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<<I'm trying to find out what others have done when your first child &
yourself have celiac and then a new baby comes, Do you wait for a period
of time before introduction gluten to the 2nd child or what? Our ped
gastro doctor says just go ahead & feed the new baby whatever you would
normally but I know that's not always right.>>

This has come up many times on the list in the last yr.....always at times
when I've been soooooo busy that I haven't been able to put together a
response - but have really wanted to.  That's why I'm posting to the list
instead of to Kathy directly.

I've talked at length with Dr. Fine and Dr. Rudert about this, as well as
culled the research wrt (with regards to) introducing solids.  My gut feeling
(pardon the pun;)) was to delay solids as long as possible (ie basically wait
till baby could feed him/herself), delay grains until baby could eat them in
an unprocessed form (ie until baby has molars) and delay gluten containing
grains at least until two.

basically, everything that I read in the lit and discussed with the
aformentioned leaders in the field of gluten intolerance enteropathies
supported this.    As I sat in Dr. Ruderts office nursing my 18 mo old, she
looked me squarely in the face, wagging her finger at me "you nurse that baby
until she is three".  After my shock passed, I realized I was thrilled to
have a medical professional supporting extended breastfeeding instead of
wrongly stating that there is little benefit to breastmilk after (insert
incorrect info here) 6 mos...12 mos...etc.

both docs supported holding off on grains as long as possible - ie don't
start with rice cereal at 6 mos:)  start with fruits or veggies, then move on
to meats if you eat them.  Compared to other foods, grains have a much lower
nutritional profile and are harder to digest.

with my first, I was undiagnosed when she started solids (a tiny bit at 6.5
mos....significant quantities self fed/self regulated by 9 mos or so) - and
while I new there was a problem with wheat or gluten, I didn't know what the
problem was.  She was eating gluten containing foods at around 1 yo and
showing no symptoms of intolerance   - or so I thought (I didn't realized
that her constant, frequent colds could have been a tip off....the ped kept
telling me they were 'normal' even though I truly felt they weren't).  Also,
she was an incredibly sensitive baby....would wake the moment i put her
down...would wake if I rolled away from her.  She was only happy if we were
holding her and moving.  And we thought she was an easy baby;)  Now that we
have #2, we *know* what an easy baby really is.  Anyhoo, I digress.

She was a high needs baby in every respect, though we just didn't recognize
it.  When I was diagnosed in July 2000, I started thinking about testing her.
 Since she was 'asymptomatic' (yeah right), the ped wouldn't test.  I wasn't
so interested in painful invasive procedures anyway, or in getting a 'gold
standard' diagnosis - since I see that route laden with pitfalls (false negs
on bloods, bad biopsy samples, subjective reading of results etc etc).  So
with the urging of Dr. Rudert, I tested through enterolab.  She has on copy
of the gene most closely linked with 'celiac' disease and was producing
antibodies.  Her malabsorption test came back negative, indicating that while
she is definitely gluten intolerant, she probably didn't yet have the
intestinal damage that would have gotten her a 'celiac' dx.

She went GF the day we sent of the stool sample and the cheek swab.  the
difference in  her demeanor is PHENOMINAL.  Every time she gets accidentally
gluten, we see the most *incredible* tantrums and tears.  Incredible.  To the
point of spitting, vomiting, head banging etc.  When she's GF, we have the
most even keeled, confident, happy, outgoing child.

Had I followed my pediatricians advice wrt solids, food choices etc....Alana
would still be eating gluten, and wouldn't be tested.....and would eventually
end up with damage to her intestines, other autoimmune disorders would be
likely (b/c she wouldn't have been gf by age 2) and perhaps all kinds of
other problems - physical, behavioral, emotional....

I now have a new 3 wk old baby....she's been peaceful and gf since the
beginning (bc I'm not eating gluten).  Before she starts solids, I'll do the
gene test b/c it's *so* easy and non-invasive (cheek swab).  Regardless, she
won't be getting grains until she's about a yr old.  If she has any of the
genes linked with gluten sensitive enteropathies,  chron's, microscopic
colitis, etc she will be strictly GF until much much later - how late, I
don't know.....6, 12?  We'll have to see.  If she doesn't have any of the
genes, she'll still be mostly GF b/c our house is GF.....but she may get
gluten outside of the home b/c dad does eat it outside of the home.

i think that there are alot of health problems in existence that are clearly
linked to gluten....many of them could be avoided by carefully monitoring
when gluten is given...and testing to know if this person is a likely
candidate for problems with gluten down the road.

just my .02
katherine in atl