wheat allergy

[nick]

My 14 month old son has some sort of a wheat allergy (face rash and tummy aches). It seems to be getting worse. Have others experienced this? Is he likely to grow out of it? I feel very sad because there is wheat in so many products and his diet will be so restricted as he gets older.

[wattle]

Hi Nick

Ds had wheat intollerance at about the same age, but he grew out of it recently (he's now 26 months). He had quite severe excema and as soon as we cut out the wheat in his diet it became much better.

I eliminated all wheat from his diet and it was difficult (especially as he had nut, egg & shellfish allergies) but worth it. The we gradually introduced it back in, and there was no reaction.

His diet mostly consisted of fruit, vegies, meat & dairy. You can also use corn products (tacos etc) and rice products (rice cakes etc) and the health food isle at the supermaket has good vegie chips for snacks, and other wheat free foods.

An allergist would be able to give you more info.

[nick]

Thanks Cathy,
I hope my little one grows out of it too.

[funkeemunkee]

Hi Nick,
I had my 21 month old allergy tested last week with the same symptoms. I'm glad I did because it turns out not only is he allergic to wheat and barley (I noticed the same symptoms as you did on your 14 month old) but he is allergic to eggs too. (I had no idea-I was sure it was something common but I had been unable to pinpoint it.)

The allergist said something that was more than a little alarming though, so it is worth getting these things checked out. He thinks that DS has a wheat/barley intolerance which is seperate from an allergy. That is-the excema part is allergy and the sore tummy (and in DS case severe pain and diarrea (sp??)) is an intolerance, which, if I let DS have too much wheat could develop into Coeliac disease where the bowl bleeds internally as a reaction to the irritant and the sufferer becomes unable to absorb nutrients and becomes malnourished. It can require surgery to fix and then total abstinence from wheat.

However, a diagnosis of Coeliac disease can only be made after the bowel has been damaged and a proper diagnosis of wheat/barley intolerance can only be made after the child is 3. (Not sure why...)

My point is, get your son checked out. The good news is that wheat allergy (ie the excema part) usually sorts itself out by the age of 3 or at the latest 4, if you restrict the intake of products with wheat in them. You do have to be careful though, as lots of common sweets have wheat glucose syrup in them, (and some chocolate) and lots of packet sauces etc have wheat as the thickener.

I don't mean to scare you because most people come out of the allergist office thinking "phew, at least they'll grow out of it" and I'm not saying that you will have as dramatic a time as I did at the allegist, but it is definately worth getting advice. Especially seeing as your 14month old seems to have similar symptoms to my DS.

[raisingwhirlwinds]

Hi guys, I am a Coeliac and have known about it for about 13 years, so hopefully I can shed a little light for you.

Funkkeemonkee, I am really sorry that you were freaked by the allergist that you saw, some of the information you received was correct, but the part about bleeding in the bowels is not correct and there is definitely no corrective surgery necessary that I know of.

It is true that it is very important to get to the bottom of the problem as soon as possible as undiagnosed Coeliac disease, where the person eats gluten (wheat/barley etc) consistently over a long period of time, can develop into other complications related to malabsorption of nutrients and vitamins that eating gluten would cause.

I’m not completely sure about why you would need to wait until 3 to get tested, it may be simply that the only test which gives a confident result is a small bowel biopsy which most doctors would rather not put toddlers through. I have however read stories in the Coeliac Magazine about toddlers who have been diagnosed from as early as 12 months.

The Coeliac society has a really good website with links to a separate society for each state. I’m not sure where you live, but I’m in NSW and the NSW society’s site has heaps of info that I would recommend you both have a read through. They are also more than happy for anyone to ring up and have a chat about their concerns – I’m sure they’d be able to answer the question about testing under 3s.. They also look after kids as well as they have Chrissie parties for kids, picnics and other events where all the food is gluten free. checkout www.coeliac.org.au (http://www.coeliac.org.au/) they have contact details on the websites for each state

Unfortunately lots of Doctors are still way behind in terms of knowledge of Coeliacs disease, so if you don’t get a satisfactory response from one doctor please have the courage to go and see another one.

