There's Been A Glutening

Sadly, Wade has thrown up twice now, both times after having gluten free macaroni for dinner.  It's very sad, and he's okay now, but I'm rather upset because these gluten free elbows were bought in bulk at Winco and I suspect that someone wasn't doing their job right and mixed the regular noodles in the bin with the Wade-friendly ones.  (The bulk bins are self serve--scoop and bag, self labeling.)

We've hooked up an awesome mac n' cheese recipe for Wade as follows:

Gluten Free Mac N' Cheese

1 1/4 cup gluten free macaroni
1/4 cup cheese powder
1/4 cup almond milk
4 tbsp. margarine

And it's great because those noodles are a little over a buck a pound, so buying 10 pounds of the stuff will last a month if not longer.  Now we've got a bag of tainted noodles that we can't use!  And Winco isn't exactly close by. 

So I call Winco.  Oh god.  Some lady with an accent answers and I ask to speak to the manager and she says "What are you griping about?"

"I'm sorry, what?"

"What are you griping about today?"

"What am I what?"

"Griping.  What are you calling to gripe for today?" 

I'm maybe thinking English isn't her first language and she doesn't quite have the right word in place.  Anyway, she tells me that she is the person in charge (I don't know if that was true) and I told her that I suspect someone in the bulk department switched the noodles because my son is having allergic reactions and she was like "Oh.  Oh.  Oh.  I'm sorry.  Okay.  Um...Just bring them back, okay?"

I'm not really sure if my message got across. 

Good gluten free macaroni that we have tried and had success with is Annie's Homegrown Gluten Free Mac & Cheese.  It's made from rice pasta, which is excellent in my book, except that it also does the weird rice pasta slimy water thing when it cooks but it evens out at the end. 

Trouble is Annie's is not cheap and it's somewhere around $4 a box.  The bulk elbow noodles were kind of a staple for Wade since he's not into rice.  I can't really do bulk Annie's and get the same amount of gluten free elbows that I was getting for the price I was getting them at, and I'm worried about ever buying the bulk noodles again. 

Was it a fluke though?  Was this a one time accidental thing? 

See, speaking of flukes we thought maybe Wade's allergy was a fluke because he demolished a gingerbread house about 3/4 of the way before David caught him and had no ill effects that we knew of.  No barf, no runny poop that we know of, and we thought "huh." 

But then he barfed up this mac n' cheese and it's like...what do we do? 

What is your opinion?  Should I buy the bulk gluten free macaroni again or should I avoid it now? 

Poor Man's Gluten Free Bread Substitute

Sorry for my absence.  I've been editing a MASS amount of pictures and I'm just now able to get the time to update any of my auxiliary blogs.  I also owe a gluten free pizza crust mix post to you and I will deliver it.

But for now, let's think back on that Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Bread Mix I raved about in October.  Tasty is it?  Yes.  Cheap however?  Hell no.  Depending on where I can find the stuff, $5-$7 is way too much to pay for bread, even if it is just for one little gluten free guy.  Especially since we started finding that the bread would start to mold in just 2-3 days sometimes.  And yes, keeping it in the freezer is an option but again, see price.

Now, it was rather convenient that David happened to find a gluten free bread in the mark down bin at Stater's that we'd never seen before in our lives.  Food For Life Brown Rice Bread.  It says that it is wheat and gluten free and even sweetened.  The Food For Life Baking Co., Inc (located in Corona, CA) says:

This unique bread is designed to meet the needs of those who are not able to tolerate wheat or gluten.  

Ingredients include brown rice flour, filtered water, fruit juice concentrate (pineapple, peach and pear,) tapioca flour, safflower oil, yeast, xanthan and cellulose gum, rice bran, and sea salt.

It also warns that the facility that it is processed in also handles tree nuts.

As for taste, Wade says it's good but it's kind of hard--though that might be a result of it being slightly old, but it doesn't even have a date on it.  One of those mysteries of life I guess.  Perhaps this would be better for toast and grilled cheese.

