Is Your Whole Household Gluten Free?

[TJ060306]

I am wanted to start my daughter tomorrow on a GFD. Well I thought it was a no brainer to have the whole household gluten-free since she is only 21 months I thought it would be easier in avoiding CC for her. Well I have now done some more research and I see a lot of people have some cons. Like not being able to be tempted but none gluten-free free food. As well as learn to live in a non Gluten free world. I dont know which would be better now. I think having a gluten-free home would be better since our other child is only 7 months so he wouldnt know the difference if we stuck to it when he gets older.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you just do Gluten Free for the affected person or does your whole family do it? Or do you try to meet in the middle with a little bit of both. (Which I am afraid I will CC this way as well)

Also if you have teflon pans and their scratched did you buy new ones?

Thanks

Janelle

[glutenada]

I am the one with the celiac disease, but my entire house is gluten-free (husband and 16 yo son). When the diagnosis came in, hubby said that we were not going to monkey around with it and was the main proponent of removing everything w/gluten from our home.

I tossed out cast iron, teflon, pizza stones, wooden spoons, toasters, etc, etc, etc. Better safe than sorry, imo.

It's just so much easier to have a "clean" house. I cannot even imagine the difficulty in maintaining gluten-free status in a contaminated kitchen.

The boys bring in mac-n-cheese and top ramen and that's it. They both are good about cleaning up after themselves and making sure I don't get contaminated.

For awhile, I was OK with them bringing bread in for sandwiches and such, but it's just too easy to stick that contaminated knife into the butter or jam or other spread and after a few poisonings, that was the end of that.

HTH

[Jestgar]

Here are some other threads that might have useful information:

https://www.celiac.com/gluten-free/index.php?showtopic=46494

https://www.celiac.com/gluten-free/index.ph...c=7293&st=0

https://www.celiac.com/gluten-free/index.php?showtopic=49421

[shan]

It is only my almost four year old that actually has celiac. Our main meal - supper - is gluten free, although i might make different pastas seeing as we eat seperate times from her. Any other meal, she has her cereal, her snacks i pack for her day care etc. Her brother,even though her is 2.4 years old, knows that she gets OJ instead of milk in her cereal, and he gets cheerios and she gets rice chex/copy of granalo cereal. When i bake, its only gluten free. BUT she knows and sees us eating gluten, and that is the world we live in. We cannot insulate them to the point that they NEVER see gluten. Yes there is gluten in the world, yes others are allowed it, BUT at home there are ALWAYS gluten free foods that she can have.

That is my opinion

[sugarsue]

We are a gluten free household now but before last month, my 7 yr old was still eating gluten but my 6 yr old would get very upset when her sister could eat her favorite foods so I decided early on that my gluten eater could get gluten at school, friends houses, restaurants, etc. but that we would have a safe and happy place at home with no constant reminder that she is not like everyone else. Now we are all guten free so it's a non issue now. But my new boyfriend eats gluten and has brought gluten into the house. I'm not sure yet how I feel about it since I am still educating him on the fact that this is important and not just a nutty thing to be doing.

I did buy a new toaster but did not buy new pots and pans since I only had two teflon pieces.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

[*lee-lee*]

it's just my boyfriend and i and we don't have a gluten free house. specialty gluten free foods (pasta, bread/flour ingredients) cost so much more than the regular stuff so monetarily we decided to allow both in our house. we each have separate cabinets for our food and our own cooking utensils. we also have separate toasters.

this arrangement works ok for us. my boyfriend is getting better at wiping up his crumbs...i only have to nag him once in a while! we currently live in an apartment so the kitchen isn't as large as i would like it to be but hopefully that'll change once we're able to buy a house.

i'm sure it's much easier to have a totally gluten free home but it's possible to allow gluteney foods as long as the non-celiacs are careful. to me, it seems a bit unrealistic to totally avoid gluten. you just have to be careful.

in the end, it's what works best for you and your family.

[nasalady]

Since I'm the one with the diagnosis, and also the cook, I decided that the house HAD to be gluten free. I just can't deal with the cross-contamination risk. Then we found out that our two-year-old has the HLA DQ2 gene, and it became a no-brainer. We are now gluten free and no one seems to miss the gluten (except they do miss going out to eat pancakes at a restaurant!).

Of course, the bottom line is that it's your decision and what works for me may not work for you

I do want to ask a question or two though: is it possible that anyone else in the family may have celiac disease? Have you all been tested? Please keep in mind that many people with celiac disease have no symptoms.

Good luck!

