Food allergies?

[klee73010]

Who else deals with this? My daughter has allergies, and we had an issue this morning. (Minor issue, resolved now) it's so heavy on my mind today.

A new-to-us teacher at the day care gave her some "regular" milk, while I was off getting her "Kaydee safe" milk. She had already had a few bites by the time I realized, and had a minor mom-meltdown (similar to the toddler meltdowns, where you can make a mountain out of a mole hill). I (nicely as I could) explained the situation, and told her to keep an eye on her for any signs of reactions.

But in case any of you are planning to attend any type of food gathering for any upcoming holidays, and deal with this situation, what types of things do you do to prepare yourself or your kids?

 

[dotcomkari]

We have a lot in our family:

My oldest is allergic to bees, and strawberries.. she can't have any honey due to her bee allergy and strawberries are huge for her!

My son has a HUGE list of things he can't eat due to a pancerus issue.. such as acidy fruits (oranges, grapefruits.. ).. milk... list goes on and on..

and my youngest has an egg allergy.

We are always on the look out for foods they can eat! .. planning meals is never easy around here

 

[klee73010]

We have a lot in our family:

My oldest is allergic to bees, and strawberries.. she can't have any honey due to her bee allergy and strawberries are huge for her!

My son has a HUGE list of things he can't eat due to a pancerus issue.. such as acidy fruits (oranges, grapefruits.. ).. milk... list goes on and on..

and my youngest has an egg allergy.

We are always on the look out for foods they can eat! .. planning meals is never easy around here

Oh wow Kari! That's a lot! Just one kid in our house, and she's allergic to dairy, egg, and peanuts.

How do you plan for/accommodate family gatherings?

 

[dotcomkari]

A lot of our extended family know about the kids allergies and are good about preparing food to their needs, the kids too are informed and will not eat questionable things now that they are older.
I often pack a small bag with items they can eat too... incase their is not something they can eat.. often in my bag includes.. fresh veggies, sandwhiches, .. fruit.. so forth
and Kai always has his "pediasure" with him .. so he knows he can't have a glass of milk

 

[bestcee]

Good luck! We don't have any food allergies in our house. When I take treats somewhere, I used to include a list of ingredients especially if I knew one of the big ones {egg, dairy, peanuts} was involved in my recipe. But after having someone irritated with me for not specifying if it was gluten free {side rant: it was a cookie!} I stopped. I do try to make something that can be eaten at church gatherings if I know of specific allergies so kids don't feel left out.

I always feel sorry for people with allergies. Especially when it's my favorite foods!

 

[lmccandless]

We are pretty fun family to feed. Everyone has food allergies. My oldest daughter and I are both Celiacs (gluten/wheat/rye/barley "allergy"). I am allergic to every major food allergen except dairy and nuts, which includes a pretty serious egg allergy. My daughter and husband both have dairy allergies. So....yeah. We deal with this every day but it's definitely harder during the holidays. Honestly when we go to parties we usually pre-eat at home so that we can just enjoy the party without food stress. My heart goes out to you with your little one because it's so hard before they are able to advocate for themselves. Once they are older and able to read food labels or voice their concerns about something, it's much easier to keep them safe and feel comfortable as a Mom when they're eating away from you.

 

[jk703]

Good luck! We don't have any food allergies in our house. When I take treats somewhere, I used to include a list of ingredients especially if I knew one of the big ones {egg, dairy, peanuts} was involved in my recipe. But after having someone irritated with me for not specifying if it was gluten free {side rant: it was a cookie!} I stopped. I do try to make something that can be eaten at church gatherings if I know of specific allergies so kids don't feel left out.

I always feel sorry for people with allergies. Especially when it's my favorite foods!

Wow! I really think it was nice of you to try, going out of your way to make sure people were aware and trying to be inclusive. I know many friends with kids that have allergies that would be so happy if someone did that for them. They always come prepared, but the thought and effort if someone did that speaks volumes about the person.

 

[klee73010]

Oh Laura, you get it!!! Lol
Kari too!

We do typically pre-eat for Kaydee when heading to a party or something. I'm struggling with our pot luck thanksgiving, even though it's family. I don't have the control, and because they are not dealing with it daily, don't think of the little things.... for instance, my SIL is making the turkey, asked about the stuffing she can put inside. I was quick to answer about the brand we use, but forgot to mention substituting the butter for a safe brand. We do this so much on auto-pilot, I didn't think about telling her at first. Thankfully, I remembered in time. Most of our family is very aware, so that does help.

If it is not family, however, I provide the alternatives. Halloween, too. We provided safe alternative candy so she could participate. My husband and I have different views.... he says it is solely our responsibility to provide for her (and would prefer to only hand out chocolate), while I say it would absolutely make everyone's halloween more enjoyable to provide a range of options (and therefore have something available that can accommodate all allergies, either by being non food treats, or a range of candy options).

