what happens if you give gluten before 6 months old?

[futuremum]

i have realised there was gluten in the oaty porridge i gave to thomas. he had it for the last month and had no reaction to it. i can't remember though why you cannot give gluten before 6 months old, can you remind me? thanks

 

[beanie]

they can develop an allergy to it called coeliacs disease (I had it and am still pretty intolerant if I eat loads). I would say that if Thomas hasn't shown any reactions to it you should be ok, you would have known if he had a reaction. It drives me mad that baby food manufactureres are allowed to put gluton in food marketed as safe from 4 months on, it makes me so mad!!!!

 

[futuremum]

Well i always check but for this product, i did not see it in the ingredients until today No he did not show any reactions to it and loves it

thanks

 

[Hypnorm]

If there is a history of allgergies in your family then i would be carful.
Ewans grandad was diagnosed as coeliac a couple of years ago, so we have gradually introduced it from around 5 months, he seems to be fine, the doc said if he is allergic to it then after 1yr his weight gain will decrease and he won't thrive.

 

[futuremum]

well, thomas is not thriving weight wise, he is not gaining a lot of weight and his chart keeps going down. i hope it is not this but do not think so as he was like that before. Cannot win it, he has 3 days a meal but still not gaining enough weight.

 

[beanie]

I was diagnosed at the age of 2, obviously I can't remember what signs I had, and I can't ask anyone.

 

[Hypnorm]

It your gut you have 'little fingers' that increase the surface area of the gut to get max benefit from your food, If you have coeliac then the gluten irritates all the gut lining and the 'little fingers' become damaged, inflammed, or even come away totally so this stops you getting the nutrients from the food. i think the sypmtoms are stomach ache, mucusy faeces, possbily blood, rashes and failure to thrive. A friend of mine was diagnosed from a few momths old, so the doctor should be able to do a test or something at least.
If he is coeliac then he will have it for life, but my FIL gets bread and other bits of prescription, even if he has small amount of glten it makes him ill.
they think my FIL has had it for a number of years but it only got detected when he had thyroid problems.

 

[beanie]

I was lucky, I had it badly between the ages of 2 -7 but then was told I was able to eat normal foods containing gluton. ASlot of people tell me I couldn't have grown out of it but you can, however I have to be careful. If I eat a lot of gluton I become very bloated and can be poorly. I don't avoid gluton, I just try and minimise it and I generally feel ok most days. Found this

It has sometimes been thought that people can grow out of coeliac disease. This idea emerged when it was noted that not all coeliac patients relapsed when gluten was added to their diets. However, with tighter diagnostic criteria it became apparent that coeliac disease which had apparently disappeared did show histological relapse when gluten was added to the diet. Today this would be known as silent coeliac disease because there are no signs and symptoms. The gluten-free diet should be followed strictly and for life and pharmacists have a vital role in encouraging compliance.