Porridge allergy?

[Ray24924]

Hello, I'm nearly 4 weeks into our weaning journey and today i tried him with porridge, just porridge oats, breast milk and a dash of water and he was a little red in the face after it but nothing major, but as the days gone on (now 5 hours later) his whole face and tummy have went bright red, he's not bothered but I thought oats were basically allergen proof.

He's also shown reactions to cows milk and aubergine, I'm just so nervous about trying him with the major allergens now.. he's fine with other fruit and veg that I prepare but it's so scary trying new things!

Has anyone else's little one had this?

Some oats contain gluten, could it be that?

I'd speak to your GP before giving anything else if your baby is already reacting to things.

Oats themselves don't contain gluten but there can be cross-contamination with other grains depending on how they're manufactured.

OP, were they plain oats of processed/baby porridge?

My nearly 9 month old has shown an allergy to oats, both eating and on skin/in products. He is fine with wheat etc but oats causing reactions for sure. It happened a few months ago and we’ve avoided them fine and thankfully no further episodes. Hope your little one is okay

I'm gluten intolerant I react to oats too there is a complicated explanation for it but basically my body thinks it's gluten and reacts as if it is (but not quite as bad) even gluten free oats I can only have them on days when I'm not leaving the house

How old are they op?

Sadly, nothing is allergy / intolerance proof.... though some reactions may be as a result of a stressed and reactive immune system. Some schools of thought recommend frequent low dose therapies under supervision and some recommend abstaining from all foods that trigger a response while supporting recovery of gut lining and microbiome.. also under supervision.

And yes... cross contamination can also be an issue where oats and wheat crops are rotated in the same fields or where the processing facilities are shared.

My son had a horrible reaction to an infant porridge 'blend' that contained spelt... which I had mistaken for an almost identical infant porridge blend without spelt.

I had a child that had multiple food reactions.... many of which did not show up on skin prick or some blood tests.. but when I excluded many things, his whole system just calmed down...

I'm also gluten intolerant and react to oats. It was news to me that they don't actually contain gluten naturally.

Op my children had various reactions to things early on which they aren't allergic to now. I think that babies can be quite sensitive to new food.

The first time ds tried eggs it made him vomit but not since, I think it was just the texture/richness.

Ds also used to get contact dermatitis from acidic food and squashes like courgette. He has no allergies now, he just grew out of it.

Saying all this the tummy rash probably isn't dermatitis and I would not give oats again for a while.

Our internal medicine specialist also said that people with gluten intolerance (rather than coeliac disease), can show similar responses to grains that are similar to gluten as well as gums / additives that mimic gluten as they also mimic gluten in the body so produce a similar response, this partly explains why some gluten intolerant do not see an improvement when they swap gluten for gluten like or gluten mimicking alternatives.

sorry for multiple posts... but he is also adamant that allowing and supporting the gut lining to heal, will reduce these intolerances.

Hello thank you for your responses, he is 7 months in 3days and they were plain oats that i made up with breast milk and water (not pre prepared baby oats or anything)

Ive just been speaking with my partner and he also reacted to baby aveeno which has oats in so I do think it's a oats related allergy, :(

I'm unsure whether to try again x

Thank you that's good to hear! It's just so scary trying things when there's a chance of allergy isn't there, glad to hear your little one is doing good though x

At this point in my life, I can’t consume even a trace of oat flour without vomiting and feeling sick for at least a day.

when I was a child, I would get sick, but I could tolerate small amounts and the sickness wasn’t always as bad. It got worse with each progressive meal. I just didn’t realize for the longest time because oats made my mother sick too so we never had them in the house.

Just because something isn’t common as an allergy or intolerance doesn’t mean an individual can’t react

I'd leave off oats and make your way through the other allergens and get a good range of foods into babies diet and then tests oats again say in 2-3 months time but with a small amount. I'd probably make a small batch of baby appropriate biscuits with a tablespoon of oats as part of the flour mix. It will be a smaller amount and the baking with cook the oats more than in porridge. If that goes ok try with a spoon of porridge - make yourself some and offer a bit. If that goes ok do a few spoonfuls. I would give the biscuits for a few days - week before moving up to porridge.

My daughter has more allergies to vegetables than she does top14 allergens! Absolutely anything can be an allergen