I Glutened Her !

[vampella]

We went to Organzo market today because we were told they have a lot of gluten-free stuff. I am grabbing different flav's of stuff we've had before & I was so happy to have more variety.

We get in the car & I open the envirokids chocolate animal cookies.

Emmah's eatting them as well as my other DD, they had 6-8 each.. After a little bit I'm bored so I start to read the ingreds. unbleached wheat flour, whole wheat flour & SCREAMED drop them. She did she threw them on the floor of the car & stopped chewing what was in her mouth. I made her spit the rest out. I feel like crap. I was crying so hard. I just assumed it was gluten-free just a different flav but NOPE NOT gluten-free. They should have the gluten-free in a different colored box or something.

Emmies going to be so sick tonight. I feel so bad!

Has anyone else done this. I know I will have to look much more close from now on. I just feel like I failed her.

[jayhawkmom]

I'm sure this has happened to *almost* everyone, whether they'll admit it or not. But, after the first time it happened to us, I guarantee you it'll never happen again.

I don't buy ANYTHING anymore without confirming it's gluten-free status.

This is how we learn....and are reminded to always, always, always read ALL the labels.

Never assume something is gluten free, rather... always assume it HAS gluten, until otherwise proven not to.

I hope your little one bounces back quickly!!

[Guhlia]

You are certainly NOT a horrible mother. It could have happened to anyone (and has happened to most, if not all, of us). Don't be so hard on yourself. You're still new to this and learning.

[Lisa]

PLEASE don't be so hard on yourself. I have said before, that I have the utmost respect for mothers of cleliac children. It is hard enough to deal with the diet as an adult. I know that your burden is greater.

Let today be over, consider it a lesson learned and go forward. You are doing a wonderful job and a few mishaps are to be expected. Give her alot of water to flush the gluten. And hug and kiss her goodnight.....and do the same for yourself. You are a wonderful mother.

[vampella]

I swear you are all the best!!!

I don't know what I would do without this site!! I will start the water pushing right after she's done her gluten-free milkshake.

I've learnt my lesson that's for sure. I threw them in the trash as soon as we got home. I would have kept them for DD#1 but I didn't want to have another accident.

[Lisa]

I just wanted to add the the water will move the gluten through her system more quickly, and to fend off some hydration with diareah, but it won't stop the autoimmune reaction. That most like is already in place.

Hang in there and hugs.

[Viola 1]

You certainly are NOT a bad mother. You are a sweet and caring mother who was delighted to have found new flavours. Like the others said, consider it a learning experience and carry on.

To show you how easy it is for even experienced Celiacs to do this sort of thing I'll tell you about my wonderful Christmas parcel from my Celiac daughter in NB. She sent me out some wonderful sauces ... a couple of different soy sauces that have gluten free right on them. I'm looking forward to trying those ... but the third bottle was a Terayiaki sauce ... Tam had used it several times before because it was gluten free, but the company changed formulas and it now states wheat right in the ingredients Because she was so used to using it, she didn't even think to look! Lesson learned for both of us!! I'm giving my bottle to the golf course restaurant, I'm sure they will find a use for it. Tam took her's back to the store and phoned the company and let them know that we are not happy.

How every I consolled myself with the lovely bottle of blush wine that Tam included in my parcel

Hang in there ... to make mistakes is very human, we can only learn from them.

[Fiddle-Faddle]

YOU ARE A WONDERFUL MOTHER!!!!

You might copy your first post and send it to both the store and the manufacturer, and let them know how easy it is to make a mistake. Surely they would want to avoid lawsuits in the future....

[MySuicidalTurtle]

Don't worry, Vampella! She will do it to herself at some point, too- we all do!

[codetalker]

We went to Organzo market today because we were told they have a lot of gluten-free stuff.

It's clear you were trying to do something good for your child. You just made a mistake. Don't beat yourself up over it. You have a long road ahead of you. Everyone makes mistakes like this.

[Creative-Soul]

You are NOT a horrible Mommy, and you definitely haven't failed her...don't ever think that! **Lots of Hugs!!!**

[vampella]

So I did C& P my op to them & asked that they consider changing the color of the gluten-free boxes so they aren't the same as the NON gluten-free boxes.

Her tummy is sore but I knew that was going to happen. I will be MUCH more careful from now on!!

Thanks everyone I feel much better.

[GFmum]

Welcome to mums who love their children dearly, are human and make mistakes!

I found this great new brand of gluten-free muffin mix (anything to save me time as a full time working sole parent). I skimmed through the ingredients list for my son's allergins also...looked good.

Whilst I was making the muffins I asked my son if he wanted to taste the mixture (I don't normally ask him and he doesn't normally ask). I gave him one lick. I had just given him his dinner also which he started eating. Within minutes he grabbed his throat in a panic saying there's egg in my dinner!! I said there can't be? It was something like steak & vegies. He said I can feel it!!! Then he ran to the toilet and vomitted and vommitted and vommitted! I looked at the gluten-free muffin mix again and sure enough there was EGG WHITE POWDER which he's allergic to! Did I feel very very bad!

You can be caught off guard anytime. It happens. Think of all the great things you do every other second of the day!

