Wheat, Milk and Egg Free Diets, Advice needed please......

[MetalMummy]

This may be a bit long so I'll apologise now.

DS1(4yrs)has pretty bad excema and has had since he was a baby. In February he had his tonsils out and for a week after the op he didn't eat anything at all. His excema totally cleared, within a couple of days of his eating again the excema came back with a vengeance. We took him to the doctors and he was sent for blood tests, the results are back and he is allergic to wheat, milk, eggs and very mildly allergic to peanuts. The doctor said we then had to eliminate each food from his diet one at a time to see which one is effecting his excema, so we eliminated eggs (in the blood tests this got the strongest result) but his excema didn't improve at all. We were going to start with wheat today but after doing a bit of research I've found that 2 of the proteins in eggs are also in wheat which means that if he is allergic to one of these proteins then it doesn't matter if we eliminate wheat because he will still be getting the protein from the eggs.
We have decided that the best thing to do is to eliminate all of them for a couple of weeks and then (if his excema does clear up) reintroduce them one by one.
I'm a bit stuck as to what to put in his luchbox though so any advice would be greatly apprecciated.

[MetalMummy]

The bloods were done at the path lab at the hospital. They tested for wheat, egg (he's allergic to egg white not egg yolk apparently), milk, peanuts, soya and fish. The results were then sent to our GP.

[Daisybump]

He should really be followed up by a dietician to explain restricted diets and how to get all the nutrients he needs. You should ask for a referral to see one. I should see a dietician once a year as part of my regular follow ups to ensure I'm getting enough calcium and iron, but as I'm managing quite well I haven't followed it up, but I think where youn children are concerned, it should be a priority.

I hope now his exczema (sp?) has settled, things will be a lot brighter for him.

good luck for his future...

[MetalMummy]

DS has been invited to a birthday party in a couple of weeks, it's at a Wacky Warehouse and we have to tick boxes at the bottom of the invitation to let wacky warehouse know what food he wants at the party. burger and chips, chicken nuggets and chips etc etc.
Any advice on what I should do, obviously I want him to go but I just don't know what to do about the food situation

[Daisybump]

Just give them a call (make sure you talk to the manager)....burgers and nuggets etc will be out because of the wheat and quite often chips/fries served in these places have a thin batter coating to make them crisy so they are out too. If you expain, I'm sure they will let you bring your own food with you....and all the other kids will probably be jealous as he'll have much nicer things to eat .

Another tip for you...he needn't miss out on the odd trip to McDonalds either, as their burgers are gluten free and they are always happy to let me have a burger and dressings minus the bun, in spite of the odd looks I sometimes get. You would have to watch what dressings have milk and egg in (big mac suace for example)...

It's a bit of a minefield at first and can seem really hopeless, but it does get much easier. After I was diagnosed it took me four times as long to do my weekly shop as i had to scan all the labels, but I pretty much know what is and isn't OK now..

[MetalMummy]

Well we have reintroduced milk back into his diet and his excema has flared up again (although not as bad as it was)
So tomorrow it's back on the soya milk for him, he is not a happy bunny!!
Once his excema clears up again we'll reintroduce egg and see what happens.
I've got a horrible feeling that it's going to end up being all three together that makes his exema so bad

[twoisplenty]

Just a quick thought, if it hasn't already been mentioned...once you introduce milk again, could you try goat's milk instead, it tastes good and there is far less incidence of eczema flare-ups for goats milk than cows. You can buy it at supermarkets.

While you are doing the dairy free bit, you could make milk from bananas and water in the blender to put on cereal, but hasn't cereal got wheat in it? Even cornflakes has wheat in it I think, daft as it may be.

I don't do cereals any more, we have fruit or fruit smoothie for breakfast. Yummy!

[twoisplenty]

By the way, for my youngsters, they were both allergic to egg, but not for eczema, but rashed. It's common to outgrow an egg allergy, so crossed fingers for you and your ds. It's hard work doing the elimination thing, sounds like you're doing well.

[MetalMummy]

He's been having rice krispies for breakfast, shopping now takes 3 times as long because I spend ages reading the labels on everything.

It amazes me what ingredients actually go into things. There is wheat in a lot of ice lollies!! Why the hell do they need to put wheat in ice lollies?
He can't have wheat free bread because it has egg in it, there's no egg in ordinary bread so why is it in the wheat free bread?
And so many things have milk powder in that it's almost impossible for him to have any snacks that his friends have and he's only 4 so he doesn't really understand why.
Looking on the bright side I think he probably has the healthiest lunchbox in his school, and even DD is starting to eat more fruit and veg now.