Another alternative to bread that we've discovered, and it's sort of the "poor man's" gluten free bread substitute is corn tortillas.  We don't even do them "wrap" style, we actually just put everything between two tortillas and call it a super flat sandwich.  We've totally pan fried ham and (light) cheese, peanut butter and banana, or he can just eat it raw.

They come about 100 to a pack and they're anywhere from $0.50 to $3.  And he's not complaining.

The Gluten Free Wonderful Bread is nice, and I don't want to totally knock it, but for the price and for how it doesn't seem to last long, I think the corn tortillas do the trick for now.

By the way, have you seen the pretzel filled M&M's?  And there's no real way to tell them from regular non deadly M&M's.  This is a glutening waiting to happen to some poor kid.  Talk about death by chocolate.

Why Miss Lemon Lime Is Awesome

This is a great story that I just had to share...

I went to Wade's parent-teacher conference, and she told me the funniest thing.  In October the class went on a field trip to the pumpkin patch, and while we had packed a special lunch for Wade, they left it at school because nobody else had lunches and Mrs. Miss Lemon Lime didn't think there would be time to sit and eat anyway. 

And then someone broke out some cookies to share for a snack. 

"OH NO!" Miss Lemon Lime says, "Wade can't eat those!" 

So she sent one of the parents to the store to go buy Wade a gluten free snack, while her and Wade went off on their own little excursion by themselves so that Wade didn't see everyone else eating cookies and feel all excluded.  And yes, the parent returned with PRETZELS!

"HE CAN"T EAT THOSE!!!" she exclaimed.  So she went to plan B. 

Miss Lemon Lime quietly ushered Wade into her car and they drove to the store together to buy Skittles.  So while the other kids were doing whatever you do at a pumpkin patch, Wade was off at the store with his teacher. 

Was it totally legal for her to drive off with him like that?  Oh, I'm sure it's frowned upon.  But the fact that she went out of her way to get him a gluten free snack just makes me smile.  She's so darn cute, I just want to punch her or something, I don't know. 

And the best part is that Wade never mentioned ANY of this to us.  This is the kid who we ask how school went and he answers "Uh, I don't remember."

This made me laugh.  Best parent-teacher conference ever. 

What's Up With Coconut Milk?

New favorite!  You have got to try Almond Breeze Dark Chcoolate milk.  I've been hooked on almond milk since I decided that soy was slimy feeling and rice tasted like paper, but now they're selling Dark Chocolate in the refrigerated section at the store.  They also have regular Almond Breeze Chocolate Milk in the 32 oz boxes that you buy from the shelf unrefrigerated, but the dark chocolate is NOM! 

It literally tastes like the leftover milk from a bowl of Cocoa Pebbles, which for all intents and purposes is also gluten free as Post's official statement on the glutenosity of their cereals is "if the ingredients do not say wheat, barley, oats or rye, it's gluten free."  (Cross contamination is still a possibility so take the regular precautions with this one.)

So anyways, as much as I love Almond breeze (and Silk's version which is called Pure Almond,) I did notice that Turtle Mountain is also refrigerating a new lactose free alternative:  So Delicious Coconut Milk. 

I've seen So Delicious around for a while, as they also make a delicious soy based ice cream sandwich.  And about two months ago, I noticed coconut milk based So Delicious ice cream products.  But now they're selling this stuff as a milk alternative for the anti-milk crowd, and I'm a little bit concerned about it for one reason. 

Isn't coconut milk mother nature's laxative? 

Coconut milk is well known for its use in aiding constipation, as coconut products have laxative effects.  I personally avoid milk because it causes me to have horrible diarrhea, stomach cramps, and vomiting.  Even Lactaid causes me to barf, as I found out last Christmas with the Lactaid-Nog.  So the idea of switching to something that's also going to give me the runs is not my cuppa. 

Turtle Mountain's website says this about their coconut milk:

NEW! The world's first (that we know of) coconut milk beverage is now So Delicious!
Slide over soy milk and move over dairy milk, something new and exciting is coming to the milk aisle, So Delicious® Coconut Milk Beverage! Enjoy it on cereal, in coffee, in recipes or just in a tall glass. One sip and you will say, "Wow, that is So Delicious!"

