**Debbie33Casey** GF questions

GingerWife

Since you're one of the other gf mommas and you've done this before a few questions-

-Did you decide to keep DD gf?

-I plan to bf, but have formula just in case.  Is there a difference between Similac and Enfamil in terms being better or worse for Celiac? 

DEBBIE33CASEY

DH and I talked to one of the leading experts in Celiac Disease who DH happened to know through work.  He suggested (obviously) to BF (with you, yourself on a GF diet) as long as possible and it's best to introduce wheat to your child (assuming they are undiagnosed and otherwise healthy) while they're still on your BM.  He said to obviously test your child if they start showing any sort of symptom of the disease whatsoever; but if they are not showing symptoms then don't bother testing them until around age 3, puberty and then again before they go off of your insurance (18?).  Those were the suggestions we took away from the Celiac Disease Specialist.

My experience: I was on a GF diet while EPing and luckily never had to supplement with formula and have to find which were gluten free or not.  But if this LO ends up being on formula then I WILL put them on a GF formula at least until we start feeding solid foods that include wheat (Cheerios was DD's first).  Then I would switch to a cheaper one (if it didn't make a difference to her him).  DD was only on formula for a few weeks at DC and BM at home before her 1st bday so I'd almost made enough BM for her to switch straight to whole milk.  But she luckily didn't develop any symptoms from any of the formulas we tried.  We only purchased 1 can, used the few samples we got in the mail and then whatever the DCP had.

I eat GF in the house and besides Cheerios and maybe a few other small things like crackers for DH and DD the rest of us eat GF as well.  So it might actually be kind of hard to see any Celiac symptoms on DD if she did develop any, since we are eating 90% GF as a family.

I'll tell you, though... I was scared to death the first time I gave her something with gluten in it to go in her mouth.  I was pretty much holding my breath for days as we fed it to her.  Last time I checked the odds are only 10% that a child will develop Celiac Disease if they have a parent with the disease.  So I tried to reassure myself with those odds and relax.

Sorry I couldn't answer any more formula questions for you. I'm fairly unknowledgable in that area!  If you find out anything important on that subject please pass on the info!  I plan to BF this baby, or EP if need be, but FF is always a possibility! Hope this helps!

GingerWife

Thanks for all the great info Debbie!

I am going to try to BF since especially in this case it really is what is best for baby, but I want to be prepared in case he is hungry in the middle of the night and I can't produce.  I would rather be prepared and have a can of formula go to waste then not be prepare and have my little man be hungry!

I had no idea about the 10%.  I assumed it would be much higher.  I didn't show most of the "classic" symptoms so I am so scared that I would miss it in him, but I guess I have a year or so to figure things out.

Thanks again for taking time to type everything out.  I'm trying to make sure I don't forget to dot my i's and cross my t's since today or tomorrow may be baby day.