I thought I’d end Food Allergy Awareness Week by sharing the results of my son’s latest allergy appointment. First a little back story: he was first diagnosed with milk, egg and peanut allergies two years ago via skin test. Since then, only he’s only been retested for peanuts, which came back higher. Last month, we switched allergists and he was retested for milk, eggs and peanuts – this time via blood test – as well as fish, shellfish and treenuts. I am happy to report that the tests for the later all came back negative! Pause for happy dance. He still tested positive for milk, eggs and peanuts, however, his RAST numbers are very low (although, apparently he produces low IgEs to begin with). We're still avoiding direct milk, eggs and peanuts but his allergist recommended that we introduce baked milk and then baked egg at home. And we’ve scheduled a peanut challenge for next year. Pause for happy dance #2. Yet, as promising as this news is, we still have a long road ahead of us. … [Read more...]
Tips for Dealing with Food Allergies
This post is intended for first-time food allergy moms and for anyone who is not a mother to a food allergic child. Of my son’s food allergies – milk, eggs and peanuts – milk has been the hardest to manage because it hides in so many products on the grocery store shelves. I’ve had to become an expert at reading labels. It was really hard and overwhelming in the beginning. When he was first diagnosed, he was exclusively breastfed and it was my diet that had to change. I struggled with it. Sometimes I resented that I couldn’t just buy what I wanted to at the grocery store and that a normal shopping trip took twice as long. When I learned that his allergens could hide in medicines, lotions and other products, too, my frustration boiled over. Two years later, checking labels has become second nature. I have discovered a lot of alternatives to substitute in place of his allergens – and found a support group to deal with my frustrations. His food allergies are now just a part of our … [Read more...]
Blog-a-versary
Today is the first anniversary of this blog. I launched it last year as a Mother’s Day gift to myself and to coincide with Food Allergy Awareness Week, a cause that is personal to me. And so today is my Blog-a-versary, it’s Mother’s Day, and its the beginning of Food Allergy Awareness Week. I’m planning a lot of food allergy posts this week – so stayed tuned – but today I’d like to take a moment to reflect back on this first year of blogging. I fell in love with blogging from the very start. I love to write and having this creative outlet has been pure joy for me. I want to be blogging more than I am but, honestly, this pregnancy takes up not just my physical energy but my creative energy as well. I know that’s not going to change anytime soon so I’m trying to make this passion more of a priority than its been. Trying. Six months ago, I began dreaming of a redesign, of changing my blog name and URL. I’ve never been crazy about my blog name – its not very catchy – but at the time, it … [Read more...]
When A Child Begins to Understand Food Allergies
We were at my sister’s house for dinner. My nephew asked for a glass of chocolate milk. So my son, who is allergic to milk, asked for one as well. Before we could respond, my three year old nephew said this to my two-and-a-half year old son. “You can’t have milk. It will make you sick.” My sister and I looked at each other with proud parent eyes. After two years of us frantically making sure that the two boys – just eight months apart – didn’t switch sippy cups, her son understood that there were certain foods my son couldn’t have. And then the moment was gone. My nephew kept repeating himself to the point of toddler taunting. My son replied “don’t talk to me like that,” which is what he says when he’s told something he doesn’t want to hear, usually when he’s being reprimanded, only in this case it was appropriate and a little bit disheartening too. Up until this incident we haven’t really explained to our son that he has food allergies. We didn’t think he understood. We gave him a … [Read more...]
Joining the Club
Many years ago, way before I had my son, when I was just a single gal with married friends starting families, it annoyed me when those friends insinuated that I just didn’t get “it” because I wasn’t a mother. That I couldn’t understand what it was like to be one until I joined this exclusive club myself. Ok, maybe not. But then explain it to me. I could certainly empathize(or maybe its sympathize) that becoming a mother was indeed a big change. Yeah, not so much. I was naive. It is one of those experiences that you just can’t fully comprehend until you’ve lived it yourself – the monotonous first days, weeks and months; having to take care of ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING for this tiny, human being from the big things like feedings and diaper changes to the little things you take for granted for yourself like clipping fingernails; watching the sun set on a long day, being bone tired, and realizing that the work day is not over yet, not by a long shot. And I wondered, why had one that no one … [Read more...]
