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Posted: 17 May 2008 at 1:25am | IP Logged

I would really appreciate some advice if anyone has any to give! Our youngest, Gavin who is just 7 months old has just been released from hospital, he was admitted because he's too small (he weighs in at about 11lbs!). Unfortunately they seem to think that he may have Coeliacs Disease I've been to the Coeliac Society website which was quite informative but there are a couple of things that concern me, the only proper way to diagnose it is to give them a general anaesthetic and take a sample of their bowel, which I know isn't going to be pleasant but is necessary, I'm just wondering how anyone else has coped with this. My other concern is baby food, we currently have him on Hipp Organic but we aren't sure if there is a specialist baby food that we could get for him.

Any advice would be helpful! 

Posted: 17 May 2008 at 8:37am | IP Logged

Hi hun

I'm sorry to hear that you're facing a difficult time ahead of you. As far as i know they probably wouldn't risk a general unless it's nessessary and even then it might not happen till your lo's a bit older, but they can also do a blood test to see what the body's response is when eating gluten.

As for food have they told you to avoid products containing gluten?

Alot of baby foods have a tick system of what each product contains... so it might be a limited diet if you use just jars but it might help you in the begining. However i know from a friend that many foods are naturally gluten-free, including rice, maize, meat, fish, cheese and eggs as well as vegetables, pulses (peas, beans and lentils) and fruit.

In shops now they tend to have a gulten free foods section to help people find the products that are free from.... (in my local tesco it's in the tea and coffee isle), for example breads, pasta, pizza bases and biscuits and some foods are available on prescription. There are also internet shops where you can buy gluten free products and have them delivered to your door.

A simple basic website i found when my friend was diagnosed was the coeliacs uk site.... click here if you would like to jump to it.

HTH a little if you have any questions i'd pop and see your gp or hv with them as they should be able to help you out too....

Posted: 17 May 2008 at 8:45am | IP Logged

Hi, sorry to hear your son has Coeliacs disease.  My middle daughter and I have both had bowel problems and both had biopsies taken from our bowel.  My daughter was 6 weeks old when she started to have problems.  Although it sounds unpleasant it really isn't too bad.  He won't know anything about it, he will be asleep and then will wake up and shouldn't be in any pain from the procedure.

As for baby food, I made my own because I could never find enough range of choice from jarred food that didn't contain something that made her ill.  Making baby food yourself is very easy and a lot cheaper than jars or packets.