JennyC

General Mills brands will clearly list their gluten, so even if they do frequently change their ingredients all you have to do is read the ingredient list to determine if it is gluten free. My son's been eating them for a while with no problems. I wish cocoa puffs were gluten free! Although, the gluten free list that I got from Safeway had their generic brand of cocoa puffs (cocoa astros) listed as gluten-free.

You should use any heavier flour that you can tolerate. I'm not sure exactly what it's made from, but I really like amaranth flour. It is a bit heavier and much more nutritious than rice flour. It also has a great flavor. It's my favorite flour so far. If only a small amount is required you could also try adding a bit of coconut flour. It is very high in fiber and adds a mild coconut flavor to the dish. If neither of these work, you could most likely try to substitute brown rice flour. It should not make that much of a difference. They are most likely trying to make the food healthier since white rice flour really does not provide much nutrition.

If you like crackers with seeds, I've been told that Mary's gone crackers are good. We like Blue Diamond Nut thins, but they are make in a facility that also produces wheat products. Glutino and Dr. Schar crackers are also really good but they are likely made out of rice. Ener-G also makes some crackers that we like.

This bread is very popular. It has great texture and flavor. I am still in the process of tweaking the recipe to make it come out right, though. It calls for milk, but I'm sure that you substitute soy milk.

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My son is almost four now and he usually gets D the next morning. When I was breastfeeding he constantly spit up and had loose foul stools. Everyone was amazed that a breastfed baby's stool stunk--bad. Now everything that he have went through makes since.

I use Bob's Red Mill, but maybe you could put regular brown rice flour into a food processor or blender for a bit. Kind of like how you can make powdered sugar from granulated sugar by doing the same? Just an idea. I've never tried it.

Thanks for all the replies. I think that I'll try the Ener-G brand or make them fresh that day.

I called Dairy Queen a couple of weeks ago, and I was told that all the wheat free products on their allergen list are also gluten free. They just lumped them together. I spoke to someone who really seemed to understand the seriousness of cross contamination. She recommended that I only get pre-packaged ice cream treats because they are made on dedicated lines. I personally would get the ice cream sundays. She also recommended staying away from the blizzards because of the high risk of cross contamination.

Just thought I'd pass on the information.

Some chicken & rice soups are gluten free (Kroger, Safeway and Progresso). You could make a quesadilla with lactose free cheese and left over chicken. Spaghetti with gluten free noodles if they can have them. You could also make them tacos with their favorite meat. Have you considered giving them half or a quarter of a Lactaid occasionally? At 30 lbs my son's pediatrician said that he could have half a lactaid. They have chewable tablets and I did not see any ingredients in it that your daughters cannot have. I give them to my son and he does great...no tummy aches. My son likes the large Ener-G crackers with cream cheese or you could use peanut butter. Some times I also make nachos for lunch. I have a hard time with lunch too...I hope this helps.

My son was also prone to diaper rashes and had eczema. If your son is turning two next month then I would request that the doctor order the celiac panel and allergy tests for after his two year check up. Until then I would put him on a high gluten diet. If he's already on gluten, then in my opinion you might as well go for the official diagnosis and you can get blood allergy tests done at the same time to be sure that your son doesn't have any allergies to other foods. If the tests are negative and you still feel that he may be reacting to gluten, then I would try the diet.

Here is what I have learned from dating someone from a family of biologists--

Lactose is the sugar that is naturally produced in cow milk. It is not normal sugar, but just part of the molecule, as in casein, the protein in milk. If you have a lactose problem in means that your small intestine does not produce enough lactase, the enzyme to break down the sugar in milk. Therefore, if you consume a product that originally started out containing lactose, but it was chemically changed (ie cooked, combined with other foods...), then some of the sugar could have been destroyed, making it easier for you to digest. Cheddar cheese is chemically changed to removed about 95% of the lactose in it (Open Original Shared Link). Most people who are lactose intolerant can have small amounts of milk or dairy products because still produce small amounts of lactase. Go completely dairy free for 2 weeks, then try it out.

However, you may have been misdiagnosed. It is common. There is a strong possibility (because you are a celiac), that you have a casein allergy. This would mean that you are allergic or intolerant to the milk's protein. Unfortunately the protein in the milk cannot be destroyed through cooking or making cheese, so you will still get sick.

To figure out which one you are, go dairy free (read labels!) for 2-4 weeks, then have a small piece of cheese. If you don't get any stomach issues have 2 pieces of cheese the next day. Continue eating 2 pieces of cheese a day for a week. If you still have no problems it is most likely lactose, if you do, stop eating the cheese because you have a casein issue. Then, try adding a glass of skim milk (still eat the cheese) a day. See if you have stomach issues. If so, you have lactose intolerance. If you don't, try adding another glass the next day, if you are still fine you either have no milk problem or are lactase deficient (not producing enough to digest massive amounts).

That's really interesting...I didn't even know that they removed the whey when they make cheese or that some cheeses contain little lactose. You learn new things everyday. I would still recommend taking the lactaid when consuming all dairy at first so you can really determine if you have an allergy or just lack the enzyme lactase, unless you've been allergy tested. Some people are very sensitive. It's true that different people can produce highly variable amounts of lactase, but you may be one of the unlucky ones that produce little if any lactase. That's just my opinion.

Lactose is the sugar that naturally occurs in milk. It is in dairy products even if sugar is not shown on the product label. If you are only lactose intolerant, and not allergic to milk, then you could try Lactaid supplements. They work well.

