As more and more people worldwide are being diagnosed with Coeliac disease/Celiac Sprue, some health visitors are advising to keep babies off certain foods up to the age of 6 months old, to give their digestive systems a better start to defend against having this illness later on in life.
Some people will never get this disease anyway, as there seems to be an unproven link to Irish heritage or descent, so some nationalities may never be affected.
Coeliac disease is where there is an intolerance in the intestine to gluten which is found in many foods, but the main one being wheat.
People who have this illness have to adhere to a strict gluten free diet, or later on in life, they could end up with cancer of the intestine.
It has been suggested (allegedly) that those people who harbor this illness within them anyway, may have had it aggravated with an increased risk, because their parents could have fed them wheat based products too early on in life. (Obviously this isn't the only factor or contributor, but this is what is being looked into)
By feeding babies up to 6 months with home cooked food or shop bought food without the gluten, just may make a difference.
Would this information affect how you feed your baby, or do you not feel it affects your culture?
Or maybe you prepare food like this anyway.. What's your thoughts on this?
Well, it would definitely hard to do it with my baby since all of us like wheat-like products, my son Felipe since he was very small got used to wheat bread and he just loved it, the same with my husband who is a health conscious person.
It's my opinion that babies should be breast fed exclusively for as long as possible. Babies shouldn't be fed "regular" food until they are showing an interest in it. At that point, foods should be introduced one at a time to see if there is any adverse reaction. Many diseases don't show up until later in life, but I feel it's important to keep infants away from most "grown up" food while their young digestive systems are still developing.
There is a push in the medical community to have infants eating "cereal" at very young ages, which I think is ridiculous. If they are breast fed, they don't need it, and most modern baby formulas are sufficient for the first few months as well.
In my opinion, infants and small children shouldn't consume packaged, processed foods at all. They should eat what the family eats.