Beginning Our New Reality
Trying to avoid any contact with milk, egg, and peanuts is not an easy task. I was very overwhelmed after the diagnosis. I grasped for any help I could get. I talked to a friend with food allergies, friends who chose a vegan diet, a professional child nutritionist, and of course other Mom's of kids with food allergies. All help was greatly appreciated!! A big thank you to any of you who are now reading this.
We began basically just giving him fruits, vegetables, and meat. I then went from store to store trying all kinds of different substitutes for what I was used to. I tried soy products which caused issues for my son and so we now limit that in his diet. Next we went to the coconut, almond, and sun flower alternatives. We had better luck with these. I say 'we' because he was still nursing at the time so I also needed to change my diet. I'll go into more detail about what specific products we now use in later posts. But label reading became crucial.
We also now had to carry Epi pens with us every where. Every meal was extremely stressful as I'd closely watch to make sure he wasn't showing signs of a reaction. I stocked Benedryl and Epi pens everywhere I could. If someone was even just taking him for a walk around the block in the stroller I insisted they have his supplies with them.
I would only give him food that I personally prepared. I didn't let our babysitters even put food on his plate. I did all of it and prepared anything he needed in pre made plates and bowls ahead of time. I wouldn't dare give him something that someone else made or even worse something from a restaurant. It would be a long time and only out of necessity that I'd break out of these habits.
I joked with friends about how my food allergy management job was so time consuming. It really is not easy and I hope that by sharing out experiences on this blog that we can help each other and especially help other new members to the food allergy club cope with their situation. I love talking to other food allergy mom's and swapping information and recipes. I also like helping to educate the interested people without food allergy experience (people like me 2 years ago) about what our life is like and how we must manage the food allergies. No matter who you are if you have any interest in food allergies or just choose certain food avoidances for whatever reason this blog will hopefully have something for you. If you have any questions or have suggestions of topics you'd like to see covered feel free to comment or send me an email and I'll do my best to address them.
We began basically just giving him fruits, vegetables, and meat. I then went from store to store trying all kinds of different substitutes for what I was used to. I tried soy products which caused issues for my son and so we now limit that in his diet. Next we went to the coconut, almond, and sun flower alternatives. We had better luck with these. I say 'we' because he was still nursing at the time so I also needed to change my diet. I'll go into more detail about what specific products we now use in later posts. But label reading became crucial.
We also now had to carry Epi pens with us every where. Every meal was extremely stressful as I'd closely watch to make sure he wasn't showing signs of a reaction. I stocked Benedryl and Epi pens everywhere I could. If someone was even just taking him for a walk around the block in the stroller I insisted they have his supplies with them.
I would only give him food that I personally prepared. I didn't let our babysitters even put food on his plate. I did all of it and prepared anything he needed in pre made plates and bowls ahead of time. I wouldn't dare give him something that someone else made or even worse something from a restaurant. It would be a long time and only out of necessity that I'd break out of these habits.
I joked with friends about how my food allergy management job was so time consuming. It really is not easy and I hope that by sharing out experiences on this blog that we can help each other and especially help other new members to the food allergy club cope with their situation. I love talking to other food allergy mom's and swapping information and recipes. I also like helping to educate the interested people without food allergy experience (people like me 2 years ago) about what our life is like and how we must manage the food allergies. No matter who you are if you have any interest in food allergies or just choose certain food avoidances for whatever reason this blog will hopefully have something for you. If you have any questions or have suggestions of topics you'd like to see covered feel free to comment or send me an email and I'll do my best to address them.
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