Going Gluten Free With Other Food Allergies? Help!

[sarahelizabeth]

This has been 2 years in the making but I think we are finally going to trial a gluten free diet with my 2.5 year old son. He's had constipation issues almost since birth... we tried every dietary measure known to man without luck and finally had to resort to Miralax daily when he was 7 months old... he's been on that ever since and can't poop without it.

We saw a ped GI when he was 8 months and then again at 12 months. He was fairly certain that his bowel issues were allergy related so we went to an allergist. Turns out he's allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, soy, and a handful of other "minor" foods. He's had those eliminated from his diet completely since he was 20 months old.... so for 10 months now... and there's been no change in his constipation.

He was tested for celiac (just ttg I believe) at 20 months and it was negative. Ped did that because of excessive sleeping he was doing at that age in conjunction with the constipation. She did say he was a little young to get an accurate test though.

He's small... always has been... even dropped off the charts for a while but is now comfortably back on them at around the 25th percentile for both height and weight... although height is starting to fall off (his feet haven't grown in size since January). He's definitely got a bloated little belly on him. Horrific smelling bms and gas and severe constipation. I've had enough... I am ready to try gluten free regardless of bloodtests at this point!!

He's the problem though... with the soy and nut allergies how do I feed him?? When I looked at most of the gluten-free foods at Whole Foods they almost all contained soy or nuts or where processed on a plant with them!! EEK!! Is it possible??

[Juliebove]

I don't have a Whole Foods near me so I don't know what all they carry. It's posible you may need to buy some foods online or from another source. Is there a health food store near you that will order things for you? Mine is really good to do that.

You can order foods from this very website, and there are many other places. I order breads from Ener-G because I can get them in 2 slice packets. You may have to try several kinds to find something he likes. My daughter likes some of them but not all.

Other foods she likes are Organ canned pasta, Ians fish sticks, chicken nuggets, dinners, French toast sticks, Enjoy Life cookies and bars, also their chocolate chips.

But there are plenty of other simple foods you can make and probably get in any store. More and more stores seem to be carrying rice or corn pasta. You can get some rice pasta in the Asian section of your grocery store. Plain white, brown or wild rice is gluten free. You can buy *some* rice mixes that he isn't allergic to. I recently bought some online. Potatoes, corn, dried beans and other vegetables are easy enough to fix. He is probably old enough to eat raw vegetables and fruits. Most kids love to eat things with their hands. Does he like hummus? My daughter loves it with cucumber slices, baby carrots or rice crackers.

There are some mainstream cereals he can eat. Like Trix, Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles, Dora Stars and Little Einsteins.

It does get easier with time. When my daughter was first diagnosed, I wasted a lot of money. I bought anything and everything I could find that she wasn't allergic to. I paid no mind to whether or not I thought she might eat it, and a lot of those things she didn't like. Like raspberry vinagrette! At least I am lucky in that she is quite willing to try new things.

What I'd suggest that you do is come up with a few meals you know he will eat and that he's not allergic to. Rotate those meals so he doesn't get too bored with the food and then look for other options. I've had to learn to cook things in different ways than I used to and substitute different things, but I can usually come up with a suitable substitute.

[shayesmom]

He's small... always has been... even dropped off the charts for a while but is now comfortably back on them at around the 25th percentile for both height and weight... although height is starting to fall off (his feet haven't grown in size since January). He's definitely got a bloated little belly on him. Horrific smelling bms and gas and severe constipation. I've had enough... I am ready to try gluten free regardless of bloodtests at this point!!

He's the problem though... with the soy and nut allergies how do I feed him?? When I looked at most of the gluten-free foods at Whole Foods they almost all contained soy or nuts or where processed on a plant with them!! EEK!! Is it possible??

Yes, the gluten-free diet is totally possible to do even with the added complication of other food allergies. In order to increase your chances for success, I think it's most important to keep things as simple as humanly possible. Surprisingly that may involve a bit of homework. lol!

We have kept our meals very simple here. We bake, broil, steam, saute or grill a meat, steam a veggie (or two or three) and then I either make mashed potatoes and gravy, my own rice mix or I'll make baked sweet potato fries....or something along those lines. I keep a huge bowl of fruit on the kitchen table for dd to pick from for a side with breakfast or as a snack.