JoAnn

[mstroud]

I would say that our house is 95% gluten free. My husband does have wheat bread that he makes toast out of (he uses our old, gluten toaster) or makes sandwiches out of. Othan that, our house is gluten free. I found that I was VERY stressed and paranoid about the crumbs when I was preparing one child a gluten waffle and another a gluten free one or one a wheat bread sandwich and the other one with gluten-free bread. I know it's expensive, but it's worth the sanity for me. I do try to stock up on gluten-free waffles (or other gluten-free snacks / foods) when they're sale to help save money so I try not to worry about that part of the diet.

As for pots, I've had to replace one or two old pots that were Circulon and could not get the groves clean. And a couple of old scratched teflon pans and an electric skillet. Also, I replaced our old strainer and got a new toaster.

We're similar to your family ... one person is diagnosed with Celiac Disease and in our case two people (myself included) carry the DQ2 double gene (neg. blood work). I'm glad we're as gluten free as we can be for now. I'd be happy if we didn't have any in the house! It does make life a lot easier and less stressful!

Good luck! Margaret

[Country Girl]

My son is close to you daughters age and we have choose to not make our entire house gluten free (at this time...). BUT, he has his own pots/pans/toaster, pantry section, fridge/freezer sections. For us this has worked better because he is understanding from a young age that his foods are different from others. I do make a lot of gluten free foods, but when I don't his plate looks identical to ours (just made differently). I can't protect him forever, so I want him to know it is okay to eat a different food and to pick out what he wants not just what everyone is eating.

I am also very diligent about cleaning and this method does produce a lot more dishes.

[dandelionmom]

We are almost entirely gluten-free. My husband and oldest daughter have prepackaged gluteny foods that they bring to work/school and they occasionally have pizza delivered but that is it.

We donated all our old teflon, plastics, toaster, breadmaker, and wooden things (plus things that are just hard to clean like colanders and flour sifters).

With a super sensitive daughter and kids who aren't always the neatest, it is just easier for us to keep the house mostly gluten-free.

[EmmyLouWho?]

We have not gone completely gluten free in our household. Our dinners (made by me) are completely gluten-free so that I don

[Gemini]

It's just so much easier to have a "clean" house. I cannot even imagine the difficulty in maintaining gluten-free status in a contaminated kitchen.

My husband is not gluten-free and has his own supply of food for breakfast and lunch. My kitchen is as un-contaminated as a totally gluten-free household. Of course, this might not be the case in a family with small children but I don't have that worry. It can be done very successfully, if people put some effort into it.

It all depends on family members and attitude.

[Amyleigh0007]

My home is gluten free. My son is the only officially diagnosed Celiac but I have gluten intolerance and we are keeping our 16 month old gluten free. My husband eats gluten outside the home. There is too much to worry about with Celiac. Not having gluten in our home is one less thing to worry about.

[celiac-mommy]

Both of my kids have Celiac, my dh and I do not, but our house is 98% gluten-free. Dh doesn't eat bread or cereal anyway, but I have my own toaster for my bread and I have my cereal, otherwise, everything is gluten-free. As for the expense, for a family of 4, I spend about $125 every week and a half, with the exception of an extra gallon of milk and some random produce-not more than $20, and 1 trip to Costco about every 2.5months (~$300). We eat out about 2x a month (maximum), I pack all of their lunches and snacks for school/preschool and all of my meals for 12hr days at the hospital. We eat very healthy and I buy as much organic as I can. I actually find it less expensive than before-especially if you add in not eating out 2-3x per week!! But, I also look for sales, buy in bulk when stuff is a really good price and I stay away from a lot of the mainstream gluten-free products, other than noodles, etc...

This works for our house, my opinion only here

[littleguyw/CD]

Our son is the one with celiac disease and my husband is in the early stages of getting tested. Our house is about 95% gluten-free. We are a family of 6 so it is a little bit harder for us only cause of our income.

I make sure our son

[Kibbie]

My daughter was diagnosed at 18 months old. our house is what I call "gluten free" meaning that all the meals we eat together are gluten free.... because I have no intention on cooking 2 different meals.

My husband has gluten bread for his lunches at work and if we have Hamburgers we have real buns and she either goes with out a bun or has a gluten free one but that's the extent of the gluten in our house.

When we eat out we order food with gluten in it and we use that to help teach her that she can't share food with other people. We are constantly talking about what food has gluten and what doesn't and why she can't eat off our plates at a restaurant. This way she learns the lesson with us instead of eating gluten at school someday because she shared food with a friend.

