Have banished the wheat from DD2s det. now need some extra advice/ideas please.

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long and tedious tale will shorten.

DD2 is 10 has always been picky. only ever eaten bread, crackers, cake, biscuits, and the occasional potato or chicken. nothing else at all ever.

about 18 months ago started having constant tummy aches and feeling sick. all the time. behaviour while never good was shocking.

over the last year has had blood tests - all normal and back in november had an endoscopy and biopsy - looking for coeliac - but all clear.

DD still ill, still miserable so after seeing the first dr in 2 years who didn't think i was a neurotic nutter, suggested trying wheat free.

RESULT!!!

DD is now so much calmer, happier, nicer to be around (although can still have her moments) and tummy aches and nausea have settled loads too.

She is struggling though. she gets really sad that she has to have different food to every one else. she misses nice bread and biscuits. she does recognise how much better she feels but does get cross about it. Any ideas how to help her? apart from just carring on until she accepts it? she has had some stuff with wheat in and it is noticable how stroppy she is afterwards and again gets a tummy ache. i'm hoping she will learn from trying things.

Also bread. i've found crackers she will eat and biscuits and the muffins are o.k. but for someone whos whole diet was bread i think this is where her strugggle to accept it lies. the GF stuff doesn't compare.

Any ideas for making edible GF bread at home? or is there any on line ordering places i can buy in bulk from?

apologies - this is really long and disjointed.

website here

good luck, what a result you have had
souds v hard for you both though

blimey that was quick thanks. will peruse at leisure.

My friend has just started a business making homemade wheat and gluten free (also dairy free if required) cakes, pizza bases, muffins, pastry items etc. She is SE London/N Kent - if you're interested let me know and I can pass on her details to you. Her cakes are amazing.

Good friends of ours had to put their daughter on a GFCF diet. They decided that it was better in the long run for the whole family to eat that way - at least at home. Our ds1 is dairy-free and we try not to have any dairy at home. It is hard and dh is particularly bad about sneaking cheese in but overall I try not to do any dairy in front of him.

kbear - doe sshe do delivery? am no where near london unfortunately.
hve considered just banning it from the house but am too chicken to suggest it to dh and dd1. alsio the expense would be shocking for all of us - is bad enough wih just dd2! think it will be trial and error to find edible bread things and perseverence for dd2. bless her she is trying - is just hard for a 10 yr old who wants french bread or normal cake.

Not sure, she delivers to a shop in Central London which sells her cakes but don't know how well they would post IYSWIM. I will see her tomorrow and ask her. You might find someone more local to you providing the same service, have a look in local Yell.com or similar. Also the main supermarkets have gluten free products, might be info on website somewhere.

My dd (6 yo) is g-f. Our wonderful GP diagnosed her with a wheat allergy (not Coeliac) when she had just turned 4.

The way it works for us is, in a nutshell (although she's allergic to those too):

Before you spend too much money on g-f alternatives, try working with what you already have;

Potatoes are a superfood INHO. They are cheap, nutritious and almost endlessly versitile. You could easily live off them as your main carb. For school lunch boxes, Scottish "tattie scones" made with g-f flour are very nice. Or make a gorgous potato based soup for her to take in a flask.

Rice is also very handy - risotto is our pasta in this house, and hugely useful in that you can use up whatever is in the fridge. Also chinese stir fries, with rice (or rice noodles), paella, rice bakes (with cheese on top) are all great meals. Deep fried risotto balls (rolled in polenta) are not low-cal but boy do they taste good!

Talking of polenta...home made fish fingers and chicken nuggets made with small fish / chicken pieces soaked in milk (or egg if you can have it; my dd, you've guessed, is allergic) and then coated in polenta and fried in olive oil. I mean, how fantastic is that? So much better than shop bought (although not good reheated). We did the most fantastic roast potatoes rolled in polenta for Christmas Day and cooked in goose fat - wow!

You could also try other carbs such as quinoa which is apparantly really really good for you. Oats can be really useful too, not just for lapjacks and porridge, but for frying things in (mackerel..yummm) and making savoury and sweet crumble toppings. Also pulses like lentils and kidney beans are a great bulker-outer of meals.

I could go on...cakes are easy to make, esp. if you can use eggs and nuts (ground almonds are an excellent g-f flour sub). Look at the BBC Good Food site and you'll get loads of ideas.

As you may have guessed I love cooking, so all the allergies are, in a funny way, a joy and a challenge to me rather than a PITA. Although dd does look wistfully at bread sometimes, and my heart goes out to her...

There's a load of g-f recipes [http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/mostof_coeliac5.shtml#gluten-free_recipes here]]

here

rye bread (if just avoiding wheat) is pretty lovely - most polish shops sell it

biscuits -

try making your own with gluten free flour (available from most supermarkets) use a bit more butter than normal to get better results, maybe get her to help!

brownies (try good food bbc website - saffron brownies) and substitute normal flour with fake stuff (they are amazing)

I', afraid I have given up on bread stuff as it is horrible in the main, (I don't eat rye either) but also oat cakes/flapjacks/rice cakes/buckwheat pancakes

I still get gutted making marmaite toast for my boys their really is no good substitute sorry!

good luck

Can I recommend www.amazon.co.uk/Real-Food-Gluten-free-Bread-Breadmaker/dp/0572030029/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid =1230887156&sr=8-1 this book.

DS has been wheat free for past 1.5 years and would not eat the gluten/wheat free bread it was foul (I thought lol) but we have found some real palatable breads in that book. Admittedly not made huge amount from it yet (tend to stick with the few that we have found good) but what we have made has been edible.

lots of good ideas - thanks. will keep experimenting with the bread. will let you know if i discover anything.

Wangle99 - I'd really aprreciate it if you could post a breadmaker recipe for one of the breads you've tried that are nice

Cooking the breads in stoneware also helps to get a good crusty finish without drying out too much.

You can get wheatfree jaffa cakes now...