There are many snack foods that your son probably is eating now that are also gluten-free. You may also be able to add snacks like Tings (Cheetoh-like), K-Toos (Oreo), and any of the Enjoy Life snacks. I have been trying to take one or two evenings per week for baking my own stuff. One night, I'll make a mix of brownies/cupcakes (store-bought), the other, I will try a new gluten-free recipe (and try converting it so that it is dairy, egg and soy-free). One thing that has helped is making things like mini-cupcakes and keeping portion sizes down. The treats last longer and afford me the opportunity to take breaks from baking quite often.

Mixes that should be safe for your son are Namaste, The Cravings Place, some of Cherrybrook Kitchens and Chebe, and much of The Gluten-free Pantry line of products. Unfortunately, Namaste and The Cravings Place are fairly pricey....the upside is...they are very good and happen to also be free of dairy, corn, potato and casein as well as gluten. If you need to avoid eggs, just add 1/4 unsweetened applesauce (or other fruit puree) for each egg.

I'd also highly recommend Living Without magazine. They have wonderful recipes for those dealing with multiple food intolerances as well as great articles that really are inspiring. With the help of this magazine and a few other cookbooks, you may find that this really isn't that bad. Like anything else, there is a learning curve and it takes some getting used to.

Also, you will find that many of these foods can be purchased on-line for less than they retail in health food stores. Shop the sales. I've found Vitacost.com to be a great source for buying Tinkyada pasta (at $2.69 per bag on average). Amazon has some items on sale as well. From there, we try to shop the sales flyers from our nearest health food and grocery stores. Once you find the products your son likes....it gets MUCH easier.

P.S., I thought that you had mentioned that going dairy-free for a month did ease your son's constipation? Are you contemplating giving dairy up as well? (I found the dairy to be harder to give up than gluten...but once again, it's amazing what you get used to)

[lonewolf]

He's the problem though... with the soy and nut allergies how do I feed him?? When I looked at most of the gluten-free foods at Whole Foods they almost all contained soy or nuts or where processed on a plant with them!! EEK!! Is it possible??

Here is a link to 25 recipes that he can eat most of. There are a couple (peanut butter cookies and Puppy Chow) that call for peanut butter or nut butter, but I think the rest are nut free. They should all be soy free because I'm sensitive to soy too. It's hard at first, but it's doable. Can he have seeds? Like sunflower seed butter? If so, you can even make the Puppy Chow for him.

Open Original Shared Link

[Brady's Mom]

P.S., I thought that you had mentioned that going dairy-free for a month did ease your son's constipation? Are you contemplating giving dairy up as well? (I found the dairy to be harder to give up than gluten...but once again, it's amazing what you get used to)

I can verify that if constipation is the main problem, casein (not just lactose, but milk protein -- found in MANY foods) is probably the culprit. My oldest son has been on a casein free diet since the age of 5 (he's 12 now). His constipation was so severe that we had to see a specialist and went through years of enemas, milk of magnesia, etc. before the doc finally said to try going casein free. Within six months he was fully potty trained with "regular" BM's. It takes a long time for casein to leave the system, I've heard as much as two months. Even a little bit of casein can cause the constipation, especially if there is still a little bit lingering in their system.

I agree that going on a casein free diet is challenging, but once you get used to it, it's not so bad. Your son is still young enough that he won't know any different. Now that my son is 12, he has been "sneaking" dairy. He ate a cookie with sour cream in it yesterday and got a horrible stomach ache -- lesson learned!

My youngest son (he's 2) is on a diet free of gluten, casein, soy, egg and corn. We are also avoiding peanuts and tree nuts just in case. This all started because he was having growth issues from birth, he just recently made it to the 5th percentile for height and the 12th for weight. For a long time he was below the 1st for height and the 3rd for weight. Since being off of corn in addition to the others, he's gained two pounds and 1/2 an inch and it's been less than a month!

I've found that corn is the hardest thing to avoid. We just recently discovered the corn allergy. We are following a mostly "whole foods" diet with fresh vegetables and meats. I also found some spaghetti sauce at Kroger that is gluten free and also free of everything else, so he has spaghetti with rice pasta. He really likes the Enjoy Life "granola" bars. Feel free to PM me if you want, we can share our misery

Lynn

[shan]

I naturally cook without gluten, dairy and soya, because of my daughter and son - i don't have any health food shops nearby, so the only thing i occasionally get are the crackers and pretzels to snack on! The hardest i find is breakfast - i make a big supper and give leftovers for lunch. But i dont know what i would do when they start proper school and need something all day.

Just by the way, before you start gluten free try the dairy free - i get terrible C from it - i am now basically off it but i used to go for 2 - 3 WEEKS without going!! (and i only found out after i realised my son couldn't take it!)