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Hello again,

The responses to my question regarding oats were numerous. Thank you to
everyone who took the time to respond. I will be busy this week with school
starting so I thought I would post this summary now. If I get more
responses I will make a follow up post.

Many people had alternate products they recommended to replace those vital
preschool crackers. They were as follows:

1. Sesmark brand Rice Thins cheddar cheese flavored
crackers. They also come in a plain variety for those of us on a dairy free
diet as well.

2. Bi-aglut makes a snack cracker bread (Dietary
Specialties of Rochester, New York at 1-800-544-0099) which lots of folks
recommended.

3. WASA has a Corn Crispbread but the poster was waiting on her HFS to
check into ordering it.

4. Fat free potato crisps were recommended as another snack alternative to
crackers.

5. Hot-Kid Rice Crisps.  The original flavour is pretty
similar to crackers and are quite addictive. This comes in other more
exotic flavors, along with the basic cracker flavor.

6. Popcorn was also a suggested alternative, unless you are dealing with a
corn allergy as well.

7. Making muffins (rice based) for the class was also suggested as an
occasional "shared" treat, though this may be a problem if the school has a
"packaged only" policy as ours does. This parent suggested having the child
bring her own treats, such as cheese cutouts, gummy snacks, and the
occasional small bag of M&M's for b-day subsitutes. This may not work for
younger kids who want what everyone else has, or in our case for a kid who
LOVES crackers (and is off dairy as well).

8. DeRoMa foods of Canada have a cracker that is so near the Ritz, I bet
your son would think it was the *real* thing. All of their products are
GF. They ship to US.
Numbers are:1-800-DIET, or (514)-687-2287, FAX(514)687-2289 and their web
site can be found at http://www.cosmo2000.ca/deroma

9. Hol-Grain brown rice, lightly salted,they are quite
good remind me of a Triscuit and can be found in most HFS, made by Lunden
Family Farms...purely GF.

As far as oat flour goes, some say that there is a real problem with cross
contamination, due to the similarity in size between the wheat and oats. I
can post privately to anyone interested in the specifics. Many do not eat
oat flour, though one person who responded said that the current literature
says that oats in the US are OK and eats them with no problem.

Again, thanks to everyone who responded.

Karen in Duluth MN