Avoiding Celiac's

[MatureMomG]

I know I have read things about avoiding allergies and things like Celiac's disease by avoiding many of the foods that often can be troublesome early in life. Such as not giving gluten products the first two years. Avoiding dairy (except human milk), etc. I know that part of it is a less developed system- if you wait until they are more fully developed, thay can better handle many things. (A real simple example is that a 2 month old baby's body is designed to handle breast milk. They can do other things but it is less than optimal. You could give them meat, say, but it will be harder for their system to handle. At the age of 2, meat will work much better. )

Has anyone had any experience personally with this? This is the main reason why I am avoiding most (almost all) foods except breastmilk the first year. (She gets a wee bit of banana or other fruit every other day or so.) I know there can be concerns about feeding issues and oral problems (though the "strenuous" act of breastfeeding requires much work and oral stimulation). But I think they could be overcome at a later age, even if it takes a bit longer or is more difficult. An allergy or Celiac's disease is something you probably have to deal with your whole life, which in the long haul has got to be much more challenging.

Thanks.
Yours in Christ,
Kathy

[laurasnowbird]

Kathy,

Hmmm, interesting thought, although I've never heard or read anything that would support it. It is certainly true that infants do not have mature digestive systems, and their guts are rather "leaky". That is the primary reason that we have avoided the major allergens for the first two years of life with all of my kids (especially peanut butter!). These 8 items account for 90% of food allergies:

Milk
Egg
Peanut
Tree nut (walnut, cashew, etc.)
Fish
Shellfish
Soy
Wheat


Wheat is certainly on that list, but it is one of the allergies that is generally outgrown. My best friend is a celiac, and I don't believe I've heard it referred to as an allergy. It is an autoimmune disorder, that doesn't present with food allergy symptoms, no itching, swelling, hives, anaphylaxis, etc. Any body else have any thoughts on this?

[Kristin]

Celiac is genetic. It even now has a gene test for it. It is classified as an autoimmune disorder. It is not something that you can outgrow or avoid. It is treated by eliminating ALL gluten from the diet, because gluten causes damage to the intestinal tract in someone with celiac disease. Delaying certain foods is usually for food allergies. Then there are the food intolerances, where the body treats the items like foreign objects. Some of these are genetic, and some can be outgrown. Kristin

[Emilysmom]

I finally got the news from the Down syndrome clinic the day before yesterday that Emily's celiac tests all came back negative....this was from her tests done in April. So, this thread caught my interest. I agree, from what I've read about celiac that it is not an allergic type of reaction or condition, but rather an autoimmune disorder.
We were fairly careful with Emily's nutrition as an infant....MOST of the time. She was breastfed up to 12 months, but we added vegetables one at a time from around 6 months, and did let her have baby cereal at around 4 months. (Although she did have turkey, potatoes and gravy and sweet potatoes on Christmas....she was 5 months old then!)

Susan

[Kristin]

I was careful with Clarice and my younger daughter. They both were breast fed for 9+ months. They then ate mainly fruits and vegetables for a long period of time. Clarice (DS) is 5 1/2 and was diagnosed with gluten intolerance. Her sister, Marcy (No DS), was diagnosed with gluten intolerance at age 20 months. With Marcy I really watched her diet after Clarice was diagnosed, but it didn't seem to make a difference. Both girls were screened for celiac and only came up with the gluten intolerance. The intolerance is so severe that I still cook like someone with celiac lives in my home. Be careful to rotate foods. Marcy developed a slight intolerance to rice because it is the main substitute for wheat in most bread products. She's having to go without gluten and rice products for a couple of months before we can try to build up a tolerance for rice. Kristin