Hospitals and gluten free food

[Catlover1812]

I'm 33 weeks pregnant with coeliac disease and wondering how this will be handled in hospital when I have the baby? Do you need to pre order gf food, or bring your own? Do they handle contamination well? I'll be at the Royal Free in Hampstead to be more specific. I'd be interested to hear your experiences (at Royal Free or any other hospital!) Thanks x

I would take plenty of your own food.

It seems fairly common not to get fed full stop on post natal wards. I only got toast after asking several times after not having anything to eat for about 18 hours. I'm not sure there would had been anything at all if I had needed gluten free.

A coeliac family member was recently in hospital for a non pregnancy related very planned reason. They ordered food in advance, it was written all over their notes that they were coeliac and they were still served non gluten free food

Thanks for the reply. I don't expect three course meals (especially on postnatal ward) but I've heard that toast seems to be all that's served after a baby so obviously that's out! Think I will just load my bag with gf food!

My sighted is coeliac and when she broke her leg the hospital was totally unable to sort her regular gluten free meals. Luckily there was a Pret and an M&S opposite and I could easily source nice gluten free options there.

My son is coeliac and under the care of the Royal Free, and when he had to go in for a day of observations and tests there were no gf options for him, however I do remember talking to a nurse and she said they did provide gf meals if they had 24hrs notice, but as a pp said their is a M&S next door which has a decent selection of GF bits.

My son has severe allergy to wheat, dairy and nuts and he has always been reasonably well fed in hospital without needing to order anything prior to his arrival (normally emergency admissions anyway). He usually gets thins like gf pasta with sauce, jacket potato with ham and salad. I always take a few snacks in for him as vending machines are no good for people with multiple allergies.

Thanks all, this is so helpful. It's just been niggling at me. None of the midwives seem to know how it's handled so first hand experience is great. I will be perusing the free from aisles before I go into labour!