I think my 8 month old baby is allergic to wheat - Help!

[Wills]

My 8 month old ds keeps having enormous allergy spots around his mouth so the gp has recommended cutting out wheat and oats. Suddenly all the meals I'd preprepared all contain wheat. All the breakfasts I'd normally give contain flour/wheat. This is a sort of "I don't believe". Can people with children with wheat allergy offer some advice? How do I thicken sauces etc. Any bread at all?

[PeachyClair]

Hi

You can buy wheat free flour in Asda or Tesco, Dove Farms- I find it very easy to bake with (and they have a website witrh recipes)

Brekkie can be fiddly, corn flakes are OK though, and I usually give an egg with the gluten free bread all supermarkets stock (most people hate it I quitebike it )

Cornflour is fine in sauces, as is the dove farm flour

potatoes rice etc are all gluten free (wheat free) and easy to vary- jacket with tuna, rice with chicken casserole etc.

My ds1 has been gluten free for a few months now and its not that ahrd once you get used to it, I promise!

The internet is a haven for recipes, and there are loads of threads about this on here- search for the word gluten

[Wills]

But I'm not convinced yet that its gluten. He's definitely reacting to something and I suspect the wheat because until I introduced bread at 7 months there wasn't anything tangible. Yet even then there were the occassional outbreak of hives around his face. My reasoning for wheat is that I'd been giving him a lump of bread to chew on whilst I got breakfast ready for all 3 kids. I started to notice that where he rubbed the bread across his face he got ezcma (sp?). Then the hives started.

What's interesting though is your comment about cornflour. I think he's reacting to cornflour as well. So presumably that's gluten free? Does that mean its not a gluten reaction or rather that he's incredibly sensitive. (remember that I'm not 100% positive that its wheat).

[Callmemadam]

Hhhhmmmmm..... as a mum with lots of experience of coeliac disease I would say there are some other sensitivities i would check out first. Number one, latex or rubber. Has he changed drinking vessel recently, or someone given him a teether or something like that?

[Wills]

Hadn't thought of that. There's been no changes of latex/rubber that I can think of to be honest but I shall have a re-think. thanks

[Aloha]

My kids get rashes on their faces sometimes for no reasons I can think of.

[Heartmum2Jamie]

As a mother of a wheat allergic child, I don't think that I would have taken my ds off wheat or oats at that age without confirmation that it is infact a wheat allergy. I would go back to the GP and ask for testing to be done (although admittedly RASt tests are't always reliable in the under 2's), but if he reacts in hives, a skin prick test should be fine. I would also be looking at other allergens as well. Could it be the milk/soya in the bread?

If it is a wheat allergy, there are lots of things that you can buy or make. We currently buy bread for ds as he has other food allergies as well. It's by dietary specials. We also by tru-free biscuits which a wheat free (infortunately contain soya so he can't have to many). For breakfast, he has ready brek, which we were told by his dietician is fine, although I often wonder about x contamination.

[nearlyfourbob]

It sounds more like it's a dribble+starch problem, but allergic children should avoid wheat until a year, so I would give it up.

Veggies, rice and a protein make an excellent meal.

[tatt]

I'd suspect soya in the bread or even yeast before a wheat allergy. Even some coeliacs can have oats so cutting those out without more reason seems extreme. It's certainly worth avoiding soya under 1 as its a common allergen. A reaction to cornflour would be unusual - what was the cornflour thickening?