Gluten Traces In Food.

[Krystens mummy]

Hi just wanted to know if this is causing my daughter harm. Just recently I have been trying her with food that may contain traces of gluten. She shows no signs of a gut reaction but gets what looks like dribble rash on her chin. If it isnt causing gut reactions is it safe? she is 16 months old and what I call a diet diagnosed celiac. She has all the symptoms of celiac even what looks remakably like DH when glutened a lot and last week found out that it is really prevelant in my dads side of the family.

[Krystens mummy]

I also would like to know if you can get a reaction to shampoo if you don't ingest it? I haven't used any with her im just curious. thanks.

[shayesmom]

Hi just wanted to know if this is causing my daughter harm. Just recently I have been trying her with food that may contain traces of gluten. She shows no signs of a gut reaction but gets what looks like dribble rash on her chin. If it isnt causing gut reactions is it safe? she is 16 months old and what I call a diet diagnosed celiac. She has all the symptoms of celiac even what looks remakably like DH when glutened a lot and last week found out that it is really prevelant in my dads side of the family.

If she's getting rashes and there are confirmed Celiacs in the family, then most likely, she is also celiac. That means that any amount of gluten will harm her and it all needs to be avoided the same way you'd avoid rat poison. You can't really base things off the presence of GI issues. Many celiacs show none at all. The damage is still being done. The level of error when it comes to trace gluten is just a crumb. 1/8th of a wheat thin cracker creates damage that will take 4-6 weeks to heal. So it's best to play it safe.

As far as shampoo and personal hygiene products, it's important they all be gluten-free. That means yours as well. If you use shampoo with wheat in it, towel off and then go to make her food...you are essentially contaminating it. So make sure all soaps, lotions, dishwashing liquid and laundry detergents are gluten-free (nothing like your dishcloths being contaminated so that you're wiping gluten onto your clean dishes and utensils).

My dd is a "diet diagnosed celiac" as well. The only bad part to this is that many times, people use this as an excuse to trial gluten over and over again. We all struggle with this. The best thing to do is continue reading on this site and come to understand just how bad continual glutenings can be. And also realize that this diet is much tougher in the beginning than it will be 6 months, 1 year or even 5 years from now. It all gets easier and one day, it will be second nature for you. So hang in there. It gets better.

[Krystens mummy]

Thanks for all of your advice. When we first went gluten free with her we were very catious about how we handled her food. She got so much better and started to shoot up. Unfortunately it seems that she has stopped growing again I hope that isn't because I was getting too complacent. A mothers guilt is the worst kind.

[psawyer]

"May contain traces of xxx" is a voluntary disclosure statement. It may be nothing more than covering their @$$ against possible lawsuits. It may mean that xxx is used somewhere in the same premises, or even on the same lines, in making other products. There is no agreed legal definition of what "traces" are.

As I said, this statement is voluntary, so just because you don't see it, DO NOT ASSUME that traces of xxx are impossible in the product you are looking at.

I take this with a grain of salt myself. If I have a choice between products that do and do not say this, I tend to choose the ones that don't, even though I know that the difference is entirely in my head. There is really no difference in risk. Now, if a label says that the product is made in a gluten-free facility, then that is another voluntary statement, but one that may have some significance to us.