Celiacs, Iron & Breastfeeding

Not much help with any of the above but if you do want to try formula I still have S26 gold - opened tin but almost full - that you are welcome to.

Wow, those blood results could certainly answer some of your questions re: Elle's grizzling, if her iron is that low she must be feeling pretty crappy, and if she does have coeliacs then that is probably irritating her too. So at least now you know you're not mad, and you're not imagining that there's something not right!

I agree with your doc re: iron in breastmilk, it is more readily absorbed than iron from non-meat food sources, but the amount present in breastmilk depends hugely on YOUR iron levels (if they're low, there will be less iron accessible in your breastmilk), and a lot of the formulas are fortified with vitamins, including vitamin C which enhances iron absorption.

I wouldn't say that means you neccesarily have to wean tho (unless you want to?), you could keep breastfeeding and just add the bottle of formula in as an extra. That's what I've tried to do with the gremlins Pediasure supplements - kept up the same amount of bottles, and added the Pediasure in as an extra.

It might also be interesting to eliminate gluten for a while and see if there is any improvement in her temperament and whether that has any impact on her iron levels. Although that's a huge undertaking, and if you were planning on trying it you should probably ask your doc for a referral to a dietician to discuss wheat alternatives. In fact it probably wouldn't hurt to see a dietician regardless to talk over the iron issues and how you can increase Elle's iron absorption. There's no public waiting list to see a paed dietician atm in ADHB and all you need is for your doc to fax a referral thru.

Good luck!

I think it is true about the formula thing...my sister is having the exact same problem with her youngest who is nearly 18 months...she has just had a biopsy of her gut and they suspect coeliacs disease or some other inflammatory disease (possible allergy to egg/dairy) as her whole intestinal system was very inflamed. My sister has struggled with her to get her to take ANY solids and is only successful giving her 2x weetbix in the morning, so her GP suggested some high strength, complan-type formula as her iron stores were almost non-existent. My sisters oldest, who is 4, has coeliacs (hence the suspision) and always suffered with terrible constipation too...

(I don't think this helped you at all )...I think my point was that formula has a place in the diet when necessary...

Poor wee Elle. BUT woohoo! I knew I wasn't nuts!

Poor Elle!

I don't have full blown coeliac, but do have gluten intolerance and did the coeliac diet for years.

I'd suggest the same as Emma, eliminate gluten for a bit and see if it helps. It wasn't a huge undertaking for me and as she is so little she probably won't miss particular foods like I did!
I was feeling 100% better within a few days of starting so would definitely recommend trying it if you think it is a possibility.
The horrid cramps and upset tummy would certainly explain her irritability if that's what she's got.

Hope you get some answers soon!

Coeliacs is a completely different ballgame to wheat allergy, it's a disease rather than something mediated by the immune system like an allergy so you wouldn't neccessarily expect skin problems.
I'm not sure about the naturopath testing as I don't know much about it, but I do know that conventional allergy testing doesn't pick up Coeliacs as when Maya was in hospital with her allergies they did another specific test for coeliacs even tho all her allergy tests had come back clear.

Good points Emma. Yes, they test "celiac markers". My doc ordered that test with the last one but said to only do it if they had enough blood. There are no results through yet so we are not sure whether it is still being processed or whether it wasn't done. If it wasn't done, we'll do it with the next round.

Interestingly enough, DH's sister has recently been diagnosed with some kind of coealic thingy...she isn't full blown but since removing all gluten her health has improved 10 fold.

ask for another test form just to test for coeliacs then....dont wait for them to say they didnt get enough blood....

and noone thinks you are nuts....

Also, my sister had to really fight with the medical system to get a diagnosis with her oldest (they all thought she was a crazy woman who didn't know her own child). She wound up going to 2 different GPs before finally getting a referral to a specialist

ShellandBella wrote: Also, my sister had to really fight with the medical system to get a diagnosis with her oldest (they all thought she was a crazy woman who didn't know her own child). She wound up going to 2 different GPs before finally getting a referral to a specialist

I can totally relate to that! **sigh** I guess it is a fair enough conclusion for someone with a happy baby to make though..."if the child is irritable it must be due to the parenting". **sigh**.

Elle's weight gain is good thankfully. She is tiny but her Mummy and Daddy aren't the biggest kids around either.