I was an adult when I discovered that I was a Coeliac and this was quite stressful, so I totally feel for both of you having to go through the questions, concerns and stresses of worrying about your children. Please feel free to PM me with any questions or conerns that you have. It sounds like your little ones are quite sensitive so I would push until you can either get someone to test them or explain to you exactly why they can’t be tested.

Sending you hugs for this stressful time.
D:hugs::hugs:

Sorry this is so long winded but I feel for you and think that you deserve access to all the info you can get.

[funkeemunkee]

Thanks Raising Whirlwinds (great name by the way-I have one of those at my house...hopefully #2 is more sedate :yes: )

I will look into the coeliac society here in WA. I am just shocked by DS diagnosis because I was sure that I was just being an over protective parent. I was sure the allergist was going to tell me I was inventing it or something.

At the same time I have been blessed in as much as I have been doing the right thing by the little guy and restricing wheat and barley (funny he doesn't react to oats) so I am already used to a modified diet but it is getting harder as he gets older and they do things like cooking at playgroup etc so some support and ideas from an organisation like the Coeliac society will come in handy.

You are right about the test for under 3s-it can be done-but apparently the don't like to test for Coeliac disease before 3 as the test involves a biopsy. Which sounds traumatic for a baby. And in DS case, there would be no damage yet because he hasn't ever really eaten gluten-so the plan is to see the allergist when he is 3 and phase gluten into his diet in a very controlled way to see what happens, as there is still a (very slight) chance that his system will mature and grow out of the reaction as he has rarely eaten wheat. If he really is soooo allergic then a little bit in the diet under the control of the allergist will show up in testing. Then we have our answer.

This all sounds time consuming and possibly painful for DS but this is the second allergy specialist we have seen (the first wouldn't even test him) and this Allergist is from the specialist allergy clinic at Perth's only children's hospital PMH and they are supposed to be on the leading edge for these sorts of things with lots of access to resources.

Thanks for your help, I will check out the Coeliac society!

[nick]

Thanks Funkeemunkee and Raising Whirlwinds so much for your lengthy responses. It has given me much food for thought. And I will definitely check out those websites. My little one is fine with oats too, and I don't think he has ever tried Barley, but I certainly know about it if I accidently give him something with wheat in it, like creamed corn-aggh. I suppose that on the upside he will be very healthy as it seems that most processed or unhealthy foods contain wheat. Thanks again.

[raisingwhirlwinds]

hey guys - glad the info helped and I do hope that things will settle down for both of you on a wheat free diet.

On the question of oats, there is less gluten in oats so you would have to eat a lot more oats to have a similar reaction as that of wheat. If it is Coeliacs though every bit of gluten that is eaten does damage to their little bodies so I would think carefully whether to risk it.

Maybe like wattle your bubs just have a wheat allergy that they will grow out of.

Always happy to answer any questions though so feel free to post them here or send me a PM.

I am going through the same issues with my boys at the moment but with lactose intolerance. DS2 was given a small amount over chocolate over easter and he has had the worst nappy rash with the biggest red welt I have ever seen along with non stop dirty nappies. I was hoping that he wasn't that sensitive but looks like I'm going to have to be really careful with him.
D

[raisingwhirlwinds]

funkeemonkee - I just realised that in your post earlier you made a comment about glucose syrup. I have some good news - even though glucose syrup is originally derived from wheat, the coeliac society have tested it time and time again and there is NO detectable gluten in glucose syrup. The confusing part about it is that food mfrs now have to declare any products derived from wheat. So.. you will see on labels "glucose syrup(from wheat)". EVEN THOUGH the label says its from wheat, you can be confident that there are no traces of gluten in glucose syrup. Not sure if I've explained myself clearly, so if you need further clarification you could check with the coeliac society.
D