Starting solids with an infant who might have celiac. When did you introduce gluten?
Hi. It's almost 1am and I can't stop going down rabbit holes about this so I figured I'd just post. My daughter is 8 months and we started solids about 6 weeks ago. She's been doing okay on pureed veggies and fruit but we haven't introduced any gluten yet because my husband's side of the family has celiac. His sister was diagnosed at 34 and his mom has had GI issues her whole life that were never really explained. I know that's not a guarantee of anything but I've been really nervous about giving her wheat for the first time. Her pediatrician said to just introduce it like anything else and watch her. Which I know is probably the right advice. But I keep reading these stories of kids who had symptoms for years before anyone figured out what was going on and I don't want to miss something. Does anyone here have a baby or had a baby with a family history of celiac? Did you do anything differently when you introduced gluten? Did your doctor refer you to a GI specialist before you started? I don't even know what to watch for in an 8 month old. Sorry for the chaos of this post. She's finally asleep and my brain won't stop.
Replies · 6
Oh the 1am rabbit hole. A rite of passage for every parent here I think. We don't have celiac but I just wanted to say your pediatrician's advice sounds reasonable from what I've heard others say here. Introducing and watching is pretty standard from what I understand. That said if the family history is making you anxious enough to lose sleep over it, it might be worth asking for a referral to a pediatric GI just to get a baseline conversation. Not because something is wrong. Just to have someone in your corner who knows the territory. Some people find that one appointment calms things down a lot.
Hey, dad of a 4 year old here. We went through something similar, my wife's cousin has celiac so we were a bit on edge when we started solids too. We introduced gluten pretty normally around 7 or 8 months, just small amounts, a bit of baby oat cereal that had wheat, that kind of thing. What we did do differently was keep a little food journal for the first few weeks. Nothing fancy, just notes in my phone. What she ate, how she seemed after, whether she seemed gassy or uncomfortable or not sleeping well. It helped us notice a pattern when something seemed off even if we couldn't explain it medically. She turned out fine, no issues. But the journal made me feel like we were paying attention, which helped my anxiety more than anything else honestly. Might be worth trying.
A food journal is such a simple idea and I genuinely hadn't thought of it. I do keep track of what she eats just loosely in my head but writing it down with how she seems after is smart. Thank you. And honestly it's reassuring to hear from someone who was in a similar situation and it was just fine.
Just want to weigh in a little as someone who has spent a lot of years in the world of GI diagnoses with my kid. My son is 10 now and has Crohn's, different from celiac obviously, but I know the feeling of having that family history alarm ringing in your head while you try to make decisions that feel completely ordinary to everyone else. A few things I wish someone had told me early on. First, the fact that you're paying attention already puts you ahead. Parents who advocate early, who notice things and push for answers, those are the ones who get the quicker diagnoses if something is actually there. Second, asking your pediatrician specifically about the family history and whether bloodwork makes sense at some point is completely reasonable. You don't have to wait for symptoms to justify a conversation. Third, and I mean this genuinely, try not to let the fear of what might be wrong rob you of the normal moments. The fact that she's eating and doing okay right now is good news. Let that land. You're not being paranoid. You're being a good parent. But also please sleep when you can.
The last line. Honestly. Sleep deprivation and medical anxiety at 1am is a brutal combination and none of us are at our best for it.
Really well said. The advocating early thing is so true. Even if every appointment comes back fine, you've established that you're paying attention and your doctor knows the history. That's not nothing.