jimjams, spidermama, ruty and other gfcf HELP

[yowlingmonster]

Im really struggling with this whole diet thing. DS has been dairy free all his life so no worries there but the gluten has been a nightmare. We get no funding as his markers are negative so we are on our own with it. Need ideas of foods desperately, especially as I am supposed to go gf as well as I am bfeeding, I b*y hate the food so far (am also a vege but am back on dairy after an 11mth df diet)
Have found a gf porridge ds will eat, is this enough, can he have it day after day, is it as filling as "normal" porridge?
He will sometimes eat rice cakes and rice crackers but is pretty unpredictable with them
He will eat one of the gf bar things. He will sometimes eat cold meats but wont touch anything cooked unless it has crumbs, are the gf ones any good?
Struggling with this so much. Dr said to go for one gf meal a day to start with and then go from there. THis week ds has started to have very loose smelly naps with bits of food in them, not sure if this is just run of the mill grotty botty or the gluten.
Thanks from a super stressed yowling monster.

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What was he eating before? (name change btw was JJ) By the time we switched ds1 had already severely limited his diet (to bread and cheerios only) and he switched across to the gf alternative. For children eating a normal diet I would do lots of casseroles etc- but sounds as if that'll be a no go. Have you got Marilyn LeBreton's book of recipes?

My ds is an incredibly fussy eater and when he was put on a cf/gf diet it was a nightmare. But he would eat the 'Tesco free from range' of chicken nuggets and fishfingers, both with bread crumbs. They really aren't that bad considering what alot of these gf/cf foods can be like. Might be worthwhile giving them a go

do you mean sainsbury's? (getting very excited at the thought of tescos doing them as well)

It is Tescos, they do quite alot. I used to spend hours there checking out every product. What fun days they were

Mind you you have to go hunting, they're not all in one place, just look for purple packaging. I even saw a pizza last week.

oh maybe that's why I can no longer find the dietaryspecials pizzas in there. How exciting!

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ds2 was gluten free until 2. He still has gluen free food at home. Ds3 is 9 months now and will be gf until 2 as well. DS2 has some sensory issues- he's not remotely autistic/aspie/anything like that- but we do think he sits quite close to the edge (from sensory stuff) so am pleased we were cautious.

DS3 has no sensory issues, but we're being careful with him too!

sorry only just seen this! DS is one and so i'm oredicting gfcf diet is going to get harder this coming year [we've been advised to keep him gfcf until he is two and then review. He eats very well and i've got used to the cardboard gluten free bread, [we use glutano tho biona do an organic yeast free one, hard to get - i got in when in cornwall!] tho ds gobbles it up, i guess he's never known anything different, so that helps. He has banana organix cereal every morning, sometimes with a bit of toast, and might be boring but he doesn't seem to mind! We use biona vegetable margarine or pure marg. We have a lot of lamb and chicken and veg casseroles, alot of mashed potato - we use neocare formula for mixing with food tho i still breastfeed. lots of fruit. It may be a bit repetitive but as i say he doesn't know anything different. We make custard with rice milk and orgran custard powder. orgran do good pasta too. I'm a bit worried about when he mixes more with other kids that he'll want what they are eating. But we'll have to cross that bridge at the time.

oredicting? predicting even?

Just seen this.
My ds is wheat intolerant, so not as strict as gluten free. I bought a couple of cookbooks (Terrence Stamp and Antoinette Saville) which are OK. AS is the better one I suppose.
I bake with Doves Farm GF flour and also their bread flour.
What about Polenta? That's great stuff and most kids seem to like it. You can make it with stock or cheese for extra flavour.
I'm going out now, believe it or not, to a disco. (yipeeeeeeee!) but if you're interested in polenta let me know and I'll jot down a couple of good tips and a recipe on it. (From the Green River Cafe Book, in case you have it.)

oh I was coming on to bump this and have had lots of response.
Ruty are you still bfeeding and have you cut gluten and casien out of your diet?
Jimjams what about you did you bfeed and if so were you gfcf? WE dont have tescos or sainsburys in NZ that I am aware of but was considering making my own chicken and fish nuggets with freedom foods crumbs.

As these kids arent strictly coeliac how pedantic are you with labels like
"may contain traces of gluten"
"made in a factory/plant that produces food containing gluten"
Managed a whole day yesterday where HE was totally gf, I was a different story.
He ate gf porridge with apricot and raisins and soymilk for brekkie
Sliced ham for mt
gf pasta w hm vegestock, soycream cheese, peas, carrots and diced baby toms for lunch
Rice wafer w hummus and sliced ham, felafel patties, mashed spud and stir fry vege for dinner.
Most got given to the dog but does it sound ok?

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Sounds lovely yowler! I ate lots of stir fry when I was gluten free, even for breakfast. The Orgran pizza base mix is good, I used some tofu. Chicken nuggets work quite well with the freedom crumbs. Polenta is great stuff.

Lots of supermarkets do a good g/f range now and health food stores.
I looked after a seliac(sp) 20 years ago and that was a nightmare! you can usually use cornflour to thicken sauces and gravies etc.
Nice quick pudding liquidize a tin or pears in juice and thicken with cornflour, sets like blancmange and isyummy, great for milk free too

anyhelp

this looks good

thanks for those links will spend some time going through them.

I googled gluten free and a few came up, hope it helps!

We're very strict but only because we have to be. The last time ds1 had a trace of wheat (tiny trace- not listedf on the ingredients and product described as gluten free- I only tracked it down because I rang the manufacturers and they said one of the ingredients was contaminated with wheat - flour I think) we had huge bruises on his head. However ds1's diet is very very self-limited so I'm not the best person to ask about yummy balanced gf diets!

Ds1 didn;t go gf until he was 2 and a half so I didn;t have to worry about bfeeding. I'm not that strcit with ds3 (or ds2 in his turn) but they've never showed any developmental problems.

I tend to go by trial and error. One of the worst food reactions we've had (loads of headbanging) was from peanut butter (made from pure organic peanuts- no other ingredients). However ds1's diet is so limited it is easy to identify when foods are causing problems.

JJ You use a multi vitamin when you can get it into him, which one do you use. DS is definately not as limited as yours not even close he will generally bite into most things problem is it will be one bite and then thats it hence the weight loss.

In use Usana- freely available in NZ- he's fine with those and they're very high quality- always takes them easily. You can buy find out more from my website- or Ghosty's- but tell her I told you about them. CAT me if you want the urls (you can buy them from our websites for the same price as we pay for them)-

i am still bfeeding and yes i am on a strict gluten free casein free diet too, as ds's gut problems started when he was solely breastfed. we are strict with the gfcf thing to ensure no further problems.