Expecting our Little Brother in November!

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Monday, February 21, 2011

Barley and Rye

After not eating any gluten at ALL for a few days, James' rash was fading. So last night I tried some rye crackers and cookies made with barley flour to see if James reacted to them. These grains contain gluten, so the test here was to see if he was allergic to WHEAT only or to all gluten.

And this morning he woke up to the rash on his head being red and inflamed and itchy. Now that he has better control over his hands, it is more obvious that it is itchy and he was rubbing his face all morning (sigh), I feel so bad now but at least now I know that I really can't eat any gluten at all.

So I'm going to avoid it for a few months and maybe try it again when he's six months old or so and see if he reacts to it still.

6 comments:

Amy said...

Do you think he is more sensitive to gluten because you were mostly gluten free your pregnancy and before, or do you think this was random chance that he is "allergic" to gluten? If so he was definitely made for you guys! lol :)

mpence said...

I have heard that gluten is a 'common' allergy, or rather that a great many poeple are sensative to the amount of gluten they eat...what made you think to try to reduce/eliminate the gluten?

(My son is 20 months old and he has had a rash on his face for WEEKS, though not since infancy. I was thinking it was because of teething and always having his hand in his mouth, but that has subsidden, and the rash has not...is there are certain 'look' that the rash has if it is an allergic reaction? I am not excited about jumping into the food sensativity/allergy camp, but I can't seem to help his rash go away!)

mpence said...

Also, do you have a good recipe that you like to use with Quinoa? I have some that a friend gave me to try, but I don't even know how to cook it! I am excited to try a new healthy grain (my family doesn't much care for many that I have tried, and I really want them to like this one!), and need a good recipe or at least the 'right' way to cook it!

And is quinoa gluten free?

laurengould said...

I really want to try to be low gluten for a while and see how it goes. I am thinking and hoping that many of my skin irritations will go away (the eczema on my hands and arms/legs, and my acne)

I just need to stock up on some gluten free staples. I want to buy some grains (I have brown rice and quinoa, but I want to buy some millet). Any other grain suggestions? Or gluten free suggestions?

justadrienne said...

Amy--I did eat some gluten during my pregnancy, just not a lot. I don't think that it made a difference, but rather that me avoiding gluten and him being allergic to it are both symptoms of the same problem--that is, since I am also sensitive to gluten, he is more likely (genetically) to be sensitive to gluten.

But Michelle is right, it is a very common allergy--apparently 95% of people who eliminate gluten from their diet notice a positive change of some sort in their life.

Many allergies like this that babies have, they outgrow after a year or two. But the fact is that gluten (like dairy) just doesn't seem to be that good for people! So we probably will never eat too much of it.

justadrienne said...

Okay I might write a whoel followup post to this since everyone had so much to say and questions about it, hehe.

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