One In All In?

[beebs]

I am in the crazy position at the moment of trying to keep my 4 year old gluten free as he has just had his endo and trying to gluten up my 17 month old because his endo is coming up on the 20th. Its pretty hard trying to make my little one eat cookies and granola bars while saying to my 4 year old. "You can't have that one but you can have this one" etc etc. Not that I am complaining (my little one just had a sweat test for cystic fibrosis where he had a 90% chance of having it so I was praying for celiac, but anyhow!)

Anyhow - the 4 year old has only been gluten free for one day - and I have to admit, I had no idea how full on it really is.

So this is my question - If you have one or two celiac children - did you just gluten free your whole kitchen - or do you still eat gluten stuff yourself and keep gluten food separate?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Wolicki]

I was diagnosed first, then had my two boys tested. My 10 year old was positive. So, my 13 year old is outnumbered It's just too hard trying to keep track of crumbs and kids, so we all went gluten free. A friend of mine did the same because she kept getting CC'd from little kisses from her babies. Plus, your younger won't even know what he is missing!

[Roda]

I went gluten free first in Oct. 2008. I had both boys tested after my diagnosis and they were negative. We kept a shared kitchen and still do but had to really crack down and be strict about it. My youngest one went gluten free last month since his blood work was positive. My oldest one still is not gluten free since I wanted him retested. His results came back negative, so for now he will not be gluten free. The only time my oldest son eats any gluten in the house is when his daddy is home or I'm feeling generous to fix him something. He also buys his lunch at school. For the most part I feed him gluten free at home. We all eat gluten free meals together for supper and he does eat gluten cereals occasionally for breakfast. If I have a sitter they are not allowed to bring it in the house and noone is allowed to eat any while the sitter is here. My kids help the sitter know what they can have.

[beebs]

I was thinking more for me and my hubby I know the kids won't miss it at all. But I have been tested and am neg and while I am happy with most gluten free food - I just hate the bread!

Thanks guys.

[Mizzo]

I was thinking more for me and my hubby I know the kids won't miss it at all. But I have been tested and am neg and while I am happy with most gluten free food - I just hate the bread!

Thanks guys.

Only 1 celiac in our household of 3. We are 95% gluten free. The only thing with gluten are Bread, crackers , some noodles and soups. All of these are kept completely separate from all other foods .

examples

1 drawer in frig( veggie bin) is designated for Gluten breads and such

1 shelf in cabinet (top shelf) for noodles, crackers, soup or snack foods

We have rules :

nothing with Gluten can go directly on oven racks

Separate sides of toaster for gluten-free or not

separate strainers for pasta and noodles

wipe down counters with paper towels often

All family meals are gluten free no matter who is here for dinner !!!!!

Any gluten foods eaten in front of dd is something she does not like . Only exceptions are if friends bring their own sandwich for lunch, and I provide snacks if we have company.

This works for us, but maybe not for others.

[curlyq]

My dd (7) has celiac, and my 2nd daughter (6) just tested positive as well. We do have gluten bread, pasta, oats, and crackers in the house. I do all that I can to avoid CC (seperate toasters, strainers, cupboards, etc...). My daughter is happy on the gluten-free diet and never really cares if we eat "normal" bread when she eats her "special" bread. We have decided that if she ever does care, then we will ALL go gluten-free at home. Most of our meals are naturally gluten-free. We also never eat things that she can't have in front of her UNLESS she has something equally wonderful.

[Lunabell]

We are 99% gluten free in our house, even though it is only the 4 year old that has been diagnosed currently.

It came down to what was easier for me to handle. Because my 6 year old really likes her bread, we keep a loaf of gluten bread in the house for her sandwiches. Even making school lunches takes longer and more thought to keep Laura's from getting cross contaminated. The less gluten we have in the house, the fewer worries we have.

[Beth03456]

We only have our 4 yo who is gluten-free. My other child is 6 and she usually eats gluten-free but not always. However, we also feed the kids separate from the grown-ups most of the time, so it is easier to keep gluten-free and non-gluten-free things separate. If we all eat together, we usually make everything gluten free (tacos, roasts, chicken and veggies, salads, rice dishes). But we will make pasta and make extra for leftovers so we have stuff on hand for him, and then we will make regular pasta for the rest of us sometimes because its cheaper. Or if we are doing sandwiches we will make his first in his dedicated area of the kitchen, and then when his is made we will then make the rest of the sandwiches in the gluten area of the kitchen.

