Jump to content

  • Welcome to Celiac.com!

    You have found your celiac tribe! Join us and ask questions in our forum, share your story, and connect with others.



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A1):

    Celiac.com Sponsor (A1-M):

  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Our Content
    eNewsletter
    Donate

Christmas Day, Everone Brought Gluten!

norahsmommy

Recommended Posts

norahsmommy Enthusiast
norahsmommy
Posted

I knew people were going to bring some gluten stuff. Its a given with all the holiday baking. My house is totally gluten free because I kept contaminating my daughter's food. I though, well I will just have to clean really well after they leave. Make sure the counters are really scrubbed down. Well we have a tiny house. There were 11 people and EVER single person brought a gluten item. Cookies, meatballs with bisquick, cheesy potatoes with either flour or bread crumbs, crackers, rolls, pecan pie. It was all over. They ate at my dinning table, on the couches in the living room, on the coffee table, standing in the middle of a room. They ALL got crumbs everywhere. My carpet, the coffee table, the couches the kitchen floor. My daughter was crawling all over the place and I was holding her alot when I noticed all the crumbs. They kept saying "put her down you'll spoil her" and they would LICK their fingers and then pick her up and touch her hands and face. My mom was in the fridge and saw our 6 dollar loaf of Udi's bread and nearly died of shock. She lectured me on the expense and said she would never do that. Well we dont' eat bread every day and my daughter does deserve to eat bread now and then! My MIL stuffed our fridge with uncovered pies and there are crumbs all over the fridge. I feel like my house is a war zone right now! Every surface has the potential to make my daughter sick. URG! I am trying to be accommodating, nice, respectful but I swear I can't tolerate gluten in my house! Maybe if they were all really careful and not slobs! Well that last part was a little rude. I know things dribble or crumb everywhere. Its just so hard to make sure its all cleaned up!

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


Roda Rising Star
Roda
Posted

It's your house so you can set the rules for noone to bring in gluten. Maybe next time you could just do a collection of money and do all the shopping/preparing yourself (maybe family would be willing to come over and help) that way you know she is safe.

Jestgar Rising Star
Jestgar
Posted

Ghastly isn't it? It's amazing ho much that stuff has invaded our food. Sorry about all the cleaning you have to do now. :(

norahsmommy Enthusiast
norahsmommy
Posted
  • Author

Ghastly isn't it? It's amazing ho much that stuff has invaded our food. Sorry about all the cleaning you have to do now. :(

I didn't have a good time at all. I watched the kids open gifts from family and that was nice, but then I started noticing all the crumbs and I was miserable.

norahsmommy Enthusiast
norahsmommy
Posted
  • Author

It's your house so you can set the rules for noone to bring in gluten. Maybe next time you could just do a collection of money and do all the shopping/preparing yourself (maybe family would be willing to come over and help) that way you know she is safe.

I know but I guess I am too nice. They all already think I am nuts. I just didn't want them to think badly of me I guess. Sad I know.

kareng Grand Master
kareng
Posted

I just say not to bring anything. That leaves me to do it all but it's easier. You will have to be forceful with your side of the family. Your hub must deal with his side, particularly his mom.

It will be harder next year. She will be able to grab food or accept it from others but not old enough to understand why they are eating stuff she can't have.

kareng Grand Master
kareng
Posted

I know but I guess I am too nice. They all already think I am nuts. I just didn't want them to think badly of me I guess. Sad I know.

We were typing at the same time so I didn't see this.

You have to do what you need to do to keep your child safe. If they were setting lit cigarettes and medications out where your child could get them, is that Ok? No, you or your hub would be all over it. Your nuts, accept it! :)

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


norahsmommy Enthusiast
norahsmommy
Posted
  • Author

We were typing at the same time so I didn't see this.

You have to do what you need to do to keep your child safe. If they were setting lit cigarettes and medications out where your child could get them, is that Ok? No, you or your hub would be all over it. Your nuts, accept it! :)

thanks =) I know I am nuts. My dh thinks I am great but at the same time thinks I am OCD about this. I try so hard to make sure my daughter doesn't get gluten but then in the back of my mind I wonder, does she REALLY have a problem? Maybe I am going overboard. Then she gets gluten and she is miserable and I get fresh evidence that she can't have it. She isn't diagnosed yet, she is gluten free and I can't bring myself to give her gluten 3 times a day for something like 2 months for tests to be accurate. I think thats why family gives me such a hard time. She doesn't have paperwork saying she can't have it so it must be me overreacting.

Jestgar Rising Star
Jestgar
Posted

I know but I guess I am too nice. They all already think I am nuts. I just didn't want them to think badly of me I guess. Sad I know.

It will get easier for you to get pushy. :) Over time, as you see how well your daughter is when she's eating properly, and how sick she gets when she isn't, you'll stop caring what people think and just tell them what they are going to do. It's all a process.

Mizzo Enthusiast
Mizzo
Posted

That is the reason I refused to have Thanksgiving or Christmas at my house this year. I was able to pack a gluten-free meal and snacks for my dd and not have to worry about it. I if I demanded no gluten they wouldn't of come anyway so it was no gluten food or have it at your house. They wanted gluten so they hosted it worked out fine.

momtok&m Explorer
momtok&m
Posted

I just say not to bring anything. That leaves me to do it all but it's easier. You will have to be forceful with your side of the family. Your hub must deal with his side, particularly his mom.

It will be harder next year. She will be able to grab food or accept it from others but not old enough to understand why they are eating stuff she can't have.

