Using Baby Wipes To Clean Surfaces And Hands

[NYCCeliacMom]

I read here that Purell is not effective against gluten. I have been carrying a plastic bag with Huggies natural care unscented wipes around with me to wipe surfaces and hands when they cannot be washed. I read in several places on this forum that baby wipes can contain gluten. I contacted Kimberly-Clark re the Huggies wipes today and they read a statement that none of their products contain wheat, barley, triticale, rye...etc. except for one product that has oats (something like Baby smooth). So I feel secure that the wipes don't contain gluten, but wonder whether they are effective in wiping off gluten. It is hard to find a solution when out and about, particularly when traveling.

[SLB5757]

Wiping off gluten? Are you eating out alot and do not want your table to be contaminated? If you trust that the plate that they are using and the food to be gluten free - you can probably assume the table is safe as well if you do not see any visible crumbs - right?

Do you have DH that you are concerned about where even touching gluten will cause blistering? I'm only asking because I am always cleaning off countertops with gluten or making my children sandwiches in which I touch their bread/toast. i just wash my hands afterwards.

Where would you come into a situation where you would need to "wipe things off" in public due to gluten contamination? If it were a restaurant and I was concerned with it - I wouldnt even eat there. And if you are talking maybe an office or business I always just wipe surfaces with water/soap, and then always handle my things on a plate/paperplate/napkin so they do not touch the surfaces anyhow.

[elle's mom]

I think such a situation would be something like this....you take kiddies to the park, they play, climb on the equipment and have lots of fun. You brought along a gluten-free picnic basket and want young celiac to "wash hands" before touching her gluten-free sandwich. You never know what other kids have slimed onto the insides of those slides! Wipes are the perfect choice, if they in fact do wipe of gluten.......I have no idea, but am also curious.

[SLB5757]

Gluten from slides or other kids germy hands?? If I have to be that careful about gluten I will never get better! I have two children in daycare/school/multiple activities and never worry about that issue.

Wonder if I should be?

[elle's mom]

I'm not trying to worry you or make you overly paranoid, I know a lot of people's sensitivities vary greatly. My daughter seems so far to maybe be one of the sensitive types-so I tend to be overly cautious. We are still trying to get her antibodies to a normal range after a year and a half of being gluten free (or so we thought) so I am very precautious. I've heard other people maybe don't have to worry so much. But I know there is a lot said about play dough and tempera (SP?) paints they use in schools having gluten so they're a big no no for celiac kids. I won't let my daughter play in mcdonald's playland-I think of gluten as poison.

[kbtoyssni]

I wipe down the chair arms and tray table when I fly. You can usually see crumbs on the seat and table on international flights where they feed you a couple meals. And I'll wipe the crumbs off the lunch tables at work. They do get cleaned everyday, but only at the end of the lunch hour.

[hermitgirl]

I am thinking more along the lines of when someone is out and about and cannot wash their hands, like at a park and such. I use Wet Ones, as they remove surface dirt and germs from surfaces. I don't know if they "wipe off" gluten, but it just makes me feel better if I have something to clean my hands with before eating, and/or after. That and how many times have you gone into a public restroom and either still feel gross when leaving or they didn't have soap available?

[SLB5757]

I agree - and understand where you are all coming from. I am the Purell/baby wipes queen - so I do all of that instinctively anyhow. I have Clorox wipes at my desk, and a spay cleaner even though my office cleaning team is wonderful. When Im out and about I always use hand sanitizer for the kids, or the babywipes/wetwipe packs. I thought of this post as I made two different batched of pancakes last night. First I did the gluten free batch for me, then I did the sanitize routine and did the kid's batch and re-sanitize after routine. It was a long process but worth it for the yummy pancakes I have for breakfast this A.M

[Amyleigh0007]

What about those car grocery carts for small children? My local grocery store has carts that have a Little Tikes like car built on the front. Those things are LOADED with cookie crumbs. Unfortunately, my 2 year old loves to ride in them and my 9 year old will often climb in too (he is small for his age ). Wet wipes or baby wipes would be good to wipe out the interior of these things.

[Pac]

Maybe I'm just trying to live too eco-friendly, but I'm wondering... If it's for outside activities (like picnic in a park), why don't you just bring along a spare bottle of water for washing hands? The wipes produce so much waste and are only marginally more effective than wiping hands against your trousers. (that's what I do, anyway, I never got sick even while drinking from puddles and rivers across the globe, so why bother with washing hands ) JMHO

[Guest Jacqadactle]

I'm not trying to worry you or make you overly paranoid, I know a lot of people's sensitivities vary greatly. My daughter seems so far to maybe be one of the sensitive types-so I tend to be overly cautious. We are still trying to get her antibodies to a normal range after a year and a half of being gluten free (or so we thought) so I am very precautious. I've heard other people maybe don't have to worry so much. But I know there is a lot said about play dough and tempera (SP?) paints they use in schools having gluten so they're a big no no for celiac kids. I won't let my daughter play in mcdonald's playland-I think of gluten as poison.

Make sure you're not using these things for her in the kitchen: any plastic or wooden containers/dishes/cups/tupperware (porous, even after washing), teflon pans (same, porous. We had separate ones in my house, but when I started getting sick again we realized it was contaminated by glutinous dish water), toasters, can openers, licking stamps/biting tape to cut it in half (the glue has gluten)

[elle's mom]

Make sure you're not using these things for her in the kitchen: any plastic or wooden containers/dishes/cups/tupperware (porous, even after washing), teflon pans (same, porous. We had separate ones in my house, but when I started getting sick again we realized it was contaminated by glutinous dish water), toasters, can openers, licking stamps/biting tape to cut it in half (the glue has gluten)

Thanks for the advice; we actually were doing a few of those things without realizing the cc factor was so sensitive. I was wondering about dishwater! So you do think that was it? We recently went to a gluten-free home 100% so hopefully we'll get her antibodies down now. Until I came onto this forum I had no idea about the severity of cc.

[NYCCeliacMom]

Thanks for all the replies about this. I am approaching a two week trip with the family, and gearing up for the airport and being in a number of gluten environments. I have traveled several times since diagnosis and find it to be a crumb whirlwind. My 16 year old and I both have celiac and were diagnosed last winter. I am still frequently getting small amount of gluten, sometimes I know from where, but often not. I worry that is this just going to be the way I am, but maybe it will just take more time for me. I thought that soap and water were enough for cleaning plastic containers. Do we need to have separate gluten free plastic containers? Most of our leftovers go into glass but we have small lunch size containers that I use for school lunches and sometimes for myself.