot less suffering.

People say that the chances of first degree relatives getting Celiac is not extremely high, but my mother and two of my three sisters have Celiac and the other one thinks she at least has an intolerance to gluten, and all three of my children have Celiac. I think the chances are higher than people really know.

I don't wish to scare you or anything, I just wanted to share my situation and encourage you to consider staying gluten free until your baby would be done nursing because having kids is such a blessing, but going through health problems with them is so hard and (at least for me) can make you feel like you and your children missed out on having a fun and happy baby - and childhood.

[Salax]

It can't hurt you or the baby to be gluten free, but technically it isn't necessary either.

We don't NEED wheat in our diets, it's not a required food that we have to eat (obivously as Celiac's are aware.

But because it's such a highly GMO'd and problematic food for so many people, I would stay away from it. But thats me. You have to do what you feel comfortable with.

But as the little one gets older, because dad has celiac you want to make sure he is tested as some point, just to be sure. Good luck to you and early congrats.

[gfadventure]

gfwife, I am in the exact same boat as you. I follow the diet except when we are out in public, or when my husband is out of town. I was asking myself the same thing as you, and my husband and I were just discussing this as well. I have done research and have come to the conclusion that we should stick as close to the 100% gluten-free diet as possible...a little slip here and there should be OK, however. DO NOT slip during breast feeding. The gluten can stay in breast milk for up to THREE MONTHS! There are many reports of newborn babies feeling very ill after ingesting contaminated breast milk. So, if newborns have gluten reactions, why not a fetus in the womb?

New research has emerged claiming that it can affect the baby. Gluten may stunt a baby's normal growth. My husband was born from a non-celiac mother. He had a normal birth weight but was short and still is below average in height...but he wasn't diagnosed until 2 years ago and had 25 years of gluten to stunt his growth! The research is still new and I am sure they won't know great details until a couple of years from now. Just keep going how you are. I know for myself, I will try to be as close to 100% gluten free as I can whenever I choose to become pregnant. Some gluten-free foods make me VERY ill and I will have to cheat the diet then, however. I figure, why not make it a safe environment from the start? Good luck and know that there are others out there with you!