My 23 month old has been gluten free for over a year now, well longer than that but that's when our doc finally said No Gluten! Anyway, she has never been upset over not getting a piece of cake, a cookie, mac & cheese, etc. that her cousins have at their grandmas house. I try to take a little something that's a good substitute but occasionally (well, okay, often) I forget and it doesn't phase her. We make sure to tell all of the other children to never give her food and we always brush crumbs off of the table. We also try not to make huge deal out of anything, we just simply tell her "I'm sorry, you can't have that, it has gluten in it."

For holidays at our house I always cook the main dish and we have an email list that circulates where everyone writes down what they are bringing. I'll assign certain dishes to the more understanding people so I'm sure there is no gluten. Then, I make a gluten-free version of some of the other sides. I try to tell everyone not to worry about bringing crackers because I have plenty-that way I know they're all rice or nut. I also bake the pies so I can control the gluten and gluten-free versions. It gets easy over time, believe me! Even at the houses that aren't gluten-free :)

Wolicki Enthusiast
Wolicki
Posted

thanks =) I know I am nuts. My dh thinks I am great but at the same time thinks I am OCD about this. I try so hard to make sure my daughter doesn't get gluten but then in the back of my mind I wonder, does she REALLY have a problem? Maybe I am going overboard. Then she gets gluten and she is miserable and I get fresh evidence that she can't have it. She isn't diagnosed yet, she is gluten free and I can't bring myself to give her gluten 3 times a day for something like 2 months for tests to be accurate. I think thats why family gives me such a hard time. She doesn't have paperwork saying she can't have it so it must be me overreacting.

The LIE to them and tell them all that she has been officially diagnosed, so that they will take it seriously. I usually do not recommend lying to loved ones, but your child's health is worth it. Some people just don't get it. At Thanksgiving, all my inlaws kept dipping crackers into this lucious cheese dip, even after I explained cc. They did it again at Christmas. So, now we bring our own things, keep them covered and don't touch the rest. Really, LIE to them!

dilettantesteph Collaborator
dilettantesteph
Posted

It sounds like a nightmare. I'm sorry that you had to go through this, and I hope that you got your place cleaned up adequately. You are going to have to put your foot down for the sake of your child. Relatives will be a good place to get some practice. You will have a more difficult time with the schools. You will have to get very good at advocating for your child.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):


  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      131,610
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748
    wonderproductions
    Newest Member
    wonderproductions
    Joined
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):

  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      121.4k
    • Total Posts
      1m
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):


  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • itsdunerie
      Potential celiac need advice

      By itsdunerie · Posted

      Dang......did it again and yeah I should admit I am 63 with clumsy phone thumbs. I started feeling better quickly and a doctor a year later said I had to eat  poison (gluten) every day for a month so he could formally diagnose me and NO FREAKING WAY. I couldn't then and can't imagine putting my body through that crap (no pun intended) on purpose ever again.  Why ingest poison for a month to have some doctor say Hey, All you Have To Do Is Never Eat poison Again.. 
    • itsdunerie
      Potential celiac need advice

      By itsdunerie · Posted

      Poop head, sorry, but I accidentally posted and can't figure out how to continue my post. My long winded post was going to tell you that after I figu
    • itsdunerie
      Potential celiac need advice

      By itsdunerie · Posted

      15 years ago my best friend 'diagnosed' me as Celiac. Her little nephew had been formally diagnosed and her observations of me dealing with brain fog, stomach problems and other stuff had her convincing me to try going gluten free. Oh my heavens, within 3 days, no lie, I felt human again. Took me about a y
    • Scott Adams
      Potential celiac need advice

      By Scott Adams · Posted

      It seems like you have two choices--do a proper gluten challenge and get re-tested, or just go gluten-free because you already know that it is gluten that is causing your symptoms. In order to screen someone for celiac disease they need to be eating gluten daily, a lot of it--they usually recommend at least 2 slices of wheat bread daily for 6-8 weeks before a blood screening, and at least 2 weeks before an endoscopy (a colonoscopy is no used to diagnose celiac disease). Normally the blood panel is your first step, and if you have ANY positive results there for celiac disease the next step would be to take biopsies of your villi via an endoscopy given by a gastroenterologist.  More info on the blood tests and the gluten challenge beforehand is below: The article includes the "Mayo Clinic Protocol," which is the best overall protocol for results to be ~98% accurate. Here is more info about how to do a gluten challenge for a celiac disease blood panel, or for an endoscopy: and this recent study recommends 4-6 slices of wheat bread per day:   Not to discourage you from a formal diagnosis, but once you are diagnosed it may lead to higher life and medical insurance rates (things will be changing quickly in the USA with the ACA starting in 2026), as well as the need to disclose it on job applications. While I do think it's best to know for sure--especially because all of your first degree relatives should also get screened for it--I also want to disclose some negative possibilities around a formal diagnosis that you may want to also consider.  
    • Wheatwacked
      Potential celiac need advice

      By Wheatwacked · Posted

      Yes.  Now, if you hit your finger with a hammer once, wouldn't you do your best not to do it again?  You have identified a direct connection between gluten and pain.  Gluten is your hammer.  Now you have to decide if you need a medical diagnosis.  Some countries have aid benefits tgat you can get if you have the diagnosis, but you must continue eating a gluten-normal diet while pursuing the diagnosis. Otherwise the only reason to continue eating gluten is social. There are over 200 symptoms that could be a result of celiac disease.. Celiac Disease and Non Celiac Gluten Sensitivity  both cause multiple vitamin and mineral deficiency.  Dealing with that should help your recovery, even while eating gluten.  Phosphatidyl Choline supplements can help your gut if digesting fats is a problem,  Consider that any medications you take could be causing some of the symptoms, aside from gluten.        
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

NOTICE: This site places This site places cookies on your device (Cookie settings). on your device. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use, and Privacy Policy.