I get the Pop Secret. It's from General Mills and I know they will list their gluten. My son likes that Spiderman is on the package.

Let me first say I don't trust the government or HMOs with my family's health care. It seems strange to me that we have a free market system regarding insurance companies, but they do not really compete with each other. Maybe if employees could have a greater choice in who insures them it would inspire a more competitive relationship between insurance companies. Maybe that would lower rates, deductibles, etc. It would also help if health insurance companies could bargain with the drug companies. Last summer I volunteered at the VA pharmacy and I learned that the federal government makes deals with drug companies that offer the lower prices. For example, veterans could not get Viagra paid for but instead they got the newer drug...the name has slipped my mind. My idea is that maybe the government could do their job my making sure that there is no conspiring amongst insurance companies, and maybe if there was a system built around competition costs would go down.

I breastfed my son for 9 months. As told by the doctor I introduced rice cereal to my son at 4 months, but i backed off for a month because he didn't seem to tolerate it well. At 5.5 months I started giving in rice and oatmeal cereals and then fruit and vegetable baby food. My son had celiac symptoms from birth practically. He constantly spit up, had horrible sleeping patterns, and ate constantly. He was a large baby but his growth started to slow down at around 6 months. When I switched him to formula, which was gluten free, his spitting up stopped but his diarrhea continued because at 9 months old I was giving him solid gluten foods. As a new first time mom, I followed all recommendations but my son still got celiac disease very early. I believe that genetics largely determine when you will develop celiac symptoms, provided gluten is being ingested. There are most likely many gene products associated with the onset of celiac disease, not just the ever so popular Hla-DQ's. Of course there are many environmental factors, but I really think that genetics are main factor.

I have bought the Kinnikinnick buns and I have made my own. Both of them would not hold up to a hot dog. They were crumbly and they broke. I did use the home made one a few days after I made them and they had been refrigerated. Does anyone know a good brand to buy or recipe to use to get a good hot dog bun? Does it exist?

Thanks!

I hope that you find the answers to your health problems. You may want to consider taking a calcium supplement. Both bone and muscle, as well as nervous tissue, require a great deal of calcium. If you do have celiac disease it is likely that you have not been absorbing adequate calcium. When I was pregnant and having similar pains my doctor told me to also take magnesium, so you may want to try that as well.

I hope you feel better.

In my opinion it is not worth it. I bought the most expensive "package" from Clan Thompson shortly after my son was diagnosed. I never use them. I did learn some things from them in the beginning but I could have gotten all that information from the manufacturers. I recommend buying products from companies that disclose their gluten and calling companies often. That's what I do and I never break out my product lists anymore.

Here's a great link that someone posted about companies that will list gluten:

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I think this could be a good product if you drank it ice cold. When you drink really cold water it actually gets absorbed from our stomach instead of our small intestine where absorption normally takes place. If the vitamins are very water soluble, then theoretically they could also be absorbed from the stomach. Water absorption happens throughout the intestines, and perhaps these vitamins could also be absorbed from the large intestine as well. It is true that celiac disease can greatly damage the intestines, but if you are following, or plan to follow, a strict gluten free diet then this should not be much of a problem.

I hope this helps.

The convenience foods that we like are cheese quesadillas (made with corn or brown rice tortillas), peanut butter on gluten free toast or Glutino crackers, cream cheese on the large Ener-G crackers, Kettle chips (most are gluten free, check the label), pizza with Kinnikinnick pizza crust, Trail mix made with Health Valley corn crunch-ems, craisens, marshmallows, etc, and Tinkyada pasta made into spaghetti, alfredo, or mac & cheese. Pasta or pizza is the closest we get to fast food. It's hard to remember that we used to eat out three times a week. I'm glad we don't have those eating habits anymore, but I sure miss it some days.

I think it was after 100 posts.

WOW, that was fast! Thanks for the quick response! I'm in the middle of slow roasting a barbecue chicken and I just ran out of the original flavor and all I have is the hickory flavor in my pantry.

Thanks again.

Could you please refresh my memory, are all flavors of Sweet Baby barbecue sauce gluten free? I bought the hickory & Brown sugar flavor and I need to know in a hurry!

Thank you!

Well, I have no idea what a fruit pizza is, but you could probably make it like before but substitute gluten free flour and other gluten free ingredients. I often use this mix in recipes to substitute wheat flour: 3 parts white rice flour, 2 parts potato starch, 1 part tapioca starch/flour & 1 tsp xanthan gum for each 1.5 cups flour. Another flour mix is 1 cup white rice flour, 1 cup tapioca starch/flour, 1 cup corn starch & 1 TBSP potato flour, plus the xanthan gum. I have used the first mix many times and it has turned really good. I used the last mixture one time, and it turned out good also. The last mix when mixed together surprisingly has a very similar texture to wheat flour in my opinion. If you need other ideas feel free to post more specific questions.

Thanks for the suggestions. I admit I did get into a bad habit of letting him decide what to have for breakfast after diagnosis. I also thought he was reacting to eggs and I didn't know what to feed him. I do also give him gluten-free frozen waffles (he doesn't like the ones I make), peanut butter toast, pancakes (he will tolerate them sometimes), or eggs with toast. I think that I'll try the muffin idea. I have a box of Glutino muffin mix that I have never tried. I need to use up my boxed mixes since I never use them. I usually prefer to just convert regular recipes to gluten free.

Thanks for all your help.