The number of children being diagnosed with food allergies is rising. Adapting to daily life with a child who has food allergies can be a challenge for many parents. Today's post comes from Christine George, who shares her personal experience with raising a son with food allergies. Our next post will focus on diagnosing and treating children with food allergies. I looked at the doctor with wide eyes as he pulled out an EpiPen without the needle and demonstrated how to use it on his own thigh. “If you know he has eaten a peanut, you give him the EpiPen right away and take him straight to the ER. If he doesn’t have any reaction, or if his symptoms subside, you can wait outside the ER for up to an hour to be sure he’s okay before you take him home.”
Three years ago I never thought to ask someone if they had food allergies before I brought over a plate of cookies or gave some kids a snack. It wasn’t until our first child was 7 months old that I was introduced to the world of food allergies. Our baby screamed and broke out in bright red hives when we tried to give him milk-based formula. The same thing happened on another occasion the first time he tried eggs. We decided to visit an allergist. Tests indicated he was allergic to milk, eggs, peanuts, and several tree nuts. The allergist told us to avoid these foods entirely.
I remember walking out of the allergist’s office feeling overwhelmed. I didn’t even know where to start asking questions. What on earth was I supposed to feed this child?? I spent a lot of time on the computer researching food allergies and trying to understand how to work with our new family challenge. While there was a lot of information about what food allergies were and what foods to avoid, it was much harder to find helpful information about what foods were okay for my son to eat.
As our son got older, family meals became more of a problem. He began eating more and was very interested in whatever we were eating. I didn’t have time to cook two different meals every day, and I didn’t have the heart to tell him no every time he asked for something. I started searching for recipes that would accommodate his existing allergies but would also work for the rest of us. While it was fairly easy to find recipes that were free of dairy or nuts, it was very difficult to find recipes free of dairy, eggs, and nuts. I resorted to vegan recipes for a while, but my family wasn’t very fond of tofu or cheese alternatives—they just don’t taste good! Over time we learned to alter our own recipes and adopted new ones that passed the family test. It has taken a lot of effort, but we’ve finally found enough recipes that we can eat together as a family.
Eating out is still a challenge. We don’t go out to eat very often because of the difficulty in finding allergy-free food for our son, especially since he’s a picky toddler in addition to his food allergies! However, many large restaurants have recently created menus for people with food allergies so you can easily find something without having to ask the waiter about every ingredient in the dish.
Social eating has been our biggest struggle. In nearly every gathering, event, or celebration, there is food. Our son is now three and doesn’t quite understand why he can’t have what everyone else has. In many cases I am able to find out ahead of time what food will be at a social event we are going to attend, and I make the same item and bring it with us. It is a lot of work, but it’s worth it for him to feel included.
My husband and I have spent so much time trying to understand our son’s food allergies and learning how to deal with the social implications. I wanted to share what I have learned with others so maybe a few parents out there would have an easier time adjusting to the lifestyle change required by a family member with food allergies. We developed a Web site called EatAllergyFree.com, where you can share recipes, look up allergy-free products, get ingredient substitutions, find allergy-free menus for many restaurants, and share comments and ideas with others in the same situation. It’s a resource we wished we had since the beginning, and we hope it will be of use to others struggling with adjusting to a food-allergy life.
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