One Kid's Sensitive to Gluten, One's Not...

Just the child who is intolerant, it makes no sense to have the rest of the family be without the foods that can ultimately be good for them when only one person has to be without them. I just make sure that I come up with alternatives that are equally as appealing to the other child. There are always alternatives. You just have to get creative. You can substitute rice flour and make the same things as other recipies or other flours that contain no gluten. Then they are still able to have cake and cookies. Good luck, I have a friend with celiac's and she almost died before they figured it out, be glad its only an intolerance. There are definately ways to live well with this condition.

I have found almost nothing that I can't find a gluten free alternative to either commercially or baked myself. Considering that this is possible, I think it would be very obnoxious to eat wheat in front of her and refuse to let her have it. Once in a while, if she's not around, treat yourself, but she will get enough pain with every birthday party cake and school cup cake event without getting the frustration of being left out from family, too.

We just found out that my husband is allergic to wheat...how we found out was by him spending the night in the ICU and going to every specialist known in the medical field. He apparently was allergic to wheat(gluten) his entire life, but was never tested for it, so you are 1 up on a lot right now. Once we discovered that he was allergic to wheat the entire family went wheat free. It is easier and nicer on him. We also found out that through this our oldest son (who is 6) is intolerant to wheat.

I don't know where you live, but Fred Meyer has a very nice selection of gluten-free products. There are also several websites that are wheat-free. If you make a big effort by the 2nd month of being wheat-free you will have learned how to make all those foods you cannot give up wheat free and most likely they will taste a TON better. I am not judging you, I know how extremely HARD it is to go wheat-free. Especially when going out to eat. I keep telling my husband that we should open up a gluten-free pizza parlor. :)

There are 2 cookbooks out there that might help you. I use The Gluten-Free Gourmet by Bette Hagman and then there is a kids cookbook that is the Kid friendly- Autism and ADHD cookbook. Their recipes are gluten-free and dairy-free. I haven't tried the Autism one, but am wanting to.

If you want send me a note and I can give you names of products to use and flours that taste the best. Gluten-free cooking is like going old school cooking, mixing flours, putting in ingredients that will make it rise etc. etc.

The easiest way that we have found is for the whole family to eat gluten free (my husband isn't a celiac, but our boys and I are). There are plenty of yummy GF products out there these days- not like it used to be. For example, if making cake, chocolate chip cookies or brownies, buy Betty Crocker's GF mix. If the kids eat cookies, crackers, chips for a snack, check out King Soopers chip aisle where they have an all natural section with healthier, and often GF, options. Also at King Soopers, in the frozen food section, they sell GF mac and cheese (by Amy's), GF bread (by Udi's) and GF muffins, waffles, chicken nuggets, etc. Obviously, Whole Foods and Vitamin Cottage have great products too, but they are sometimes more expensive. Good luck! It's really not as difficult as you might think.

In our family I am the one who can't have gluten so if I am cooking something for dinner (like spaghetti) I'll make my self a serving of gluten free pasta- I like the corn pasta better, the rice pasta seems to fall apart easier and doesn't re-heat as well. Betty crocker makes two gluten free cake mixes as well as a brownie and cookie mix. The brownies are super good- just don't over cook them, the first time I made them, they didn't seem done by the time it said they would be so I had to cook them almost 10 min longer and once they were cooled, they were so very hard! Most Kroger stores have a natural section where they sell gluten free foods and mixes. I do substitute my all purpose gluten free flour when I am making something large like chicken pot pie filling or baked chicken, I haven't noticed too much of a difference. Oh- you can get rice noodles in the oriental section that are pretty good, they are usually flat and white/clear, I use those a lot too.

My older son is allergic to dairy, eggs and nuts, and we usually don't eat these foods in front of him. I write a food blog (and cookbooks) with a registered dietitian. All of the recipes on our site are gluten-free and delicious. We also have product reviews. If you bake up yummy cookies or muffins, no one is going to care that they don't have gluten :) Our website is www.welcomingkitchen.blogspot.com.

