Eliminating wheat from 2 year old DD's diet - couple of Qs

[TheWorstWitch]

At the beginning of the year DD started getting eczema round her wrists, hands, back of legs. Coincided with me returning to work, expecially as it went away when I stopped work and we all went on our holidays.

But, it returned. Up until last week when DD had flu and didn't eat for 6 days. So, we think it's dietary.

It occurred to us that it might be a wheat allergy as she didn't have weetabix when we were on our holidays, and obviously didn't have weetabix when ill.
Hence, we are going to eliminate wheat from her diet and see what happens.
Have 2 questions though:

1. What else is wheat in apart from weetabix and pasta? I've also seen it in the ingredients of the brown bread we buy.

1. Would I be wise to cut wheat completely from her diet and then try and reintroduce it?

DD had an allergy to eggs from her baby days, but we were advised to try it with her every now and again, and now she seems to have outgrown her allergy.

Sorry if questions seem a bit silly, but I'm just recovered from flu and my head is still a bit wrapped up in cotton wool.

[notwavingjustironing]

To be honest, whilst I could help you with a lot of the practical details, you really should speak to your GP first.

It's not that simple if it is a genuine allergy.

[boyraiser]

Wheat is in loads of bread, biscuits, cake etc.
You can get maize pasta and rice pasta, which are gluten free, and can buy or make gluten free cookies/cakes (using stuff like almond flour). Buckwheat flour is gluten free, and great for savoury pancakes, and oats have a form of gluten (but can be less irritating than wheat gluten), so might be worth experimenting to see if your DD can tolerate them as they are great for porridge, flapjacks, crumble toppings etc.

[theyoungvisiter]

I agree you should speak to your GP.

Are you really sure you didn't have ANY wheat while you were on holiday? It seems unlikely as it's in everything that contains flour (more or less) ie bread, biscuits, cakes, an awful lot of processed food, pizza, pasta, puddings, etc etc.

TBH it could be something completely different - for eg did you bath her as normal when ill/on holiday? If not, it might be something to do with that.

[penona]

Agree you should visit your GP. What has he/she said about the ezcema already?

Is quite difficult to cut wheat out of diet for just one family member, and might not even work. It also does contain some useful nutrients and fibre which you might need some advice to replace (esp if DD is quite fussy eater). The lactose in milk can also trigger ezcema sometimes, so that could be it with the weetabix (rather then the wheat) - but again better done on specialist advice to ensure proper nutrition.

Good luck

[TheWorstWitch]

Yes, will make an appointment with the doctor, though we've seen her numerous occasions and she says she doesn't know what's causing it and prescribes us some creams.

I really hadn't thought it was diet related until this bout of flu when it disappeared.
Bathing was normal while she was ill, so not this.
We were camping on our hols so instead of having weetabix, DD had porridge instead, and that's what's got us thinking. BUT, she did have bread, biscuits ... never have processed foods.

Since DD's recovery from flu we have changed her morning weetbix to oatabix, and it's been so far so good. Oh, and have changed her pasta to wheat-free too, but she still has biscuits, etc. as I had no idea how ubiquitous wheat is.
And, so far her eczema hasn't returned, though her skin is still dry, so we put E45 on it, but no need for that hydrocortisone.

[tatt]

Eczema isn't a sign of allergy although it can quite often be dairy intolerance.

Wheat is in bread, cakes, biscuits and many other things - like a lot of minced meat, sausages, gravy powder. So wheat is unlikely to be the issue. A detailed food diary may help.