Hello: I am new here. I have enjoyed reading everyone's posts and am learning a lot.
My 3 yo daughter has been gluten free for 9 months. I have been letting her have oatmeal, which she loves, because I read several research articles saying that oats seem to be okay in celiac kids diets. Now I am wondering if she is getting contaminated oats. She doesn't have any GI symptoms, but she has been developing a itchy rash over the past several months. Her ped says it is eczema and gave her Elidel (sp) cream use. Her rash is bilateral on backs of knees, inside elbows, stomach, shoulders, and especially bad on her bottom. She never had skin problems before, her celiac symptoms were GI related. I did take her off oats for a while and the rash seemed to improve, but almost immediately after I gave her a bowl of oatmeal, she got worse again. I have a hard time getting the medicine on her, so it's hard to tell if it is helping. I have 2 questions: 1) how do other parents feel about allowing oats in your child's diet; do you feel they cause symptoms? 2) has anyone else had a child who also had a similar rash and did you feel it was related to the celiac disease?
Thanks for your input.

Recent studies have shown that commerical oats are contaminated. Most of the recent studies that show that some celiacs can have oats (that I've seen) have used lab grown/harvested/processed oats to avoid the contamination issues. I wouldn't risk it.

tarnalberry is right--no more oats for your daughter---even before i knew i was celiac, i never could tolerate oats well--it is strange--oatmeal cereal for breakfast never seemed to cause a problem for me, but meatloaf with oatmeal in it--or apple crisp with oatmeal topping--anything like that was a problem---it is very likely that the rash is from oatmeal----also be very careful of your soaps, shampoos, lotions--they can contain wheat or oats and be a big problem for her too---i break out in hives if i get shampoos with wheat in it---and her being a child where everythng goes in her mouth--its best to eliminate all of those products deb

I'll chime in as well. Oats area bad idea. A recent study showed that every brand on the market -- even McCann's -- has contamination problems.

richard

I'm chiming in too! My eldest (he's 15) gets the same rash you described. It's dermatitis hepitiformous (excuse misspellings) commonly called DH. If you want to be certain, if the rash is present, take her to a dermatologist and get it tested (you can also check out this website, there's a DH section plus information in the general site.) Pediatricians seem to know less about DH than celiac disease, I've found.

Unfortunately, I've not found any oats that haven't given me my "glutened" reaction. When my kids were diagnosed after me, I bought several kinds to test before giving it to them (oatmeal was my daughter's favorite breakfast.) Every one gave me extreme reactions. To help her heal, you need to stop the oats. I have heard (but my son has shown no indication of this happening yet at 6 months gluten-free) that over time, the reacting agent in the skin will lessen and lessen (disappear even? maybe...) and the DH reactions to an accident glutening will be less extreme. Otoh, at 6 months, my son is having ever more extreme reactions. But, I will be the first to admit he's had many accidental episodes in these 6 months. It may be it takes being totally gluten-free for a longer period than he's had for the reacting agent to have time to disappear without being replenshed.

I'm still learning...

Thank you, everyone for your responses. I will cut out the oats for good. I am sad, because she loves oatmeal and is such a picky eater. She has been asking for a bowl of oatmeal all week; fortunately I've been able to distract her with something else. Does anyone know if Oats purchased in Europe or the UK are less likely to be contaminated? I've read that somewhere.

My father has DH, but my daughter's rash does not look like his, maybe because it is not severe enough. My father suffered for 15 years before going gluten free and having a miraculous recovery. He still can't get a definitive dx of celiac disease though. The doctor's in his small rural town don't seem to know what they are doing. He had both skin and GI biopsies that were negative, but I honestly don't think the docs knew how to read the results. He's elected to stay gluten free, regardless, b/c he has obvious reactions whenever he's exposed to gluten.

Does anyone know where I can find a list of gluten free soaps, shampoos, etc. Maybe there is already something on this website, I haven't looked.

Again, thanks for your responses.

Laurie

Yep...oats are nearly always contaminated--and since you're ingesting gluten, of course you could have a gluten reaction

Hi Laurie,
Try kasha (buckwheat). It's generally available in the kosher section of the grocery store. You can cook it to the same consistency as oatmeal.

I make my own soap which I also use for shampoo. I've noticed since using homemade soap, I don't need lotion for my skin or conditioner for my hair. Natural soaps consisting of saponified oils are available in many health food/herb stores, but they are expensive. An 8 pound batch you make at home is cheap, lasts a long time, and is free of wheat and harsh chemicals.

Sarah

Would love to explore making my own soap and shampoo but have never even tried! Please help with recipes or internet sites that can explain the process.