• Dairy Free / Lactose Free
• Soy Free
• Gluten Free
• Rich in Medium Chain Fatty Acids
• Excellent Source of Vitamin B12 (vegetarian friendly)
• Formulated for Maximum Calcium Absorption
• Cholesterol Free
• No Trans Fats
• Certified Vegan

 Great.  But I'm scared.  I'm wondering if anyone has tried this? 

Looking around the internet at reviews, I'm hearing that it tastes great.  The vanilla version is slightly sweet with a hint of coconut, and the plain version isn't very fragrant or coconutty at all.  Both are said to be smooth and without funky aftertaste.  It is also surprisingly similar to real whole milk, which is why I prefer the almond milk because it is more milky to me than rice or soy. 

So we know how it goes down, but how does it come out?  Does it give us the milk turds?  What's the deal?  All I see are screamingly positive reviews about the act of drinking it and how it can be used, but does it still do that thing that coconut milk does so well?  That's what I'd like to know!

I'm far too burned to potentially give myself the runs by trying this product.  But if anyone who has tried it, whether they liked the taste or not, would please let me know if it subsequently lived up to its name "mother nature's laxative," I'd be interested to hear your story.  Not too detailed, of course.  A simple "it made me crap for days" would be fine. 

Gluten Free Halloween Candy

Halloween was pretty fun this year, lots of candy, but naturally when we got back we had to dig through and find all of the gluten free stuff that Wade could have. 

Hat tip to the Skittles people. Thanks for being awesome. 

Anyway, I found a 2010 list of the Halloween candies that are gluten free.  The more shockingly gluten free candies I found on the list are Butterfinger, Jelly Bellies, and Peeps.  Seems like everything has malt-o-something or "natural flavoring" these days.  Thanks to all candymakers who offer gluten free goodies. 

*please note that not every candy on the list is processed in a gluten free facility. 

The Gluten Free Wonderful Bread

Wade's been having bread?  What?  Oh yeah!  Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Wonderful Bread.  It's pretty much the best thing to happen to him since becoming gluten free. 

Wade loves sandwiches, I mean what five year old doesn't?  Peanut butter, peanut butter, peanut butter, that's his stuff.  And Nutella.  He loves toast, gets sad when other people have it and he doesn't, and is now having the time of his life with his own personal loaf of Gluten Free bread made just for him. 

Making home made bread is a total "I'm a good mommeeee!" thing and a big cause for eyerolls.  Then again, some people do it just because they think it's awesome.  I myself am all for it when it's possible to do so but then again I cheat at it by using a bread machine.  

We have the Sunbeam 5891 2 pound model and I've had it for about three years now.  I've made a few different loaves from scratch over the years, including a honey mustard bread, a cardamom bread, and a delicious chocolate bread.  I've even made jam in it.  But I also really think that gathering all of the ingredients can be a pain at times, so I generally find a good mix and stick with it.  There's a Hawaiian bread mix that I've been stuck on for a few years now.  So good that we eat just a whole loaf of fresh warm bread for dinner with loads of butter.  

So the whole gluten free bread thing?  Got a million times easier when we found Bob's Gluten Free mix.  We have found frozen loaves of gluten free bread at Winco, but it's expensive and small.  And frozen.  Not that I'm against frozen bread in general, as our usual plan of action for the rest of our family bread supply is to hit up the discount aisle in the back of the store and grab loaves for 50 cents to a buck and freeze them until we need them.  But the gluten free loaves that come frozen are $4, the slices are dinky, and there are only about 14 slices.  

We're happy to be baking our own 1.5 pound loaves now.  The Bob's Red Mill is of higher quality, makes larger (taller) slices, and is easy to make in my bread machine (which isn't just monkey-math as there are complicated things involved like "enough egg whites to fill 3/4 of a cup plus one whole egg.)  

How does it turn out?  

