HELP [sad]

[donnacb]

my ds is allergic to milk and eggs. ok hes 18 months so used to the diet. he still little and doesnt gain alot of weight and is still on movicol for his constipation.

His grandad has just be diagnosed with coeliac disease apparently its hereditory and causes all above complications. We will get ds tested but how do people cope with no gluten as well poor boy will have nothingf to eat and loves pasta.

anyone in the same situation

what do you cook

cheers donna xx

[spinach]

i sympathise, mu dd is intolerant to gluten and eggs... you can get egg free pasta in supermarkets.... its usually the gluten free stuff... doesnt taste too bad with a pasta sauce on. Look in the special foods section, tesco and waitrose do a goo range, sainsburys not too bad... my dd is a champion eater bearing in mind all the food she cannot eat.

[donnacb]

its a nightmare isnt it. you want to give them a healthy varied diet but food groups keeps dissapearing. Im just hoping im panicking and its not true but gut instinct is telling me different. thanks for support.

it would be nice to go out and not have to check all ingrediants in a restaurants menu. oh well i know im not the only one.

[mazzystar]

There's a lot of gluten-free stuff around now, and although some of it costs an arm, it doesn't take bad at all. We often have vegetable or corn pasta instead by choice.

Fingers crossed for a negative result.

[donnacb]

Thanks mazzystar. I have to say i feel sorry for my mum. i was milk and egg intolerant thats 30 something years ago. I cant imagine how hard that was. fingers crossed. thanks for sying the gluten stuff tastes nice makes me feel better. it just sounds so bland.

will let you know how we do but wont be for a couple of weeks until we see the consultant. it feels like one thing after another. he was premie, doesnt sleep and had food issues. poor boy.

love him dearly he doesnt notice any difference. just feel guilty

probably normal being a mom

[spinach]

at least you're on top of it, it would be awful for him if you kept feeding him stuff he couldnt digest. I had to eat gluten free whilst i was breastfeeding my dd... it doesnt taste that bad... my dd loves it, simply cos she doesnt know any better. It is heartbreaking though... my dd is 2.5 and notices that she doesnt eat what the other kids do... parties are horrible...(for me) she's very good about it all though. If you get referred to a dietician ask if you can have some leaflets to send off for free food samples... the companies send you stuff to try... we got packets of bread, biscuits, crackers, pasta, cakes!

[smoggie]

Just to add that if your ds is diagnosed with coaeliac then you will be able to get quite a lot of gluten free products on prescription - pasta, bread, flour etc. I really really hope for your sake that he isn't - I had to manage ds1s gluten and egg free diet for 18 months and it does get tricky sometimes. But that said you do get used to it and can manage to still give a fairly varied diet. I found that it was mainly sweet things/puddings that he missed out on and yes parties are difficult (mainly for the mums!).
The dieticians will be able to give you lots of advice and the coeliac society are great too.
Fingers crossed for you that its just the milk and eggs and nothing else.

[BagelBird]

My cousin suffers from coeliac disease and copes brilliantly. It is much easier now than ever before - for a start, labelling is much better and you can shop in supermarkets rather than relying on health food shops alone. There is more gluten free products out there and so prices are starting to come down. Look on Amazon for cookery books - it is surprising how much you can make yourself with a little adaptation. The internet is also a huge bonus - so much info and help sites etc out there.
If he is diagnosed, it will be hard to adapt at first but trust me, you will soon get the hang of what to cook for him and it will just become another tiny facet of family life.
DON’T WORRY :)

[threebob]

Get him tested first before you panic - do they test for the coeliac gene in the UK? I have it, but lucky ds takes after his dad and doesn't. Ds is allergic to milk and eggs.

You eat lots of 1950s style meat and 3 veg meals, lots of rice and Heinz Tomato Ketchup! I have found a lot of good breakfast cereals, and eat two "proper" meals per day.

I have also eaten a lot of cake and vegan ice cream in place of bread - but am trying to replace that with fruit as I stop missin bread so much.

[Heartmum2Jamie]

My ds is not coeliac, but is allergic to wheat, so he practically follows a gluten free diet. Basically, it will seem really hard at first, but you get used it it fast! We have been following a milk, soya, egg, nut & wheat free diet for 2 months now and are doing great!

I agree with the others, before you start worrying too much, get him tested. If he is coeliac, he will get alot of gluten free stuff on prescription. I was told that my ds wouldn't get any help with prescription foods because alot of the gluten free foods still contain wheat that has been "cleansed" of the gluten aspect, plus, whith his other allergies, it would be hard to find stuff he could have.

We also do alot of meat & veg, rice, free from pasta & bread. Label reading becomes second nature and many restaurants chains will send you nutritional/allergy info if you ask for it, althoguh admitedly, we haven't taken ds (23 months) to a restaurant to eat yet.

[catesmum]

my dd2 (18 months)has inflammatory bowel disease and we've been wheat, dairy, soya, egg and nut free for the past 6 months. It's not too bad just as we do get all the replacements on prescription, and it's just trial and error on using the different products and finding the best ones. It is a pain to go out for dinner and the couple of times we "trusted" the restaurants allergy advice she's had terrible flare ups (cross contamination problems), so we still take food for her wherever we go.
I hope you get a negative result...although coeliacs is hereditary the odds are still slight..but if you get a more restricted diet it's not too bad (we've got a good cake and biscuit recipe if you want one!!!)

[Heartmum2Jamie]

Catesmum, I would love to have the recipies if you don't mind, your dd2 is on the exact same avoidance diet as my ds. You have 4 months more experience than me, lol!

[Chandra]

Donnacb, wait for the tests but everytime you worry about the restricted diets also picture your son feeling better not just the hard work. DS is allergic to milk, eggs, soya, fish, nuts and some other fruits and vegs, but I have seen such a big change for the better since we removed all that things that didn't seem like very obvious allergens that I think that the extra work has been worth it.

[threebob]

Not having tantrums, and broken nights sleep in return for all that cooking is a pretty good trade that's true.