Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Lindsey asked if I'd be avoiding gluten during my pregnancy.

With my first pregnancy, I ate and ate and ate. Mostly pizza and cookies, a whole lot of gluten. And E is gluten intolerant.

I found out about E's gluten intolerance when I was 8 months pregnant, and my gluten intake dramatically dropped. And I abstained from gluten while nursing my second baby. And D is gluten intolerant.

This is my third pregnancy, and all I've been able to really keep down are things like crackers and bagels and Rice Krispies. So, no, I'm not avoiding gluten. Right now, at least during this trimester, I think it's more important for me to keep down any food at all than to avoid gluten in particular.

I believe, my personal opinion only so take it with a grain of salt, but I believe that kids are either prone to food intolerances, or they aren't. Maybe we can affect the degree of their intolerance by the amount they are exposed to, either inutero, or through mom's milk, or through the introduction of solids. But I don't really believe (again, just my opinion), that you can totally prevent an intolerance.

Also, Celiac's Disease isn't so much an allergy as an inherited immune disorder, so I don't really know if anything I could do or not would make a difference, other than getting a different husband, and believe me, that ISN'T going to happen.

However, Li has a great post today about how going gluten free has eliminated her motion sickness, which makes me wonder about my morning sickness. Hm.

6 comments:

Li loves David said...

I've never been pregnant, so I couldn't tell ya. But have you ever considered that, since you have two kiddies with gluten-intolerance/celiac disease, that you or Super Dad might also benenfit from being gluten free? Like you said, there can be a family connection. Just curious.

Hope the morning sickness gets better soon!

Unknown said...

I did go gluten free while nursing D, and I had really high hopes that it would positively impact my health... but it didn't.

SuperDad, on the other hand... well, I believe, really strongly, that he would greatly benefit from a gluten-free diet, but... Well, he isn't convinced.

Lindsey J said...

Thank you for answering the question! I know that eating gluten can't *cause* problems but I've wondered if they can contribute.

I guess I didn't realize that your kids are celiac and not just intolerant. I think that mine is/are intolerant (or it could be a wheat allergy). I've definitely noticed a positive impact on my health since I went GF for my nursling....

Enjoy what you can keep down, that's what I say. :)

Unknown said...

I know I read somewhere that with a child with intolerances, the more strict you are about avoiding the food, the more likely they are to outgrow it. Though reading that one line produced all kinds of guilt anytime I had a slip-up, so I probably shouldn't share it, but anyway...

Lindsey J said...

I've heard that too. I also feel super guilty every time the little one has a breakout because I wonder "did I just put her one more step away from outgrowing this?"

One of my former coworkers has a son with a violent casein allergy and he said they think that part of the problem is because they kept feeding him milk-based formula. And he's like 12 so he's not likely to outgrow it. :( I blame him for my source of guilt.

zdoodlebub said...

I think you are taking a very balanced approach. From the seemingly unrelated autism perspective, I just think we are all different, we all have different sensitivities and tolerance levels. Not every smoker gets lung cancer. Not every vaccinated child gets autism. Are both a factor? Ya-huh.

We are all different. And all we can do is our best with the info that we have. And then try to live our lives in peace and balance, but without obsession or bondage.

Blog Widget by LinkWithin