Beware of the Barley in a Pretty Purple Pouch

So after we discovered W's wheat allergy I had several people ask me if we were going to go totally gluten-free.  I wasn't sure at the time, but knew that we would likely lean that direction since the options for gluten free living are so much more abundant these days and it seems like wheat cross contamination can be prevalent with other types of grains.

And then...there was a beautiful purple baby food pouch that called to me.  I know that this sounds ridiculous, and it is. It can be frustrating when you stand in the baby food isle and consistently pick up the same three or four pouches, but still look at every single one because "There have to be more that he could eat," or "Maybe they changed the ingredients." When so little is available to your child, excitement takes over when you find something new that contains none of his current food allergens.

Read the label and there it was, barley.  The main grains that cause issues in Celiac and gluten intolerance are wheat, barley, rye and spelt (as discussed in my earlier post Wheat vs. Gluten).  We have the wheat allergy confirmed, so do we try it and see? How much like wheat is it? He can have oats, so why not barley? Questions, questions, questions! Doubt, guilt, fear!

I am quite often psyching myself out of so much when it comes to W, but fear that all my incessant worries will indeed end him up in a bubble, a la that horrid Jake Gyllenhall movie. So I allowed the newness and purpleness to win over (really people, they spend countless dollars on making the packaging appealing enough that I would eat it!)  W really love it, but I am afraid that it just didn't love him, and back up it came within minutes.

Since all of the other ingredients were things that W had successfully eaten in the past, I am pointing the finger at barley until we can confirm with our allergist. In light of all of this and deciding to embrace my sometimes neurotic intuition, we will be going gluten-free and for now we will beware of the barley!