My oldest daughter was diagnosed with Celiac about 3 yrs ago. We eat gluten in front of her but usually only if she has a gluten free alternative. Like some of the others have said, there are alternatives for pretty much everything. However, some of the things that she loved (goldfish, frosted mini wheats) things that I haven't found substitutes for, we wouldn't eat when she was around. I will say that my husband and I differed a bit on this decison. He feels she has to get used to it, I feel it's mean to eat it in front of her. Since I do most of the shopping it's not too hard for me to not buy those things.

There are alot of great mixes and GF foods out there now. Hopefully you can find things you can all eat together.

We have this situation at our house. My 2 year old understands that sometimes we eat things that would make his tummy hurt. Often times I get the gluten free equivalent for him. Tinkyada rice pasta --the rest of the family won't be able to tell the difference. Vitamin Cottage carries Debbie's gluten free products...the pizza crust is really good. You can get rice crackers in place of wheat crackers. Enjoy life makes really good "cereal' bars. You can get gluten free oats. I make gluten free pancakes and baked goods. Namaste foods has really great products for your baking needs, and I think the rest of the family would like these as well. Basically I'm saying that we do a mix--sometimes we eat things he can't have, but mostly we find alternatives that the whole family eats. Also, the alternatives are "his" things, which makes him feel special that he has his very own foods.
Good luck!
J.

My son (almost 5) has a dairy allergy, and while I always have an alternative snack or meal for him, the rest of the family still eats the "normal" food in front of him. By 2 he was well aware of what he could and could not eat, and was (and still is) quick to tell people he has a dairy allergy. I figured that the sooner he understood what he can and cannot have, and was aware of the difference between "his" food and what is often available to him out in the world, the easier it would be for him to make choices and decisions when I am not there (at a friend's house, a birthday party, preschool, etc). So far it has worked well. I try to provide him with a snack or alternative, especially at parties (I'll send a cupcake he can eat), I don't expect others to provide for him (this gives me more control, as so many processed/store bought foods contain dairy), but he is well aware of what he can and cannot have and will ask if something has dairy in it if he is not sure.

My daughter is allergic to nuts and seafood, but we also know she can't tolerate spicy food or drinks with caffeine in it.

We haven't stopped eating foods we want to eat in front of our daughter. In fact, at 2, she started saying "no nuts" when we ordered food at restaurants. We just say to her "Sorry, this has nuts in it" or "it's too spicy" and she won't ask for more. Most of the time we do have an alternative item for her so she doesn't feel bad.

She's going to have friends that will eat things that she can't in front of her. So she has to learn what she's allergic to and ask about it. It may be hard saying no at first but when you're consistent and keep reminding her that she'll get sick if she eats a certain food, she'll learn that it's no big deal and that there's plenty of other things she can enjoy.

Yeah it is really difficult. My son (2 years old) has the same issue and so do I. It is more of a problem for him at his Grandma's house because he has cousins his age that eat a lot of gluten and in my opinion junk. I try to make it so that he has things that look simular to theirs and that usually works, he's becoming wise to this though, but I can usually keep him away from gluten (and cow milk which is another sensitivity) 90% of the time. This seems to be enough to keep his symptoms from coming up. My Husband eat's wheat and gluten, but since I try not to and haven't for 14 years, this is not much of an issue for me. My Husband also doesn't mind eating gluten free. We do have regular wheat bread, crackers and pasta around but if I'm making food I don't use them. It's hard to change over at first but once you get the hang of it, it is second nature. Plus now days there are lots of great gluten free products out there. Udi's has wonderful sandwich bread, and there are quite a few good pasta's out there, bionatura has one that is good. You can also find gluten free oats, they aren't cheap but they are available. Good luck, you'll get the hang of it.

have you bought the gluten free alternatives for her? there are so many choices out there you really don't have to bake/cook them yourself. Amazon has a good gluten free selection (type in "gluten free" in the grocery) and you can order gluten free stuff at glutenfreemall.com and other places. i'm sure you also have a local gluten free grocery store that would carry items.

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/
This is a great website - her family is gluten free, and there are some great recipes on this site - including pizza that she cooks in the crock pot! I have made several recipes, and my family has enjoyed them.

http://thewheatfreelife.blogspot.com/
A friend of mine has this link on her blog - a friend of her's recently had to go wheat free and is posting her recipes on this blog. I haven't personally tried any of these recipes but I have several that I will be trying in the future.