Another Special Diet In The Family...

[teacherkd]

My dd, age four, just finished three days of allergy testing. She came up postive allergic to wheat, milk, barley malt, potatoes, tomatoes, pollens, soy, and chocolate. So apparently we will have another special diet in the house.

So the question is, should she basically go Gluten-free Casein-free? Wheat and milk were essentially her strong reactions, comparatively [not counting her behavioral reaction to chocolate, which in a clinical setting was so blazingly obvious it's a wonder we'd never twigged to it before]. Ever since I've been gluten-free I've been able to tolerate milk, so I'd really rather not have to do substitutes myself. Soymilk may be an option for her since her soy reaction was less pronounced than the dairy.

The clinic [a D.O., not an M.D.] also suggested a four-day rotation diet for her, after a strict wheat free, dairy free week to ten days. I'm not sure how that would work with me already being gluten-free and my dw and ds not following a special diet. How much crossover is there between a gluten-free/Gluten-free Casein-free diet and a rotational?

One last concern: she starts school [junior kindergarten] in the fall. Should we expect much from the school [a medium size Catholic school] or should we just figure on packing a lunch?

[Amyleigh0007]

My son is on a rotation diet for his food allergies too. He is allergic to wheat, corn, soy, egg whites, clam, and walnuts. He doesn't eat clam or walnuts at all and never has. He doesn't eat wheat at all since he also has Celiac. He doesn't eat egg in the whole form (i.e. scrambled eggs) only in cookies, pancakes, etc. Corn and soy are eaten in small amounts every three days or so. We are not nearly as strict about the allergies as we are about gluten.

As far as school goes, I would definitely send her with a lunch. I am speaking as a parent and teacher. I'm sure your school is wonderful but you really can't trust them to be as diligent as you are. You should also send her teacher a stash of gluten free snacks/goodies and an emergency lunch. Also if they do crafts with pasta or cereal I would send in gluten free varieties of those too.