 

Sweet, hearty, and easy to slice.  Some of my breads come out with big giant holes through them from the way they were mixed, but not this stuff.  It mixes very clean and produces good solid bread.  

Wade loves the crap out of it.  Smacks his lips when he comes home and smells it in the house baking.  A kid with a gluten free peanut butter sandwich is a happy kid.  We like to make our kid happy.  

On another note, we tested him with some Quaker Oatmeal (which I previously debunked as NOT gluten free) and he seemed to be okay with it.  I'm still cautious, but it seems to be all right.  

Guess what else we found?  Gluten Free mac and cheese!  Stay tuned...

You're Not Gluten Free, Quaker Oats.

At Fresh And Easy the other day we were shopping for things Wade could eat.  Down the breakfast aisle we went and grabbed a box of Kix and then stopped in front of the oats.  And for a little over $3, we found for sale a 2 lb. tube of Quaker Oats. 

Oats, from what I've learned, Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology published a  study that concluded: “Long-term use of oats included in the gluten-free diets of patients with celiac disease does not stimulate an immunological response locally in the mucosa of the small intestine.”

TL;DR: oats are fine.

But--and there's always a but--Quaker Oats are considered to be "cross contaminated" with gluten.

Their website says this on the subject of whether their oats are gluten free:

Because oats are grown, stored, transported in bulk, they may contain trace amounts of wheat, rye and barley. USDA grain standards allow a certain percentage of other grains to be present in the oats. Therefore, gluten may be found in oats, even if very small amounts of these other grains are present.

This is kind of like how there are certain small percentages of bug guts in your bread because of how impossible it is to completely rid plants that are growing in fields of bugs, which are then accidentally ground up into our flours and such--not fun to think about but the USDA does let stuff slide.  Or at least that's what some teacher told me.  Sounds reasonable, anyway.

The thing with oats is that not all who are gluten sensitive are sensitive to specially certified gluten free oats such as Bob's Red Mill Steel Cut Oats, Legacy Valley Certified Gluten Free Whole Grain Rolled Oats, and Gifts Of Nature Certified Gluten Free Rolled Oats.  But I read on a gluten free forum that a person who is newly diagnosed with gluten allergy/celiac disease should not consider oats until they have been dianosed for a year and have had your followup bloodwork done. The person's antibodies should be in the negative range before even bothering with the specialized oats.  The extra careful ones won't even consider oats as a viable option because of the risk for potential Wheat Turds (or worse for some people) involved. 

Generally speaking, unless it is 100% certified gluten free, it's not safe.  And even the list of "gluten aware" products at Fresh And Easy warn that even though the product does not contain gluten, it may be processed somewhere that it may become contaminated with gluten.  Only certain products from their list get the burgundy and green "gluten free" sticker on its shelf.  The Kix and the Jell-O to name a few. 

Besides the fact that it was made with Maltodextrin, the granola bar that set off Wade's horrible yet very telling bout of Wheat Turds a few weekends ago may have been made with contaminated oats. 

I've yet to find specialty oats anywhere but online at this time.  Though I did notice that Stater's sells the McCann's Irish Oats.  At almost $8 for a tall can I had to really stop and consider whether it was worth spending the money on, considering they didn't actually say that they were 100% safe and even though Willie really likes oatmeal, he's already got the big thing of Quaker Oats that Wade can't eat.  Dumping nearly $10 on something we basically already have and that may not be safe seemed dumb to me.  And it probably is.  Because McCann's has this to say about their oats:

All McCann’s oat products are processed in a dedicated oatmeal mill that handles only oatmeal. In the supply chain between farm and mill, there is a possible cross contamination with other grains, such as wheat and barley but we reckon that the level of non-oat grains to be less than 0.05%. Cleaning equipment within the milling process would remove the vast majority of these grains along with other elements such as stones, straw etc. But we cannot guarantee that McCann’s oats are totally gluten free and we recommend that consumers use their own judgement as to whether they wish to use our oatmeal or not. Many celiacs can tolerate our oatmeal products without any adverse effect but they may not suit those who are particularly sensitive.

