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Could My Couch Be Contaminating My Son?

Jamie1450

By Jamie1450
in Coping with Celiac Disease

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Jamie1450 Apprentice
Jamie1450
Posted

My 2 year old son (dx Oct 2012) keeps getting 'glutened' and I haven't been able to pinpoint how but a thought popped in my head this morning. A couple of weeks ago my husband and I cleaned the deep crevasses of our couch and found TONS of old (like maybe up to 3 years old) cheerios, goldfish crackers and crumbs. Since his dx our whole family eats gluten free at home and while around him. We are very careful, which is why we cleaned the couch after discovering the nasty pre-gluten-free snack collection hidden in the couch. I made sure to vacuum the fabric really well but the crumbs were almost like sand. I clean the part of the couch under the cushions but it was staggering just how much was shoved in there. We have 3 small kids and we don't let them eat out in the living room very often, well that's my rule that dad likes to break. Our kids take the cushions off daily, toys get shoved in/out from under the cushions all the time so it would be very easy for gluten to come in contact with something he is playing with. What would you do? Thoughts? 

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kareng Grand Master
kareng
Posted

I think it's likely that, if he saw a Cheerios, he ate it. Are the other kids still eating gluten snacks? If so, that's you most likely place he is getting gluten. I'm sure if he sees the others eating something, he wants it, too.

shadowicewolf Proficient
shadowicewolf
Posted

Get one of those big slip covers to cover the whole thing and to keep the crumbs from getting everywhere?

Jamie1450 Apprentice
Jamie1450
Posted
  • Author

I didn't elaborate enough. Since he was diagnosed 5 months ago we haven't let anything thing with gluten enter our house, unless by a rookie mistake. We all eat gluten-free at home, all the kids eat the same gluten-free snacks. The cheerios and goldfish crackers could have been 3 years old. They were really deep in there! We cleaned out every single thing in the craves (there is a space were you can stick your hand in between the springs and the back & arms of the couch) so he could not have found a rough cheerio. 

Jamie1450 Apprentice
Jamie1450
Posted
  • Author

He was also in a completely different room while we did it, and we made sure to clean up very carefully, cleaned the floor and vacuumed the couch the best we could. 

kareng Grand Master
kareng
Posted

What about getting the couch cleaned, if you think there are still crumbs in it? Or maybe a slip cover like Wolfie suggested? Sell the kids? Maybe not.... Time for a new couch?

I know what you mean about the ground down crumbs. They are in the little cracks and the kids stick the beanie baby doggie or Power Ranger in the crevices where you can't even get your fingers in. Not sure why they do that, but it makes sense to little ones.

Jamie1450 Apprentice
Jamie1450
Posted
  • Author

I think i need to do something, I just felt the fabric that covers the springs and it's covered in a microscopic crumb dust even though I've vacuumed it several times since then. 

 

I do think about selling my kids but for different reasons! ;)

 

I'll look into the slip cover thing and or cleaning it (just did 2 months ago), or our couches are still in good condition but are 8 years old so I might be able to sweet talk the hubs into a new one.

 

 

 

Edit to add: Not sure if I should just take the money for cleaning and a slip cover and put it toward new couch or not. What would you do? Am I being paranoid? 

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shadowicewolf Proficient
shadowicewolf
Posted

Eh, how much do you like the couch? I despise shopping for them, its so hard to find the right one.

 

Price comparison, slip cover would make do until you could find the one you like.

Adalaide Mentor
Adalaide
Posted

You could look into professional cleaning services also. I love slip covers though, it gives you a chance to spruce things up, especially with spring cleaning around the corner, and give the room a new look with a super cheap price. And with kids around and the inevitable messes, really easy to clean! I hated the idea of new furniture when my kids were little. I didn't understand the point of buying new furniture just to have it stained up and used as a trampoline. That is more of a when they ship out to college or if it breaks thing. :D

mamaupupup Contributor
mamaupupup
Posted

You are a great Mom!  I was CRAZY with the cleaning I did...I have those $100 slipcovers over couches I got pre-kids...sanitized them, put 'em back on.  I replaced all my pots and pans, toaster, baking sheets, etc... I even emptied every cabinet, put down new contact paper, etc.  Somehow a chocolate maltball made it through all of that...showed up randomly in the middle of a shelf one day!!!???

 

Do whatever is going to make YOU sane ;)  , keep your kiddos healthy, and keep your marriage intact ;).  My poor husband had to even replace all his tropical fish food--it all had gluten in it.  I think that for him was (almost) the final straw in our purging efforts.  Remember to check things like the dog food too...

 

Also, I vaccuumed my car a gazillion times...no doubt kids drop things and there are sneaky places those crumbs hide...

 

Thinking of you!

xoxoxo

1974girl Enthusiast
1974girl
Posted

If he is getting glutened, I wouldn't think the couch would be the first thing that popped in my mind.  I would guess eating out, grandma's house, or playdough. Maybe even another food sensitivity.    My GI doctor had a good long talk with me about keeping my sanity after my husband told her I was going crazy.  And he wasn't joking.  I had accidently given her something with hidden gluten in it (not on label as rye or barely) and it freaked me out for days.  I saw everything as poison to her.  She (who is a strict doctor) told me, "One cigarette a year won't kill a person.  One cigarette a month won't kill a person.  It is just like that with gluten. Oh, she might have a little diarreah but it won't kill her to get accidently glutened."  So when I looked at it that way, I lightened up.  Not with my gluten but with my obsession that everything was going to cause lymphoma. 

Jamie1450 Apprentice
Jamie1450
Posted
  • Author

I'm careful but I'm certainly realistic about keeping my son safe from gluten. I'm not freaking at all. We don't eat out, have a grandma's house near by to go to, nor do we keep playdough in the house. I'm not trying to come up with something to worry about. My husband and I actually watched him magically pull a binkie out of the couch (I thought they were all in the kitchen) and stick it in his mouth yesterday evening. Today, he's already pooped 3 times and it's only 8:30am and he is terribly fussy. Maybe it's just coincidence  I don't know, maybe this is his normal but my child having diarrhea and a bright red bum is not ok with me. I think I'm picking up a slip cover today. 

 

Oh and what got me thinking about the whole couch thing is because he has been glutened somehow several times over the last month and I have no idea how. I found some toys and a binkie in the cough the other day and they were covered in crumbs. 

Jamie1450 Apprentice
Jamie1450
Posted
  • Author

Wow, I really didn't mean for that to sound defensive. I had a REALLY rough morning with the kids today!

kareng Grand Master
kareng
Posted

I think the difference in this thread about getting glutened by a couch and a previous one about adults sitting on a couch that a pet that ate gluten 2 years ago sat on is:

This lady has kids that LOVE to put stuff down in the little crevices of the couch. She has tried to vacuum out the crumbs she can feel in there but they aren't coming out. The kids continue to push stuff way down in and then put the toy in their mouths. Obviously, in an ideal world, she could tell her little angels not to put stuff in the cushions and they would magically stop. Or keep the kids away from all furniture that can't be hosed off! :)

Jamie1450 Apprentice
Jamie1450
Posted
  • Author

Thank you kareng!!

 

Hose-offable furniture....hmmm.... :rolleyes:

kareng Grand Master
kareng
Posted

Thank you kareng!!

 

Hose-offable furniture....hmmm.... :rolleyes:

My boys are 17 and 20 and that is still a good idea!

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