Our 4 yo has his own cabinet full of snacks, cereal, granola bars, chocolate, etc. and he knows its all for him. So my two kids know that they get granola bars from different stashes. They are good with it, and we stress washing hands before and after meals so there is less contamination.

[MarsupialMama]

We all went gluten free for my one daughter (age 4) who showed signs, and ended up finding out that my second daughter's big belly (age 6) and my own 24 years of digestive/health problems disappeared in going gluten free (24 years of suffering, GONE!).

In having "gluten" and "non-gluten" food in the house, my daughter kept getting glutened. Containing crumbs is a nightmare. Older sister wanted to share her food. In some way, shape, or form, she would end up getting ahold of it accidently, and then would go "down" for about 3 weeks until her intestines healed up. Just wasnt worth it. Now I make and buy things that everyone can enjoy the best we can. The frustration with playing the "both worlds" game in our house just made me crazier than a bed-bug, and wasn't worth the nervous energy and devastation when accidents happened. We have just accepted it as our lot and decided to make/find the yummiest things possible. More expensive yes, worth the nerves? Definitely.

[beebs]

We all went gluten free for my one daughter (age 4) who showed signs, and ended up finding out that my second daughter's big belly (age 6) and my own 24 years of digestive/health problems disappeared in going gluten free (24 years of suffering, GONE!).

In having "gluten" and "non-gluten" food in the house, my daughter kept getting glutened. Containing crumbs is a nightmare. Older sister wanted to share her food. In some way, shape, or form, she would end up getting ahold of it accidently, and then would go "down" for about 3 weeks until her intestines healed up. Just wasnt worth it. Now I make and buy things that everyone can enjoy the best we can. The frustration with playing the "both worlds" game in our house just made me crazier than a bed-bug, and wasn't worth the nervous energy and devastation when accidents happened. We have just accepted it as our lot and decided to make/find the yummiest things possible. More expensive yes, worth the nerves? Definitely.

I can see why. Its only been 4 days and its a nightmare. My elsdest just cries cause he can't eat his old food meanwhile I'm trying to feed my younger son gluten because his biopsy is coming up. So difficult.

I can absolutely see why its one in all in. After my little ones endo we'll go completely gluten free!

Thanks for the replies!

[domesticactivist]

My kids are 10 and 11 and we've just started this gluten-free process. I can imagine it's much trickier with them still so little. We have decided to make our entire house gluten-free, and for all of us to maintain the diet even out of the house. We're still in the process of getting rid of all of our old cooking utensils and appliances, and have a bit more deep cleaning to do as well.

However, we recently realized that since we want to test our daughter, we do have to keep her on gluten. Our solution has been to keep one loaf of bread in the freezer, and have her eat one sandwich a day with it, on a paper towel, at the counter where we normally put our dirty dishes. She has her own little jar of peanut-butter and honey that no one else touches, just for these sandwiches.

My kids' dad (where they live half of each week) does not plan to go gluten-free himself and has not yet taken steps to decontaminate everything. Our son's anxiety has been increasing, and his tummy is not feeling like it used to when he had gluten all the time, but it's not feeling right. He did stop giving him foods that obviously have gluten in them, but he's using a lot of "gluten-free" products. I think ds is getting cross-contaminated there. Well, I know he is. Our kids are starting to understand what it really means to be gluten-free, and they made a list of the things that were problems - dirty microwave, using the same toaster oven for gluten food and ds's gluten-free food, using same utensils in jars of things, etc. I've explained this stuff to their dad a couple different ways, but he didn't get it, yet. I also gave him a book which he barely started reading. I think in time he will realize what needs to happen.

[domesticactivist]

Hey... Good news -

Last night we talked with the kids' dad and he had read the book I gave him, decided to make his whole house gluten-free, ordered another book, and lent the one I gave him to my mom. He also decided to try eating meat and go more to whole foods, and wants to start our daughter on the gluten-free diet as soon as the tests are done, regardless of whether they indicate celiac, to see what happens. I'm really glad he's getting it.

[beebs]

Hey... Good news -

Last night we talked with the kids' dad and he had read the book I gave him, decided to make his whole house gluten-free, ordered another book, and lent the one I gave him to my mom. He also decided to try eating meat and go more to whole foods, and wants to start our daughter on the gluten-free diet as soon as the tests are done, regardless of whether they indicate celiac, to see what happens. I'm really glad he's getting it.

That is so good mate! I am so glad to hear it. Its hard to make others see just how dangerous it can be. So its great he has changed his mind!