So as whimsical and fitting as it would be to feed Wade "Irish Oats," even though he's actually Scottish as I've not a lick of Irish in me, it's just not safe.  Even though I would totally willingly drop $10 on something that is safe for him. 

Take for example the Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Bread Mix, which at $6 a bag (that makes one loaf,) I was willing to give it a try.  Results of that little experiment next time. 

The Brown Rice Spaghetti Kid

One of the products on the Fresh And Easy "Gluten Aware" grocery list is brown rice spaghetti.  Being new at this gluten free stuff I was actually pretty happy to see something on the list that would replace something that Wade enjoys so much, as his "bestest dinner evah" is spaghetti.  In fact it was one of the meals we gave him when we thought he was all better.  And naturally, he threw it up part way through the meal because it had wheat in it. 

Anyway, we grabbed some of these brown rice noodles, also noticed that they sell brown rice rotini, and a jar of Puro spaghetti sauce.  We noticed on the label of the spaghetti sauce that it said it was processed in the same facility that processes wheat, etc, but that it went on to say that these products are separated in order to prevent contamination.  Plus it was like a buck a jar, and since the noodles were almost $3 on their own, I figured I could skate by with some cheap sauce. 

The whole pot was to be made just for Wade.  With less options for meals I am all about making him his own dinners that he can eat, because frankly, I won't lie, the whole house is not going gluten free.  We have three very gluten addicted adults and a gluten loving 7 year old who would only give it up if it were absolutely necessary to Wade's health. 

Now because we do have wheat in our home, we are technically a facility that processes wheat.  But, at home I feel like we can control it more, where as in a factory you can only hope. 

I know some people are troopers to the extreme and they banish everything wheat and they don't pig out on pizza and toast in front of the little gluten free kid but we're not that well off and we can't just go and toss out a bunch of perfectly good food that the adults and Ty (Wade's brother) can eat. 

And who can argue with ramen?  It sucks that Wade can't eat it, but if I can have lunch for 17 cents I'm going to have lunch for 17 cents.  That way I can still buy Wade his special $4 pretzels and pancake mix. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm actually pretty lucky to have Fresh And Easy around.  I've been told that Gluten Free Foods are expensive, or at places like Trader Joes "affordable."  I don't generally shop at Trader Joe's because it's over in Redlands and I no longer drive, but from what I've seen the few times I've been there it's more pricey than Fresh And Easy on a lot of things.  Actually, Fresh And Easy tends to run a bit less expensive than Stater's (a Southern California grocery chain) and I always seem to get more food for the money I spend there.  Plus they print that nice $3 off $30 coupon every week. 

Of course we have to wait for David to go there because it's in Calimesa (next town over) so it's not a bike ride thing...though it could be doable as long as we don't get anything that will perish on the way home.  Yes we do have a thermal bag from Dollar Tree but I'm not sure how long it will work for, and we're talking an hour + ride. 

Anyway, so this brown rice spaghetti business.  Willie, who cooked the noodles, reported to me that the noodles cook weird.  He said there was kind of a goop on top of the water, they looked really--not like noodles, he said.  But then when he dumped them out they were fine.  They mixed with the sauce just fine, the texture was fine, and they were indeed noodle shaped.  Most importantly Wade was very pleased.  We gave him a couple chicken legs on the side to go with it (chicken legs are like $3 a dozen raw, we just bake or boil them and give them to him with eggs or with veggies at dinner.)  He's got a whole big container of leftovers all for himself in the fridge, too.  Because frankly?  I'm sorry but I'm not turned on by alternative ingredients. 

Remember that I am lactose intolerant so I've been dealing with soy crap for years now.  I just in the last year discovered almond milk, but all this Veggie Shreds and Tofu Rella has got me sick from the tit to the bone. 

As for what is going on at school, well, they need a doctor's note to give him special meals.  Yes I did send snacks like popcorn, Skittles, and a container of plain Rice Chex (without peanut butter and Nutella on them like I do them at home because we have to be sensitive to the five peanut free friends in the classroom this year) but Wade gets to eat breakfast at school too since he's AM kindergarten. 

