Okay, why is this Blog called "He Can't Eat That!"?? It's because that is a phrase I have had to say MANY times in the past three years. A little over three years ago, we figured out that my son (who was about 13 months at the time) was allergic to dairy, eggs, peanuts and tree nuts. This came as quite a shock to me because I have never had any kind of food or airborne allergies.
It has been an interesting journey the past three years and I have learned a lot--though I know there is a lot more to learn. In that time I have met a few other mothers who are dealing with the same thing and I found it was really great to talk to them about how they deal with food allergies and what foods they found for their kids.
Finding this "community" has not always been easy so I thought a blog on this topic could be a cool way to connect with other parents who also have kids with food allergies. I'd like to share what has worked for me and I'd like to hear other people's stories when they have had to tell someone "he can't eat that!"
I am not all that familiar with blogging, so I'll tell you right now that I may not do this very well. But what the heck, I can give it a try!
3 comments:
I can't wait to hear your stories, Anne. Two links you might want to add are to: http://www.peanutallergy.com
http://allrecipes.com/recipes/healthy-living/dairy-free/main.aspx. Both sites have great recipes!
I have a 4 year old daughter severely allergic to Peanuts and tree nuts and Eggs.
My 2 year old son is allergic to Milk, Eggs, Red Meat, Cinnamon, Apples, Tomatoes and has outgrown Wheat allergy. He has a soy intolerance as well.
I've been dealing w/ these food allergies close to 4 years. We found out when my daughter, Lauren, was 6 months old. She was always turning red and patchy and I insisted we get her tested thinking it was someone's detergent or fragrance. When they told me it was peanuts and that people who had eaten them and then touched her she got hives, I was blown away. I never heard of a peanut allergy prior to then. I hardly took it serious at first until I got to Border's the next day and read about it. Lauren's allergy can't be rated on the RAST scale.
Thankfully
it is NOT airborne, but who knows? My husband sent her into shock two
years ago by eating
a fun size snickers at work and coming home 6 hours later and kissed her.
He hadn't washed his face and traces were on his lips was the best guess the dr. could make.
At any rate, it's been a tough few years, but luckily she was an infant when it was diagnosed, so I've never known any better. She's in 4 yr old pre-school now and we've worked very hard to make it a safe place.
I make sure my kids have as normal of a life, we go on vacation, out to eat, etc...some moms I know literally shut themselves in and don't go anywhere. I joined a support group but found it less than helpful after awhile so I left it. So far things are going okay, w'eve made a few trips to the ER and it is exhausting constantly checking on cross contamination products, but what can you do?
I have a 3rd child due Dec. 1st and I just hope this one has the same food allergies as one of the others rather than different ones, like corn or something. Hopefully most of the food allergies will be outgrown, I'm not naive enough to think that the peanut one will be, but ti'd be great if the others were. So far Sean, my son, has not tested positive to peanut or tree nut but he's also never been exposed. We see the allergist every 6 months.
It's going okay, I worry about them, but my mom takes care of them so that makes things a lot easier as she is very vigilant in making certain they are safe. We never leave the house w/o our Epi Pens and thankfully have only had to use them two times now.
If I can ever give you some advice or restaurants reco's or food reco's let me know. I live in Downers Grove so I know it isn't that close, but that's about it. I wish you luck on your blog and I will visit it and try to post to it again sometime and pass it along.
Mary Ann
There are some good product lists that you may find helpful:
http://www.godairyfree.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=category§ionid=4&id=16&Itemid=30
The paid version also has non-soy products checked. I think between this and the vegan column (free of meat, eggs, and dairy, though the entire lists are free of dairy ingredients) it may be helpful for your son. I am not sure it will help with the apples, tomatoes and cinnamon though! That must be tough.
I don't have the book handy right now, but there is a book called "Allergy Free Passport" I believe (it has a longer name, but I can't think of it right now). They sell it on Amazon. It has guides for eating away from home, and covers all major allergens.
Have they pinpointed any reason why your kids may be so prone to food allergies? Do they run in the family?
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