Gluten - confused?

[Queenie]

I am weaning my 5 mth old and unlike his older sister he will take jars of food and not just home prepared stuff. We are going away soon and for travelling I want to take a few jars. Now we all know we should avoid gluten until 6 months as everything you read states this so can anyone tell me why jars marked 4 mths still have ingredients containing gluten e.g Hipp Organic Creamy Breakfast porridge and Farleys Rusks and an Organix fruity breakfast are a few I picked up and put back. If health specialists recommend avoidance why are the manufacturers allowed to produce this stuff? Also do oats contain gluten?? You'd think i'd have it sussed with the 2nd child but I'm more confused now!!

Why do 4 month jars contain gluten? Because the babyfood manufacturers can get away with it. It took a change in the law to get them to stop putting salt in babyfood and it will take another one for gluten.

Oats don't contain gluten but they contain something similar to gluten which can cause a reaction in susceptible children. I introduced oats before wheat to see how dd went with it.

I have always given dd1 and dd2 baby foods with gluten as (usually) allergies to this are diagnosed before they are 4 months. The symptoms for an allergy to this are quite severe though as a close member of my family has had this allergy

oats contain a form of gluten that isn't as allergenic (I think) as wheat gluten.

I give dd1 (5 months) heinz oaty porridge for breakfast - no wheat gluten but SUGAR added, couldnt find anything else suitable that didnt have wheat gluten or cows milk protein. I am planning to change to ready brek when she hits 6 months. You could always stick to baby rice until hes 6 months?

Enid, I found this too when DS2 was about 5 months. If a baby breakfast cereal didn't have gluten in it then it had sugar and vice versa. In the end we chose the gluten over the sugar but I don't see why it can't just be simple! No sugar and no gluten.

Thanks everyone for your replies and for clearing up the wheat and oats gluten confusion. I think porridge should be ok for him then. JulieF, you siad what I was thinking re manufacturers, thanks.

Enid

Try babyorganix oat and apple (or is it pear?) cereal. I'm fairly certain that it doesn't contain sugar. They also do a couple of rice based cereals apple and pear and apple and banana if you don't want an oat or wheat cereal.

Agree with JulieF - BabyOrganix apple and pear ceral is based on rice and has no sugar. I've just weaned dd4 on it very successfully. Don't worry too much about the gluten unless you have afamily history of coeliac disease (as I do) which is a very severe gastrointestinal disorder.Tthe warnings on the labels are overkill by manufacturers and food safety bodies protecting themselves. Babyorganix is very expensive, so a good alternative is readybrek made up with formula. Ypou can try this before six months but I would wait until then before introducing Wheetabix as that is much higher fibre. HIH

I don't want to be controversial here but is Readybrek not too high in salt (and I assume has added sugar) to give to a baby under six months, I do not have a packet in the house to check as I have wheatabix boys but I thought that was one of the reasons to delay these foods.

Somebody please correct me if I am wrong as I very often am!

Readybrek is low in salt and has no added sugar -unlike Weetabix. Doves Farm (I think) do an organic version of Weetabix with no added sugar, available from health food shops.

The allergy to Gluten is called Caeliacs (sp??)Disease. It is a very serious illness which can strike at ANY time. My friends Mum was 46 when her weight started to plummet. The Docs battled for months to find out the cause and eventually diagnosed the above. She's fine now as long as she follow the special diet.

NQWWW, thanks! Do you know then why you cannot give Readybrek to a baby under six months, is it just the gluten thing? In which case I suppose if you have decided not to avoid gluten it wouldn't be a problem. I just remember a horrible case in the paper a couple of years back when a very young baby died and it sticks out in my mind that one of the things he was given was Readybrek, however I do believe that the baby was far to young to be weaned and was being given other foods too, Smash and packet gravy ring bells also, but I suppose although this was an extreme case it is just a reminder that you have to be careful when weaning. Will check out the Doves Farm stuff.

Demented - I think the particular story you are talking about is the baby that died of Kidney failure due to a consuming massive doses of salt (gravy etc). So tragic.

I used to just make porridge for my 2. Porridge oats and milk (breast or formula to start, whole after 6 months) and cooked it up in the microwave. No added sugar/salt/gluten/anything and they both loved it (still do!) Hate the stuff myself and stirring it up used to make me retch, but its a great first babyfood after rice, and mixes well with stewed fruit.
It must be cos we're scottish!

The baby that died was 3 months old and was being fed a diet of readybrek, instant mash and instant gravy, think poor old readybrek got a bad name cause of that wheras the latter two were more to blame but any of them for a 3 month old.

Apparently the parents said they were trying to do the right thing by giving them homemade babyfood, would you call instant mash/gravy home made?!!!

I'm a big fan of Ready Brek. It has less than 0.1g of sodium per 100g, which is very good. The main reason I give it to my ds is because of the high levels of calcium and iron it contains - great for a vegetarian who doesn't drink much milk (he used to be allergic, and although he is over it now he has never got into the habit of drinking it).

See www.weetabix.co.uk/brands/readybrekorig/ for more info. Also check out www.noaddedsalt.com, which compares various breakfast cereals.

Oats do contain a protein that is similar to gluten but has a much lower intolerance/allergy rate. Why not just whizz up ordinary porridge oats (organic if you prefer) in a food processor til its really fine, then it will cook just as quickly as baby cereals but costs considerably less and is totally free from any additives (sugar, salt etc). Mine loves his with dried apricot puree and ground almonds! He is 11mo by the way, dont think nuts are encouraged before 6-9mo.
Baby food companies are "allowed" to continue with producing gluten containing baby foods because "gluten free" pre 6mo is still only a recommendation.

JulieF, dd2 would like to say a big thanks for the Organix recommendations - very popular!