5 Simple Tips to Help Kids Transition to a Gluten Free Lifestyle for Celiac Awareness Month

Your child was diagnosed with Celiac Disease - what now? The transition to going gluten free for a kid can be a hard one. Often times their favorite foods now have to become something completely different. For Celiac Disease Awareness Month, I wanted to share some things that helped make my son make the switch when he was 5 years old. It's never easy, and there were lots of tears, but these five simple tips helped my son transition to a gluten free life.

1. Go grocery shopping together! Some stores have more gluten free options than others so try to find which one has the most and head to the store. Grab some new gluten free foods to try. Look together at labels to see what is gluten free. Teaching your kids how to read an ingredient list to look for gluten is really important. It's not required to be labeled in the US so also look for things like barley, malt, and rye.

2. Have a taste test! Try having a taste test with multiple new gluten free products. You could even invite over friends or family to taste test with you - be mindful of who this includes as some adults and kids will just say everything gluten free doesn't taste good simply because it's gluten free. We did this with pizza but you could do it with any foods your child enjoys and you really want to find a gluten free replacement for.

3. Make the food fun! Serving the new food in a fun way can make it more appealing in the midst of so much newness. There are lots of fun plates, utensils, and even little cookie cutters that can very easily make food more playful I have an assortment of products linked in my Amazon affiliate storefront here. We also love Dylbug plates because you can personalize them to look like your child.

4. Cook together! Getting kids in the kitchen can really help them be more interested in the new gluten free foods. It's also a great skill to teach them to get comfortable in the kitchen as they will probably be cooking a lot of meals in their lives as they get older. We have a shared kitchen (meaning we aren't completely gluten free since my son is the only one with Celiac Disease) which makes it easy to also teach how to safely be around gluten and what you need to do to cook food safely.

5. Positive + Patient! It's hard. It's hard for you, it's hard for them. Try to make it a positive experience and be patient as it's a huge transition for the entire family. Try the new foods along with your child. It can take a while for the new tastes and textures to click so it's ok if they first try isn't their favorite.

Remember, it's ok to mourn the loss of the old foods and spontaneity Celiac Disease can steal from you. You don't need to do all of these things at once. Try one a day or one a week and find what works for your family.

Do you have anything you would add?