The child nutrition services director called me and said that there are far less options for breakfast than there are for lunch, but even without the note (which we can't get until he sees the allergist which he can't see until he sees his doctor and yes that's two co-payments and that's pissing me off) she said she couldn't do anything--but she is.  They're importing hard boiled eggs from the high school and checking the warehouse for Kix and Rice Chex.  He said he's been eating hard boiled eggs and oranges for a week, but the lady told me it would take a while before she could get the sausage and egg patties over to his school.  Which is fine.  He does eat here before he leaves, it's just really hard to go to school and see all of your friends eating and YOU CAN'T HAVE ANY. 

I'm grateful that the school district is accommodating him anyway. 

Next up, Quaker Oats:  Friend Or Foe?

Day One And Two Of The New Diet

It's hard to pick up and just start feeding your kid something different all of the sudden.  We skirted by with cereal because of the almond milk.  Now the cereal is plotting to shoot through his poor little colon like a bullet train, so that's out.

I stood in front of our cupboards and looked at all of the food before my eyes.  None of it was anything that Wade could eat.  So we went to Fresh and Easy because they have a Gluten Free list available. 

We’re excited to report that we are introducing more gluten-free products to our range over the next few months and are currently offering hundreds of items in our stores that are made without gluten-containing ingredients!

Customers told us they wanted more gluten-free products to choose from and to easily identify which ones were gluten-free; and we listened. Just look for the maroon and green icon next to notable gluten-free products in our stores. Next time you’re in, ask your Kitchen Table attendant for a full list or just download it from our website.

Source: Fresh And Easy Blog

The list can be found here, but we also did what they said and went to the Kitchen Table at our Calimesa store and talked to very friendly Josh and asked for a few copies of the list.

We dropped $20 on some fresh chicken legs, Rice Chex (gluten free, says so right on the box!) fresh fruit and veggies.  We didn't get any of the specialty stuff like brown rice pasta and gluten free pretzels, we just wanted to grab a handful of things that we could feed him throughout the week. 

We'd given him eggs and a banana that morning before he left for school but sure enough he was starving by 9:30 and begging for food at school according to his teacher.  She called me after school about the note I'd sent about Wade being allergic to gluten.  She told me she hadn't heard of such an allergy and and being such a young one that Mrs. Lemon Lime, she called her mom.  Her mom apparently flipped out and told her to call the child's mother right away!  Gluten allergy is serious business!  

Mrs. Lemon Lime tells me that she's never dealt with a wheat allergic kid.  And that the kid who brought donuts that day--yes donuts, that Wade couldn't eat--is lactose intolerant.  Furthermore there are five kindergarteners with peanut allergies at his school this year.

Regarding the donuts, Wade got an apple.  She said she wanted to cry with him.  But she promised not to eat a donut, and she also reported that other kids were jealous of Wade's apple.  Which is kind of awesome.

Her solution for when things like birthday donuts and cupcakes happen was for me to send snacks to school that Wade can eat.  I sent in a container of Rice Chex, some Orville Redenbacher kettle corn (because she warned me that the other kids were getting popcorn the next day) and a bag of Skittles. 

He ended up being all right though for his first day.  He did come home and clear some grapes, some Rice Chex (dry) and two corns on the cob before taking a nap.  Then for dinner he had a chicken leg and some roasted potatoes.

We're trying to figure out how to make him full.  His calorie count is down due to the lack of wheaty things and his hunger is way up because he's trying to gain back what he lost while he was down.  This morning we were smarter and gave him eggs with chicken and potatoes so it would stick to his ribs a little better.  We've been warning him not to eat the school lunches but wouldn't you know our kid actually outsmarted us?

Resourceful little lad he is, he thought about how he asks for soy milk from the cafeteria, so maybe they'd have gluten free stuff too.

Sure enough, they did.  And I never would have known this if he hadn't of asked.

Go Wade for being smart!

