gluten and dairy allergies

PrairieMom wrote: One of the mommies in my MOPS group just found out that her daughter ( 3 years old) has gluten and dairy allergies and is feeling a little overwhelmed.
She is really freaking out that she has just been condemned to a life of eating only fruits and veggies, and doesn't really know where to start.

What do you guys with kids with these allergies feed your kids? and is there a support place you go to for advice? I would love to point her in a direction that would give her a little peace.

julesmom replied: Do you have a local celiac group?

amymom replied: Tara,
Two places I found alot of useful information:

www.cdhnf.org and www.celiac.com
Both useful links.
Alot of people with gluten intollerances have milk issues as well, so a celiac support group is a great idea.

And here Parenting Club of course!

Good Luck to your friend. Let her know that her child will be one of the ones that totally understands the nutrition segments of all her science classes as she gets older. My daughter's teachers are amazed at some of the knowledge that is just part of MB's life given her digestive problems.

Also on the positive side, it can be an adventure instead of a condemnation!

edited to add---she is welcome to contact me, although there are others who know so much more than I. If you don't have my email address let me know.

MommyToAshley replied: I think Anne Marie has given some great advice to start out with. Anne Marie, I don't think I ever knew that MB had any allergies or food limitations. I am sure you are a wealth of information in this area, you've done a great job with MB.

There's a girl in Ashley's girl scout troop that has a severe case of celiac disease. She can't even touch anything that has gluten in it or she starts throwing up severely. All three of the kids in this family have celiac disease as I guess it is inherited. They think that the little girls grandfather has it and it's just undiagnosed. Her mom has done an awesome job of educating her children about what they can eat, and educating the troop on why her girls eat separately and it's important not to touch their space that they eat in. Also, all the girls in the troop immediately wipe down their area and wash their hands when they are done eating to avoid any cross-contamination.

Anyways, the Mom has educated herself to the point where she started her own baking company for kids with celiac disease. She said that now there are a whole group of products at the grocery store that are gluten free (even cookies and brownies) that weren't available when her kids were first diagnosed.

Your friend won't be condemmed to a life of fruits and vegetables only, but their life is going to change. I am sure it won't be easy, and I am sure it will be overwhelming at first, but I would think the doctors would be able to point her in the right direction with some support groups. Connecting with other mothers who have been there would be a tremedous help, I think. If Anne Marie is willing to talk to her, that would be a great place to start.

PrairieMom replied: I tried to be really reassuring to her last night. Its just a whole new world for her, and she is going to have to look at foods in a whole new way. She is really kind of in a panic without even knowing what options are open to her. I will forward her the links.
I did find her a muffin and cookie recipe this morning. Knowing your kid can still have muffins and cookies has to help. She is just so overwhelmed.

coasterqueen replied: She's going to panic. It's natural. It will take her a good month or two to really get into the routine and not panic so much about it. The sources given are great places to go. I, unfortunately, with Megan's RARE food allergies didn't have anywhere I could really find to go for support or information. Just had to muddle through it. Now I did have help with her lactase deficiency, which was nice.

What kind of milk allergy does she have. Lactose intolerance, lactase deficiency, milk protein allergy? That makes a big difference as well. Although I don't know much about celiac disease to know which kind of milk allergy it is. I only knew of lactose intolerance and milk protein allergy before Megan was diagnosed with lactase deficiency. People think they are all the same, but they aren't.

PrairieMom replied:
I know, I told her the first few months are going to suck while they get adjusted, but that it IS going to be ok. It will just take a while to get a hang of what food options there are and change the routine a little.
SHe was so sad because her daughters favorite meal is mac and cheese and she had to tell her that she couldn't have it anymore.
I was like WHAT?! she can TOTALLY have mac and cheese, and found her a gluten and dairy free mac and cheese recipe this morning.

I have no idea what exact allergy she has, she just said dairy. Her daughters issues are mainly behavioral with the allergies, she was acting out and they thought it was possibly ADHD, but thankfully took her 4 hours away to a unconventional Dr who thought to allergy test her.
I wonder how many kids being treated for ADHD are really having allergen issues?

coasterqueen replied:
A lot probably. The most common "acting out" allergy is to yellow dye and red dye.

She might (or you) find those recipes so she can have mac n cheese, but it will never taste the same! At least not to us. None of us really like mac n cheese anymore because we can't due to the yellow dye. Every mac n' cheese out there that doesn't have yellow dye is NASTY or just so bland/cardboard taste it's not worth it. We would make our own but the cost of white cheese is OUTRAGEOUS and so we can't afford to make things like that on our own. We use a whole block of white cheese for tacos and it's $6 for a block of white cheese.

There's lots of substitutes we've found but they never taste the same. Unfortunately. blah!

DVFlyer replied: Keian is on a modified GFCF diet.

He eats mostly "Veggie Fries" from Costco, bologna, GF spaghetti, more Veggie Fries. He also eats Millet bread occasionally.

He drinks Dairy Free milk substitute as well as Rice or Soy milk.

We also give him a supplement called E7. It's a rice based "superfood" type drink.

My only issue with the GFCF world is the cost of the food. As much as I hear about the mainstream manufacturers ripping people off, you'd think the GFCF world would be a deal. It's not. It's a total rip off.

PrairieMom replied:
I have slowly been moving away from packaged foods and been making from scratch. It has been a hard transition esp for the kids, but after you do it for a while you kind of forget what the old food tasted like and start developing a taste for the new food.
I am making my own "prepackaged" oatmeal , hot chocolate mix, bread, granola, granola bars and basically every kind of cake or cookie from scratch. The kids are finally getting used to it. We don't do boxed mac either. Just boiled noodles, with a little oil and melted cheese mixed in. Although, we can do conventional cheese, so that really helps with the price.

I totally get you with the price thing DV. It Sucks. It really is more affordable to eat highly processed "foods" Since I have started cooking from scratch and eating mostly organic our grocery bill is $200 a week just for the 4 of us.

coasterqueen replied:
I'm paying that now with using some prepackaged stuff! We can't do a lot of prepackaged stuff because of Megan's allergies, but when we find something that is prepackaged and she's not allergic to we get. I don't have the luxury of cooking all day or even the time when I get home. By the time we get home we have 1.5 hours before the girls go to bed. If a meal takes 45 minutes or more to cook my time is spent all on that. That's why I do a lot of crock pot meals, but when we have after school activities, there is no cooking, it's quick, quick, quick. My mom used to cook from scratch every night and by the time we got done eating it was time for bed. I hated that! Now if I could start an hour early, I'd cook from scratch all the time. I want to make a chicken dish tonight, but by the time I get home at 5:30, get everyone settled so I can start cooking it wouldn't be done until 6:30 almost 6:45 then eat, so that's 7:15 then 15 minutes later it's time for the girls to go to bed. Not my idea of fun.

And we have been eating some things from scratch on weekends that are not like the prepackaged stuff and we STILL don't like it any better. We do a lot of fruit for snacks as I refuse to bake for my children. They don't need cookies, cakes, all that kind of stuff - those are special occasions. Well, I must admit I don't bake it because I'd eat it too and that wouldn't be good, either. So it's fruit, fruit, fruit in our house. The girls sometimes have ice cream for snack, too, but Megan not so much with her lactase deficiency. Depends on how much milk she's had during the rest of the day.

PrairieMom replied: I get ya Karen. There are so many demands on our time. It is really hard.

JeannetteK replied: I've got a ton of info on gluten free foods. PM me for my email and you can pass it along to her. I have it all saved in an email as my 2 eight year old twin nieces are gluten free.