Also manufacturers can change ingredients without warning so it's good to get into the habbit of checking the ingredients of the things you usually buy as well...just in case!

Look at the big picture and just remember what a great mum you are!

[Ursa Major]

Char, you've heard it from the previous posters, but it won't hurt if you hear it again: YOU'RE A GREAT MOTHER! You would only be a horrible mother if you would purposely gluten your child to torture her. But this was an honest mistake, which you will learn from. Emmah will survive, kids are tough.

[vampella]

Thanks everyone for your support!! Emmah has a tummy ache & the D but she's going to live. U just made some yummy cho chip cookies that I am hoping she will try. she wouldn't eat this am because of her tummy but not that she's been to the washroom a few times I am hoping she will eat.

Thanks again everyone!.!.!.!

[shayesmom]

Please don't beat yourself up over this. We all make mistakes....it's all part of the process in learning about this diet and getting to the point where the mistakes are minimal. You WILL be there in NO time!

I'm glad that you did write to Envirokidz though. We've been having a rough time with their products as well. Their gluten-free cereal bars are also a bit of fun when you have a kid that's allergic to other foods. I especially LOVE this part of their label..."organic canola and/or soybean oil". Well??? Which one is it??? If it's canola....we're good, if it's soybean oil....we get a hyped up kid who's stomach is upset for about 4 hours. Turns out....it was SOYBEAN oil! Uggghh! We've bought these bars before with NO problems but now we are.

My response to the situation is....I will discontinue buying their products from here on out. It seems to me that a food company which caters to special diets should be a bit more sensitive to other allergens that they put in their products. The standard, "MAY CONTAIN TRACES OF PEANUTS, TREE NUTS, OR SOY" doesn't really do much to illuminate the situation.

I suppose it's a bit lazy of me....but the only way that I could keep the diet straight was to make the entire house gluten-free. I won't even buy rice if it's not labelled "gluten-free". Seriously. Not even rice! We have had countless problems with whole grain rices that were supposed to be gluten-free and yet weren't according to my dd's digestive tract.

In any case, you will eventually get into the swing of things and trust me....you WON'T make that mistake again. And that is precisely why you are a GOOD mom! Hope Emmah feels better soon! You may want to get some probiotics to help with accidental glutenings (helps the intestines heal). Or...my favorite thing to help the stomach pain....some chili. L-glutamine is a great thing to help the side effects of a glutening.

[ptkds]

I know EXACTLY how you feel! I went to lunch at school w/ my dd's to make sure thier meals were safe. At thier school, they have a snack bar where the kids can get ice cream bars and chips and stuff. I had been told that Blue Bell ice cream was safe, so when I saw the fudge bar, I assumed it was safe and told my dd that she could have that. While she was eating it, I picked up the wrapper and read the ingredients and there was wheat flour in it! I was so upset w/ myself that I didnt make sure first, and I was upset w/ Blue Bell for putting flour in ice cream! (we live about 1 mile from the factory!)

So, I know how you feel. Don't feel bad. She will get better and she probably won't even remember it in a few weeks!

ptkds

[happygirl]

Char,

Just wanted to add my voice of support. It happens...we do it to ourselves, our kids, our loved ones. The only thing we can do is learn from our mistakes! We all have specific instances burned in our brain that *help* keep us vigilant....I guess this will be one of yours, my dear! We have blips...and move on!

She'll recover, and you'll be more careful, and she'll probably be better off in the long run. Hope she's doing better by now.

Laura

[zachsmom]

I want to tell you that I dont think your a bad mom. We all have done it.. Remember when I tryed to make christmas cookies for the baby ( never happened) .. I threw away the dough because it was ucky... ( bobs red mill bean flour) well I thought I was so great because I got this chocolate chip cookies mix... I get it home ... ( I picked up the one next to the gluten free one... that was organic only not gluten free) got ready to make it .. and started looking and realized that it was ORGANIC not gluten free. Gee that was nice of me .. here have some flour...

I am sorry .. I feel your pain to the bone. keep your chin up .. what if this was practice for a big glutening that because of this one .. your going to avoid. .. god works in weird ways,,,,

[vampella]

So I got a reply from Envirokids today. Here it is:

Hello Char:

Thank you for your email. So sorry to hear about your child's experience. Hope she is feeling better today.

We will consider your comments as the boxes are being redesigned this year.

Thank you for contacting us about our gluten free products. Nature's Path Foods has many products that are made without wheat, rye, barley or oats.

We do make other cereals that contain gluten. However, our strict production schedules and quality assurance methods ensure that the least allergenic foods are produced first. The products that contain gluten, soy and finally nuts are made and then the entire line is cleaned and the process re-starts. The equipment is periodically inspected & tested for gluten contamination.

We are confident that our gluten free products are acceptable for those following a gluten free diet. These products are also milk (dairy) casein free - EXCEPT for the Chocolate Crispy Rice bar. The products are:

Mesa Sunrise Flakes - Nature

[Kibbie]

I feel your pain and like others have said... I bet EVERYONE here has a similar story.

