Traveling With Celiac Tots

[AMQmom]

Greetings! We are traveling from Michigan to Colorado on Thursday. Both of my girls are celiac. My eldest is 7 years old and also has EE. She is very oral (still sucks thumb and licks hands - I was hoping that this would go away with her anxieties once gluten free, but only diminishing). Here is my question: we will be on an airplane and in rental cars, etc. Have any of your children gotten gluttened just by being in that type of environment? My 3 year old is not oral - I don't worry about her too much with fingers in her mouth, but she is just 3 years old. I was considering gloves for them or masks. Am I going overboard? This is my first trip with them as celiac. Any suggestions are appreciated!!! (P.S. I am not worried about their food - I will pack snacks and already located stores where we will be staying - just worried about contamination while traveling).

[Ursa Major]

Don't go overboard with things like masks or gloves, you will raise them to be paranoid if you do that. But take along travel wipes and wipe down the surfaces in the car, and the armrests in the plane, things like that. But don't make a big deal out of it, either.

[gfpaperdoll]

IMO, the plane will be worse because most everything they serve on there is wheat. & I saw a lady get on the plane with a box of donuts in her hand!!!! I thought OMG if she sits next to me I am moving!! - so yes, take wipes & wash their hands & wipe off the area where you are sitting. Also, that is where you get the germs on a plane is from touching things that 30,000 other people have touched - in the plane & in the airport.

rental car should not be so bad - I mean really how many of them actually have had anyone ever sit in the back seat ! much less eating there - I bet not many.

[shan]

i fly regularly, 4 times a year, and we have never had a problem with gluten - neither with the plane nor with rental cars. I make sure to bring with PLENTY of food for the plane, coz when everyone else gets, she also wants, and i also take with, and don't rely on, snacks to keep in the car. Thats for when we are stuck in traffic and stuff - Your dd is gonna know that you are stressed about it, so you have to make sure that you are relaxed about it

I also make sure to wash her hands after the play area in the airport, coz everyone gives their kids lunch there, so there is bread crumbs all over...

Just a little tip, bring all food with in containers or bags that you can leave on the plane - it'll be easier when you leave the plane to get off with less luggage and cranky kids

[dandelionmom]

I do a quick wipe down before DD sits down and we do a lot of handwashing. You're probably already doing something similar to this but thought I'd mention it because it has really helped my DD: we came up with a quick phrase to let her know that I'm worried about gluten exposure, we call it "gluten-hands" and that tells her that she shouldn't eat or put her hands in her mouth until we've had a chance to wash them, it is our way of telling her to be careful. It also helps my other child to remember that she needs to wash her hands when she comes home from school before touching anything of her sister's and other things of that nature. They know that when I say that phrase I mean business.

[Kibbie]

Greetings! We are traveling from Michigan to Colorado on Thursday. Both of my girls are celiac. My eldest is 7 years old and also has EE. She is very oral (still sucks thumb and licks hands - I was hoping that this would go away with her anxieties once gluten free, but only diminishing). Here is my question: we will be on an airplane and in rental cars, etc. Have any of your children gotten gluttened just by being in that type of environment? My 3 year old is not oral - I don't worry about her too much with fingers in her mouth, but she is just 3 years old. I was considering gloves for them or masks. Am I going overboard? This is my first trip with them as celiac. Any suggestions are appreciated!!! (P.S. I am not worried about their food - I will pack snacks and already located stores where we will be staying - just worried about contamination while traveling).

My daughter was diagnosed when she was 18 months old. Exactly 1 month to the day of diagnosis we were on a plane to Arizona headed for a family reunion road/camping trip. I feel your pain the first trip is always the hardest! My daughter is 3 now and has only been glutened 2 times 1 was her own doing and the other was a mess up at a restaurant.

Anyhow I try my best to let her be as normal as possible and gloves and masks are something that I would not consider at all. Personally I think its going overboard.

For rental cars: I check cup holders, and open all the little storage places, plus check the floor to see if it had been cleaned and vacuumed before I got in there. If not I request that they either clean and vac. it or give me a clean car. (This is something I would do with or without having a Celiac kid) I also clean off the areas most likely to be touched by my daughter and food. (again something I would do anyhow just because other people germs gross me out) We've never had a problem with a rental car.

On planes if you tell them your child has an allergy they will either clean off their seat for you or offer you wipes to clean it off yourself. We've never had a problem with flying even when the person next to us is eating glutenful pretzels.

Staying healthy the rest of the trip is really just a matter of washing hands... a lot

Enjoy your trip!

[AMQmom]

Many, many thanks to you all! I have calmed down after reading your responses. No masks, no gloves. I went into full protection mode instead of just mommy mode. Thank you. I will follow your tips and hope for the best. I really want them to live life to the fullest and travel is one of those elements that I don't want them to miss out on. Thank you for all of your tips and personal examples.