When To Introduce Gluten To Babies

[cfriedman]

Hello,

I was just diagnosed with Celiac Disease 4 months after my son was born. My sister also has been diagnosed. I am concerned about my son having Celiac Disease. He is only 6 months old now and I am not sure when I should try and introduce gluten to him. There was a recent study that came out in May 2005 that indicated that those children at greater rist for celiac disease may have a decreased chance of getting the disease if introduced to gluten between 4 and 7 months. I wanted to see if anyone else has had to make the decision about introducing gluten to their child between 4 and 7 months or waiting until they are older.

Jack's mom

[shan1523]

Im not an expert by any means, and am still new to all of this as far as background info, but I know that I gave my son gluten at 5 months (we did rice cereal at 4.5 months then started baby oatmeal at 5 months then baby barley cereal at 5.5 months) and my son showed signs immediately. THere are no celiacs in my familly that we are aware of (lots of crohns, colitis, and IBS all throughout though so I wonder if some missed the diagnosis)

My point...I gave it to my son in that window without any known risks, and well he showed and shows signs big time.

just thought Id add my experiance

Shannon

[MySuicidalTurtle]

I showed signs of Celiac Disease as a newborn and so did my brother. You can't really know yet how he will react. Maybe he doesn't even have Celiacs, maybe he won't show symptoms until he is very old, or maybe he will be like my brother and I and be sick from the start. Just do what you think he is ready for.

[rgeelan]

My son was introduced at 3 months and was diagnosed with celiac disease at 3 years. My daughter wasn't introduced till 5 months and hasn't been diagnosed yet (but I may test her again now that she is over 2 years) I plan on waiting till about 5 months to introduce gluten to our youngest just to give her a better chance. My theory is why push my luck. Even if it just decreases her chance a little it's better than nothing!

[Merika]

The *new* AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) recommendations are to breastfeed EXCLUSIVELY until age 6 months. So that would mean no gluten under age six months. Studies also show the longer you breastfeed, the less likelihood your child will contract celiac (diminish NOT eliminate risk).

As for the studies that show the 4-6 month "window", I think there probably is some truth to the timing of when to introduce grains HOWEVER, given that the availability of babies to study who were NOT introduced to wheat until older is so small (and not really a large enough research group) just says to me to wait to introduce gluten, and not do it when babies are 0-3 months. I believe this one-time study (recent, and I am looking forward to others that investigate this further) was in Britain which I am under the impression has even less breastfeeding and more early-foods feeding than in the US.

Merika

[celiackara]

I have a seven 1/2 month old daughter. I was diagnosed several years ago, and was gluten-free my whole pregnancy. I quizzed every pediatrician I could get my hands on in the hospital and in our pediatric group and they all said to wait until she was at least two years old to introduce gluten. They felt that two years (or three if I felt like it) was a good age to challenge her, since she would have gone through most of her growing by that point. Several of them also pointed out that it would be a healthier diet too.

I also read a La Leche League article about breastfeeding and celiac disease. They quoted a study that said that breastfeeding up to two years seemed to significantly reduce the incidence of celiac disease in babies. The pediatricians I talked to also recommended breastfeeding instead of formula; they were worried about gluten contamination in formula.

What the peds stressed most was that being a child of a celiac parent is not an automatic sentence, and that these are just precautions.

ktm

[MySuicidalTurtle]

If you are breastfeeding and eating gluten it will pass on to your child. So, that doesn't help with not feeding them gluten. Plus, Celiac Disease isn't something one can contract. It is a genetic auto-immuine disorder.

[lovegrov]

There is no reason to screen babies for Celiac Disease. Babies must

have been ingesting gluten into their systems for six to nine months

before an autoimmune response can develop.

The effect of timing of gluten ingestion has been studied at the

University of Colorado. This new study, published in the Journal of the

American Medical Association, suggests that children are less likely to

develop Celiac Disease if they were introduced to gluten-containing

cereals between 4-6 months of age. Children exposed to gluten in the first 3

months had a 5-fold increased risk when compared to the 4-6-month group. The

follow-up on the patients was only 4.8 years.

Dr. Guandalini also said that a small amount of gliadin protein does

pass through breast milk. However, this condition may be okay; it may

induce some tolerance. Breast feeding seems to be protective for Celiac

Disease.

Above is the short version of the latest research, copied from a post at the St. John's site.

richard

[lbsteenwyk]

I agree with Merika, you should breast feed as long as possible. It's the one factor you can control to decrease your child's risk of developing celiac disease. My daughter was introduced to gluten during the recommended "window" of 4-6 months and she still developed celiac disease, but didn't have symptoms until about 20-22 months. She was breastfed for 1 year. I also introduced my son to gluten between 4-6 months, but he's received much less of it simply due to the fact that we have fewer of these foods in the house now. He has had no symptoms of celiac disease at this point. I think it's basically a crap shoot. The two factors in your control are breastfeeding and gluten introduction; there are probably other factors that research has not yet uncovered.

[Merika]

This new study, published in the Journal of the

American Medical Association, suggests that children are less likely to

develop Celiac Disease if they were introduced to gluten-containing

cereals between 4-6 months of age.  Children exposed to gluten in the first 3

months had a 5-fold increased risk when compared to the 4-6-month group.  The

follow-up on the patients was only 4.8 years. 

   

richard

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks! See what bothers me is the implication that it's best to introduce gluten between 4-6 months, when really all the study shows is that it's preferable than introducing it at 0-3 months of age. I don't think they really had enough babies/kids in older groups. Maybe, as ktm posted, a better time to introduce it is after age 2. The thing is *we just don't know yet* what the best age to introduce it is. But earlier does not seem to be better.

Merika

[cfriedman]

Thank you all for your feedback! I meet with my son's ped. tomorrow. I am going to ask her again her thoughts. Then my husband and I will have to decide what we are comfortable with. I wish they knew more about this and had more studies to go by. I really hate to think that there could be a "window of opportunity" and what if I miss it.