Breastfeeding a Child With Celiac Disease
Some mothers continue to breastfeed well into toddlerhood, at which point some children have already been diagnosed with celiac disease. Because gluten eaten by the mother can be passed on in her breastmilk, a mother who is nursing a baby or a toddler with confirmed celiac disease needs to maintain a gluten-free diet.If neither the baby nor the mother has confirmed celiac disease, the mother should continue to eat gluten, even if there is a history of celiac disease in the family, because there is a chance that exposure to gluten in breast milk will actually help the baby to develop a normal immune response to gluten.
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