It's definitely a struggle. Today's issue came up because she (at age 3) trusts all day care staff to provide safe food for her, and I, as a grateful mom, also assumed all the staff knew about her allergy (we absolutely love this day care for how they've assisted us/her with allergies!)... i broke our routine with them by being late, new-to-us teacher prepared her breakfast. Thankfully, no major issues, and hopefully, she took my explanation and mommy - meltdown in the nicest way possible, but I will probably feel the need to apologize, in case I came off as a crazy mom. Lol

 

[jk703]

We are pretty fun family to feed. Everyone has food allergies. My oldest daughter and I are both Celiacs (gluten/wheat/rye/barley "allergy"). I am allergic to every major food allergen except dairy and nuts, which includes a pretty serious egg allergy. My daughter and husband both have dairy allergies. So....yeah. We deal with this every day but it's definitely harder during the holidays. Honestly when we go to parties we usually pre-eat at home so that we can just enjoy the party without food stress. My heart goes out to you with your little one because it's so hard before they are able to advocate for themselves. Once they are older and able to read food labels or voice their concerns about something, it's much easier to keep them safe and feel comfortable as a Mom when they're eating away from you.

Oh my. I totally agree with the age and reading labels. You might worry a little less as they grow older, but I imagine you still worry.

 

[gonewiththewind]

We've never had to deal with this. Other than, you know, certain foods not agreeing with us . . . we just haven't, as a family, had serious allergic reactions to any foods.

I can't imagine, especially when they are so little, how much stress it is on the mom and dad. Geez, I would be so worried because they are little hoover vacs at that age, and the chances of them taking a food from another child or something. Yeah. It wouldn't be good.

And extended family, no one has allergies to food groups, other than being picky about what they eat. And we do try to accommodate for that as well.

 

[klee73010]

We've never had to deal with this. Other than, you know, certain foods not agreeing with us . . . we just haven't, as a family, had serious allergic reactions to any foods.

I can't imagine, especially when they are so little, how much stress it is on the mom and dad. Geez, I would be so worried because they are little hoover vacs at that age, and the chances of them taking a food from another child or something. Yeah. It wouldn't be good.

And extended family, no one has allergies to food groups, other than being picky about what they eat. And we do try to accommodate for that as well.

That alone can sometimes be hard to accommodate!

I myself have an intolerance, not an allergy, to dairy. I get uncomfortable, but nothing major... and usually don't even pay attention to it when I'm out or at a "thing".

 

[littlekiwi]

I'm lactose intolerant and view it very much like this-I'm careful when I'm out but if I have a bit of lactose its not the end of the world

I myself have an intolerance, not an allergy, to dairy. I get uncomfortable, but nothing major... and usually don't even pay attention to it when I'm out or at a "thing".

 

[jenn mccabe]

We have a niece with severe peanut/nut allergies. And my daughter has a weird intolerance allergy to nuts ... but I think just to the skins if that is possible??? Like, she can drink almond milk but can't eat things made with almonds (crushed or blended in) or her tongue itches and depending on how much she consumes swells. It freaks me out bc I worry about her airways closing.

But other than that the dietary choices of my family drive me insane. We have a meat eater, a vegan, a sort of vegan and a vegetarian. And among my daughter's closest friends.... one eats nothing but toddler food and the other is gluten free. Try planning a gathering for meat free, dairy free, egg free, gluten free toddler food. Not fun!

But yes, food allergies are scary. Especially when your child is very young. As they grow they will be more aware and careful about what goes in their mouth but when little you are dependent on those caring for your child to be responsible so it is hard. I hope that was a one time event and it never happens again Kristina. Sorry!

 

[QuiltyMom]

We have a niece with severe peanut/nut allergies. And my daughter has a weird intolerance allergy to nuts ... but I think just to the skins if that is possible??? Like, she can drink almond milk but can't eat things made with almonds (crushed or blended in) or her tongue itches and depending on how much she consumes swells. It freaks me out bc I worry about her airways closing.

But other than that the dietary choices of my family drive me insane. We have a meat eater, a vegan, a sort of vegan and a vegetarian. And among my daughter's closest friends.... one eats nothing but toddler food and the other is gluten free. Try planning a gathering for meat free, dairy free, egg free, gluten free toddler food. Not fun!

I can relate. Although mine aren't allergies, they're severe intolerances: gluten, dairy, soy, nuts, eggs, meat, acids (mint, caffeine, carbonation, alcohol, spicy foods, raw onion & garlic {cooked is ok}, berries...). But I can eat fish and seafood. Yay! I've gotten to the place where I just bring my own food or I don't eat until I'm back home. If we're going out I need to call the restaurant ahead of time to check on how the food is prepared and make sure that only olive oil will be used in my food since most vegetable oil is soybean oil, and to see if any of the fish/seafood has been marinated in soy. It's not fun at all. But I feel better for it!