You can also take this "accident" and turn it into a learning lesson for your child (If she's old enough to under stand" talk to her about how you and she always need to double check what is in the foods so she wont get sick!

Sometimes our mistakes can be the best life lessons for our kids... and remembering to check labels is a great one for her to learn!

I'd also like to pass on advice that my mom gave me... about mothering mistakes. she said:

Making mistakes is a part of being a mom, if we don't make mistakes our children will never grow up to achieve more than we have in life, and that would be sad!

(Basically we need to make mistakes so that they can grow up to not make them!)

She's so smart!

[Juliebove]

Please don't beat yourself up over this. We all make mistakes....it's all part of the process in learning about this diet and getting to the point where the mistakes are minimal. You WILL be there in NO time!

I'm glad that you did write to Envirokidz though. We've been having a rough time with their products as well. Their gluten-free cereal bars are also a bit of fun when you have a kid that's allergic to other foods. I especially LOVE this part of their label..."organic canola and/or soybean oil". Well??? Which one is it??? If it's canola....we're good, if it's soybean oil....we get a hyped up kid who's stomach is upset for about 4 hours. Turns out....it was SOYBEAN oil! Uggghh! We've bought these bars before with NO problems but now we are.

My response to the situation is....I will discontinue buying their products from here on out. It seems to me that a food company which caters to special diets should be a bit more sensitive to other allergens that they put in their products. The standard, "MAY CONTAIN TRACES OF PEANUTS, TREE NUTS, OR SOY" doesn't really do much to illuminate the situation.

I suppose it's a bit lazy of me....but the only way that I could keep the diet straight was to make the entire house gluten-free. I won't even buy rice if it's not labelled "gluten-free". Seriously. Not even rice! We have had countless problems with whole grain rices that were supposed to be gluten-free and yet weren't according to my dd's digestive tract.

In any case, you will eventually get into the swing of things and trust me....you WON'T make that mistake again. And that is precisely why you are a GOOD mom! Hope Emmah feels better soon! You may want to get some probiotics to help with accidental glutenings (helps the intestines heal). Or...my favorite thing to help the stomach pain....some chili. L-glutamine is a great thing to help the side effects of a glutening.

Aargh! Wonder when they started doing this? These are one product I've always felt iffy about buying because they could contain traces of things my daughter is allergic to. But they are the only bar she really likes and since I have such a hard time getting her moving in the morning they're one thing she can have for a quick breakfast.

She has her own table of "safe" foods and there are some of these sitting in a basket on the table.

This morning we had snow. She was not moving too fast, convinced there would be no school. But there was. So instead of waiting for her to grab a bar, I got her lunch together and opened one of the boxes of these bars that I had in the cupboard. I just mail ordered several boxes because I was having trouble finding them locally. She could only have the berry flavor due to additional allergies. The stores seemed to have all but those.

She came home from school ill. Would not eat her dinner and complained of her stomach hurting. So after reading what you wrote, I looked at the boxes I have and it does say /or soybean oil! Aaargh! Well, I must have the soy. She's very allergic to soy.

*sigh* I try to read all labels but then I get too overconfident and something like this happened. I suppose she could actually have the flu or something. She is complaining of other symptoms and seems to be running a fever. Makes me angry that I bought so many boxes of them though. Last time I accidently soyed her it was from a Glutino product, a sample package of crackers. The print was so fine I couldn't read it all, but I didn't see soy on it. She took a bite and commented on how good it was. But before she'd even finished the one cracker she was doubled over in pain. So I got online and looked. Sure enough. Soy!

My daughter is allergic to 7 different foods. Makes it really tough to come up with things she can eat, even when I do cook from scratch.

[aerickson8]

I can totally relate to you. I know a mom who actually did the exact same thing you did with the Envirokids Animal Cookies. She thought they were all gluten-free and didn't realize it was only the vanilla.

I also made the mistake of buying the wrong chicken nuggets. They were Ian's brand. He sells a gluten-free kind and a regular and they are both in a yellow box. She even asked as she was coming to the table if they were gluten-free and I assured her they were. Low and behold an hour later she started complaining of tummy aches. I looked at the ingredients and just about died. This was a year ago (she is 5 now). I thought I would die. I felt like the worst mom in the entire world and started bawling and apologized to her and told her how horrible I felt. The puking went on for a few hours. Luckily she only ate 1 or 2. But once she threw it all up she was ok. I learned my lesson big time. We are all going to make the mistake at least once but it just keeps us on our toes when reading ingredients. I triple quadruple check my ingredients. She still talks about the whole experience to this day. She still makes sure everying is gluten-free. It was also a good reminder to her of what gluten will make her feel like. I felt like the worst mom ever. But as my friends told me and I tell you, try not to beat yourself up about it. Give her extra snuggles and loves.

You are not a bad mommy!!

Hugs,

Alicia

[Sillyyakdidi]

you're a good mommy for being so concerned! like evreyone else said, we all make mistakes. I'm 22, and my mother who is very knowledgeable about cooking gluten-free glutened me last time i was home, the cheese was held together with wheat starch, she started to cry, but after a few days, I was ok, The fact that you care so much means you are a GOOD mom!