[julirama723]

My house is mostly gluten-free. It's just my fiance and I, and he has one shelf of gluten-filled foods. He eats bread, crackers, buns, and drinks beer. The rest of the food is gluten-free. When he does make a sandwich, he prepares it in a special area by his toaster, nowhere else. We do not share condiments or dressings, each of us has our own bottle/container. When we're done using a utensil, it immediately goes in the sink or the dishwasher. I have my own gluten-free pans, cutting boards, and utensils.

I don't have an issue with him eating sandwiches or drinking beer. He is very careful, and always cleans up. I *DID* feel it was crucial to remove all flours from the house that were not gluten-free. I "decontaminated" the kitchen and scrubbed everything down when I threw away the flour. It took me all weekend!

I'd prefer being 100% gluten-free because it would be SO much easier, but right now, the cost of doing that seems a bit astronomical. (Buying gluten-free bread, gluten-free beer, gluten-free buns, etc.)

[teacherwheart]

My 2 year old has celiac and although some of my blood came back positive some came back negative as well as the biopsy. I consider myself to have Celiac too. My hisband doesnt have it and we're not sure if my 6 onth old has it. We are about 90% gluten free. My husband still has bread, cereal and beef jerky, lol. Occasionally he'll bring in a dessert but it drives me vcrazy since my little guy is super sensitive. So far he has gotten glutened but I do everything I possibly can to control it. Unfortunately we live in agluten world so I can only do so much.

[Juliebove]

At first we were. I got rid of all of the gluten in the house. But then husband wanted sandwiches. So I would buy him pre-made sandwiches. And occasionally a pre-made dish like macaroni and cheese. I started buying bread and crackers for myself, keeping them away from daughter's food. She has her own toaster. She has an area just for her food. She has additional food allergies and I figure this is safer. Now if someone has to watch her for some reason, they will know they can safely feed her anything from her shelves or her little fridge.

[April in KC]

Hi Janelle -

I have spent some time thinking about this.

First I should say that my entire household is gluten-free, but it's a no-brainer as my husband and I both were diagnosed with Celiac Disease within one year of each other. Our kids' pediatrician wondered why we had more than one gluten-sensitive child - well, now we know! Such coincidences do happen...(maybe we Celiacs are attractive to each other - perhaps it's the long eyelashes so common among Celiacs!). So although my oldest son was diagnosed first, I can't really come at this from the point of view of someone who had a choice, as I was diagnosed about a week later.

Sometimes I have met families where JUST the kid has Celiac Disease, and sometimes I wind up feeling sorry for the child, because they seem to have a kind of limited diet...or worse, they have a kind of dangerous diet. I think that when the parents go gluten-free along with the kids, then the parents end up experimenting a lot to find good foods/recipes, etc. I suppose the dangerous diet risk still exists if the parent is attempting to eat gluten free but is not sensitive to gluten and can't tell when ingredients are not pure. At least once a week, I eat processed food that clearly has some traces of gluten in it - this week, it was a bag of potato chips that made my husband, oldest son and I a little sick. I really think it's a blessing to all share the same condition - when we get symptoms, it takes a lot of the mystery out of it if we all get them.

I do think our three boys see us model a gluten-free lifestyle, including modeling choices that will affect them later in life. I do a lot of cooking with my young boys looking on and helping - I think it's particularly important for a child with Celiac Disease to learn how to cook. We talk about what we like and don't like - we commiserate when we see a particularly yummy looking food like pizza on a commercial, and then we try to figure out how to make it gluten-free. I really want to safeguard them against the risky college years, when they're away from home and making choices. I want them to be the independent guys who can cook for themselves, including a gluten-free lasagna that their friends will kill for. I want them to know where to shop for groceries (health food stores carry the best variety of gluten-free foods), and I want them to know where to buy gluten-free beer when they're old enough. These are things that they'll probably do better because of living in a gluten-free household where they see their dad cooking, shopping, eating out, drinking, etc.

We've been gluten-free for not quite 2 years. My extended family has commented recently on how far we've come - how good our gluten-free meals are now compared to when we started. I make much better meals & desserts now than I ever did prior to going gluten-free. I'm not sure we could have come this far if we were not all in it together.

Because of this and the x-contam issues of trying to prepare gluten-free meals in a non-gluten-free kitchen, I'm in favor of the family doing things together. However, it's a TOUGH transition to make, and I just don't know how much resolve I would have had if I did not need to do it for my own health.

Cheers - April

[NewGFMom]

My son is the only one who has celiac, but my house is gluten free. (except for the beer that my husband drinks) I cook all the time and found that I didn't miss it. For bread, I use the gluten-free Pantry White bread mix, and we all eat that. I make tons of muffins and baked goods for snacks.

