A Note About Alex's Wheat Sensitivity

Shortly after we returned from our trip to the U.S., when Alex was about 10 months old, he began to have a reaction to foods made from wheat, most notably crackers and breads. As little as a single cracker was causing him to have diarrhea and a bad diaper rash. Over the next couple months, the reaction worsened to the point where he could no longer tolerate things like pasta (made from durum or semolina wheat) or even Cheerios and Rice Krispies (contain wheat byproducts). After consulting with Alex's pediatrician and the local nutritionist, we've been advised that it is best to eliminate all gluten-based foods from Alex's diet until he grows out of the sensitivity or until he receives a firmer diagnosis of the problem. True food allergies cannot be conclusively diagnosed until a child is 2 or 3 years old, so we've been advised for now to treat it as if he has the worst form of wheat allergy (celiac disease) just to be on the safe side.

Please don't be alarmed by this news. Food sensitivities are quite prevalent in babies; wheat, dairy, eggs, citrus fruits and nuts are the most common allergens. Though there are no hard statistics, experts say that as many as 20 percent of infants experience a food reaction at some point, and most outgrow it sometime between toddlerhood and the age of 5. We trust that Alex will grow out of this as well.

Feeding Alex now is a bit of an adventure. He's been trying all sorts of strange things like noodles made from yam flour, muffins made from spelt flour, and cornmeal crackers as we try to find replacements for his favorite foods. For an idea of what his new diet entails, you can view a list of his "forbidden foods" and his "safe foods." Although spelt (an ancient grain widely eaten here in Europe) is on the forbidden list, Alex seems to tolerate it just fine and the nutritionist has advised us to go ahead and include it because the more grain options we have at our disposal, the better.

Don't worry; we'll continue to keep everyone posted on this situation in the coming months.