[ToughDaddy]

Yours have the same allergies as mine.


very ripe plantains (yellow or black) slowed shallow fried in olive oil

loads of treats in Tescos e.g. wheat free, egg free, milk free bakewell tarts

also many other "FreeFrom" treats and pasta

Also see the train: Allergies :Eczema - could Aveeno be making it worse?

[ToughDaddy]

For scratching at night try clothes with built in mittens on website below. We used for our third child. Wish we had these for the elder two as this would have avoided the numerous skin infections that they developed from night scratching. Beats sleeping with them to hold their hands to prevent scartching! Also good for limiting damage on long car journeys.

www.eczemaclothing.eu/

[MetalMummy]

Thanks ToughDaddy.
He does scratch a lot at night, I don't think he even knows he's doing it. We were given mittens to go with his comfifast garments but he can get them off in about 2 second so they are useless. He also just rolls his leggings up to get to the back of his knees so they aren't really that effective either.

I think I'm probably going to have to invest in a breadmaker, can anyone suggest one that is good for making wheat free bread?

[ToughDaddy]

Scratching can lead to impetigo which is bad news as it just keeps coming back- spoilt our Sardinia and Cornwall hols. hence my mission to tell everyone about the sleepwear with irremovable mittens.

FOr the first we had humidifiers but this encourages dust mites in the carpet.


The Dietary Special brand -Sainsbury- does a brown wheatfree, egg, milk etc free which is very respectable after 15 secs reheat in the microwave with Sunflower Pure spread applied.

[ToughDaddy]

Oat porridge made with Rice milk + fruit goes down well.

[MetalMummy]

OK, so we have taken milk back out of his diet and his excema has gone again. Also last week while he was having milk we noticed that his asthma was a lot worse than it has been lately (needed the reliever as well as the preventer).
This week with no milk in his diet his asthma has been much better.

Will be reintroducing egg in the next couple of days, fingers crossed that he will be OK with this.

[roseylea]

hi, the Ener-G rice bread is egg free - you can get it at Tesco and Sainsburys. My dd is allergic to egg, wheat, peanuts and soya. I don't tend to use the Ener-G bread in her lunchbox for school though, as it doesn't seem to keep well nad is much better lightly toasted than straight out of the pack.

[CantSleepWontSleep]

Keeping my fingers crossed that it's just dairy causing the problem mm. Do keep us updated - am watching the thread .

[mamarywe]

Has anyone tried those Whizzers sweets that are like dairy free smarties? My nephew is allergic to milk and I was wondering whether I could give him those when he comes round so he doesn't feel left out if my son is having Smarties. Are they as yummy as smarties?

[MetalMummy]

We reintroduced eggs about 5 days ago and so far his excema hasn't flared up, which is a bit strange because according to the blood tests it was eggs that he was most allergic to!

I'm not sure what to do now, do I take the egg back out of his diet and then reintroduce wheat or do I just reintroduce the wheat because the egg doesn't seem to be affecting him.
We go on holiday tomorrow for a week, we'll be in a caravan so at least I'll be able to control what he's eating. DHs parents are taking him to Menorca in September and MIL is already panicking about what he'll be able to eat because they are going half board.

[CantSleepWontSleep]

That's great mm . Never did think those tests were very reliable!

If he seems ok with egg, then I'd prob leave it in his diet, add wheat, and if the eczema flares up again, remove just the wheat, and check that it clears with the egg still in.

I have to say that your in-laws might struggle for dairy free food on a half board basis. It is a complete nightmare when eating out! Perhaps they could phone ahead and warn the hotel, and see what they are able to offer in the way of reassurance. I would also suggest that they take some long life soya or rice milk with them if they are not confident of being able to buy it once they are there.

mamarywe - haven't even heard of them, sorry!

[MetalMummy]

Well we are back off holiday and we had a fantastic time. DH took his T-shirt off on the beach and didn't put suncream on, stupid bugger was in agony for 3 days.
Reintroduced wheat back into DS diet and for the first 3 or 4 days everything was fine but then his excema started coming back, today (day 7) he is absolutely covered so now we know that he can't have milk or wheat. Going to the doctors on Tuesday to ask for a referral to a dietician.
While we were away his asthma was really bad for a couple of days (nearly took him to hospital but he started to improve) but we can't figure out if it was because of the wheat or because of a smoke machine that was used in a show that we saw. The smoke machine was only on for a couple of minutes though and it was the next day that he got wheezy not straight away, so we#re just not sure.

[MetalMummy]

Been to the doctors today and he is referring DS to the dietitian
He wasn't sure how long it would be until we get an appointment though, and he won't give him anything on prescription until he's been seen by the dietitian.
At least it now feels like we are getting somewhere!

[CantSleepWontSleep]

Great stuff about identifying the problem foods and getting to see a dietician . Not so great about having to avoid both dairy and wheat .