He told us that he asked a man in the cafeteria for gluten free food and they gave him some special cinnamon toast and cereal and even some berry punch.  Double breakfast for the win.

For lunch he had more eggs, chicken and potatoes and some Chex Mix that I made him with Nutella and peanut butter.  For dinner it's hamburger patties and mashed potatoes.

No wheat turds to report.  We must be watching those tricky labels well!

The Culprit

"My sick kid isn't sick at all!  The poo analysis came back and said that there were no parasites.  In fact his poo was clean as poo can be."

That was the conclusion to two weeks of cleaning up vomit and diarrhea and watching little five year old Wade waste away.

Wade was lactose intolerant to begin with.  Well, a few months into his life anyway, when I realized that the cow milk based formula was making him sick.  Throughout his life we've slowly introduced him to cheeses and butters and items that have trace amounts of milk in them.  He's handled everything fine, but was never able to drink regular milk.

And oddly, around the same time he was born, I had developed lactose intolerance as well.

So we were soy kids together.  But soy milk is slimy to me and the cookies never soak it up right, so for a while I switched to rice milk, and have stuck permanently to almond milk.  I love that in the past year a few companies like Silk and Almond Breeze have come out with refrigerated half gallons instead of the little shelved quarts I used to have to buy.  I am also able to eat things with trace amounts of milk in them, and I can handle most cheeses.  My problem is straight milk.  I've also tried Lactaid and it makes me barf.  So it's me against the cows, pretty much.

Then two weeks ago Wade got very sick.  He would go to school and be fine, and then once we fed him lunch he'd throw up again.  This went on for about a week until it got so bad that we decided just to keep him home from kindergarten.

We too him to the emergency room one night because he was dehydrated, or so we thought, and he was pumped full of saline and given an anti nausea medication.  The medication would work, but once it wore off he'd throw up again.  We were beginning to think that he'd gotten some kind of parasite but we weren't sure how or where he would have gotten it.

A few days later we made a trip to urgent care and some tests were ran.  The emergency room had done some blood tests and said that he was fine, but since we weren't convinced since he was still puking, the urgent care doctors wanted us to do a stool sample, but also put him on a liquid diet for 12 hours, followed by the BRAT diet for 12 hours, followed by introducing solid foods again slowly.

The liquid diet was hard.  He was starving, you could tell, and with no energy he just laid on the couch all day not moving very much.  And when we got to the BRAT stage (BRAT = Banans, Rice, Applesauce, Toast) we were told by a family friend who is a wheat allergy sufferer to maybe leave out the toast part since wheat is kind of hard for our tummies to digest anyway.

Boy does Wade hate rice.  And applesauce.  But he loves bananas and Jell-O so that's pretty much what he had, followed by a very carefully placed piece of boiled tilapia at dinner time.  No fish is not on the diet but we decided to see what would happen--plus he'd been practically starving himself for two days and it was getting very sad.  Especially because we could now see his ribs and his face had clearly lost a bit of chub.

Three days later everything looked great.  He was ready to go back to school, pooping solidly, and totally not throwing up.  Until of course he did when he went to visit his aunt.

I asked what he ate.  It was some eggs with a bit of cheese, and a granola bar.  It was then that I did the research and found that the funny sounding malt syrup on the back of the package turned out to be one of the many names that wheat hides under.

We thought back over this whole barfing period and realized that every time he'd thrown up there was wheat somehow involved.

The spaghetti that made him sick in the middle of the night the first night.  The bowl of cereal that he didn't even get halfway through before he puked it up.  The Toast part of the BRAT diet that made him vomit during the day--that when we removed, caused him to no longer vomit.

The ramen we gave him when he was down.

The ramen we gave him when he'd come home from school saying "I feel much better" that would come back up.

The granola bar his dad fed him after three days without vomit.

We've found our culprit.  Even before the stool samples came back negative for parasites.  We're talking about wheat here, buddy.  Wheat's the one to beat. 

And so we're going through a big lifestyle change here.  One snack at a time.

Welcome to our wheat free home on the web.