Most decisions in life are hard. But parenting decisions are stressful, difficult, exhausting and overwhelming. JLO and I have had to make some pretty major and important parenting decisions before and since LJ was born. We chose not to breastfeed (for a variety reasons I don't need to explain on here). We choose not to let LJ watch any TV and won't until he is two (based on our research of the brain including this article from Time Magazine). We've made smaller decisions like how to approach sleep (we really liked the book "The Happiest Baby on the Block" and have appreciated LJ's sleeping through the night since he was four months old). But the latest parenting decision is making me sick. Literally.
Gluten. It's a word I can't go a day without saying a 100 times. Gluten. It's a protein in wheat, barely, rye and oats that attacks my immune system. Gluten. It's what caused so much pain and anxiety for years. And now I am feeding my son--my most beautiful, happy little boy--gluten. After a lot of reading, consultations with doctors (and my very trust cousin doctor), we have decided to give LJ Cheerios as a form of gluten. Statistically speaking, LJ is three times more likely to have Celiac. Emotionally speaking, I want to do everything I can to prevent this from happening. Unfortunately, there are no hard and fast rules on introducing gluten to a child of a Celiac. I wish there were. Our pediatrician said, "You'll recognize if LJ has Celiac long before I will because of our experience." I get that, but I don't want to see it in him.
So I am trying really hard to trust our decision that we are doing what we consider the very best we can for LJ given the information we have. That is all any parent can ask for, right?
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