We decided early on, that our house needed to be 100% safe for him. This is his home and he can eat anything in the fridge that he wants (not that he does, he's the pickiest eater in the world, but just in case he says "mom, can I have a bite?" I can say sure!) I'm kind of disorganized in the kitchen and despite my best efforts, I make big mess when I cook. It's just not worth the risk of making him sick by using the wrong butter.

With a little creative cooking you really couldn't tell that our groceries are any different from anybody else's.

We get gluten take out once a week, but that's after the kids are in bed. My younger daughter gets gluten at daycare and she's pretty easy going about food.

There's really nothing out there that I can think of that we're missing out on, except Honey Bunches of Oats. I miss those... In Boston, where I live, there's an abundance of sources of good gluten-free food. And I order the rest from A M A Z O N in bulk.

-Margaret

[Aleshia]

our whole household is gluten free. it started with myself and then my 2 sons and then my daughter. it seems gluten affected each of us differently. I'm the only one who has been tested, it all came back negative but I did so well on the diet that 2 GI doctors said I'm definitely gluten intolerant. my husband has his gluten food with him at work and he took our old toaster there also, so if he is craving bread or toast or bagels he just has it there. he also goes out with his friends for lunch a few times each week so that takes care of the burger and pizza cravings he gets

if the kids get cookies or candies that they can't have as a treat at school or other places they go they just give it to daddy. even my 2 year old knows what gluten is (poor guy!) my mom was eating pasta salad in front of him and he came and asked for a bite she told hime "no sweetie this is yucky for you grandma will get you something else" he pointed to the dish and said "gooten?" and she said "yeah it has gluten in it" and she said he just toddled off to play. I think kids are better at adjusting to things that seem unfair to us than we give them credit for!

[buffettbride]

I am wanted to start my daughter tomorrow on a GFD. Well I thought it was a no brainer to have the whole household gluten-free since she is only 21 months I thought it would be easier in avoiding CC for her. Well I have now done some more research and I see a lot of people have some cons. Like not being able to be tempted but none gluten-free free food. As well as learn to live in a non Gluten free world. I dont know which would be better now. I think having a gluten-free home would be better since our other child is only 7 months so he wouldnt know the difference if we stuck to it when he gets older.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you just do Gluten Free for the affected person or does your whole family do it? Or do you try to meet in the middle with a little bit of both. (Which I am afraid I will CC this way as well)

Also if you have teflon pans and their scratched did you buy new ones?

Thanks

Janelle

We decided to keep our house gluten-free after realizing how hard it was to keep gluten away from the non-gluten. Our son who was just 3 at the time was young enough that he wouldn't really miss the gluten (it is our 11 year old daughter with Celiac). Hubby and I continued to eat gluten out of the house for a time, but in having a mostly gluten-free life, hubby discovered his own non-Celiac gluten-intolerance, which is extra incentive for keeping gluten-free at home.

My son (now almost 5) and I still eat gluten out of the home. He hasn't showed any signs of Celiac nor have I.

We didn't replace our pans, but they were fairly new anyway, so I cleaned them very, very good, as I did EVERYTHING in our kitchen--especially my $300 Kitchen Aid stand mixer that I use SO much more now that I make tons of gluten-free goodies at home than I ever did with gluten food.

For us, a gluten-free house works extremely well.

[cruelshoes]

Well I have now done some more research and I see a lot of people have some cons. Like not being able to be tempted but none gluten-free free food. As well as learn to live in a non Gluten free world.

I have read these arguments against making ones home gluten-free, but I don't really buy them. It's a big, bad, gluten-filled world out there. Home is supposed to be a safe place. My son was diagnosed after I was. I made him a promise that he would not have to read any labels at home. If it is in our house, there is no gluten in it. He can relax, and know that all the food is safe because I have done the work to make sure it is. In fact, I think it would be more tempting to be at home with a bunch of untouchable food around. That's just how I would feel, maybe it would be different for others. My son is a vigilant label reader, and is never tempted to eat anything that is even remotely questionable when he is out in the real world. When we are at the grocery store, I let him read the labels and he tells me if he thinks the food is safe. More often than not he is right. I am giving him the tools to function on his own.

My husband and NGF daughters eat gluten outside the house, and don't miss out on any treats when they are at home considering how much bread, cookies and cake I bake. I'm glad others can make a mixed kitchen work, but with my untrainable crumb-dropping kids and spouse, it would never fly for us. Every family is different.