Realities of an allergy mom

http://allergenmenumom.com/2013/08/29/how-to-crush-a-food-allergy-mom-a-satirical-tutorial/

This is great!  While all my friends and family have been incredibly supportive and amazing with this whole thing, it doesn't change the fact that I constantly feel that I am being super anal and obsessive.

Today we fed Kason a peach.  Just an ordinary day- eating a peach.  He broke out in hives all over his back (how many times can I say 'thank god for Benadryl')

Kason breaking out in hives is turning all to ordinary in our lives.

Back to the peaches- kason has been eating peaches since he was 7 months old.  Frozen, canned, fresh.  So we know he isn't allergic to peaches.  

This particular peach was cleaned and in my lunch bag the day before.  Also in my lunch bag were some granola bites in a ziplock bag.  These particular granola bites have a warning on the bag that it may contain tree nuts.  I bought them, promising to keep them separate and only eat them after work. That was bad mom move #1- gotta maintain that peanut free household!!

The granola bites are my prime suspect in this allergy crime!!

While I feel guilty about this experience (but am happy kason was hive and itch free minutes later) this has been, yet another, eye opening experience.  If something like this can happen to an allergy mom (or dad) who are aware, how many times can this happen when someone is not aware!

I have read many blogs of moms who have quit their jobs or hired nannies because this is a problem that they can not control.  Luckily we have a great daycare who is adjusting a lot of things in her daycare just to make sure it is safe for kason.  And I will be bringing lunches for kason to ease both our minds.  But I can't control everything, which is a sickening feeling.  It's also called parenting.... Watching him fall down and learn to get himself back up is what we need to do as parents, but I didn't think parenting was about carrying an epi pen every second, watching everything people put into their mouths when they are around kason and begging them in my brain to please wash their hands, worrying that I am going to have to use that epi pen...

But being a parent to kason is truly some,thing special.  Yes- it does include all those things, but that's what makes kason so perfect in his own little way.  I feel like I love him more and more after he has an allergy outbreak because we get to watch him be brave and endure.  How I wish I could take it for him.

Is there something we could have done?

The more research I do I am realizing two things:
a) with substitutes you can make almost anything (and never worry about having to throw away expired eggs anymore because of baking)
b)is there something we should have done while we were pregnant

I was looking at the archives of a favourite Canadian magazine of mine - Today's Parent - and found this little article:
http://www.todaysparent.com/family/family-health/can-parents-prevent-peanut-allergies/

I remember hearing about Princess Kate cutting out peanuts and thinking, that's crazy!  When I was pregnant, all I craved was peanut butter!  That was when Kason was 3 months old and just suffering from what we thought was Excema.

Cut to a year later, and I'm starting to wonder if maybe I should have cut out peanuts while I was pregnant and breastfeeding.  While I cut out dairy while breastfeeding, Kason's skin never quite cleared up the way we had hoped until we weaned him to Nutramigen, a Hypoallergenic formula for those babies with a Cow's Milk Protein allergy.
Note: he is still on this formula because I have received conflicting advice on Soy Milk vs. Nutramigen.  Doctor says formula until 2, allergist said Soy Milk.  I'm still waiting for my referral to the infant dietitian.

So then I read this from another article on Allergies (although written in 2004) from Today's Parent:
Tendency Inherited
While severe, life-threatening food allergies affect only one or two people in 100, approximately eight percent of children, age two to three years are allergic to one or more foods, and the odds of developing such sensitivities increase if a child has a family history of what doctors dub atopic disease — food allergies, hay fever, eczema or asthma.
If you have one of these conditions, “your kid’s more likely to be allergic in general, but what he’s allergic to, whether food or pollen, isn’t predictable,” explains D. William Moote, an allergist at London Health Sciences Centre in London, Ont. Children with one allergic parent run about a 30 percent chance of developing some sort of allergy, including food allergies. Two allergic parents doubles those numbers.
But why does a family tree featuring non-food allergies up the odds a child will react adversely to something she eats? And how does delaying the introduction of certain foods help?
Immune Error
Allergic reactions are triggered by infection-fighting cells that mistake an otherwise harmless substance for an invader, and experts believe this hyperalert immune system is passed from one generation to the next. Allergic people produce greater-than-normal amounts of IgE, the body’s burglar alarm, which detects intruders and instructs special blood cells to fire the chemical barrage that triggers allergy symptoms. In a child with hay fever, ragweed pollen may trip the switch, while peanut protein pushes the button in children with an allergy to that food.
What prompts a child’s body to decide peanuts, milk or egg is the enemy? Think of the intestinal lining as a net, with tiny holes, that allows food molecules to slip through only after they’ve been broken into very small pieces. Before six months of age, a baby’s digestive system is less developed and unable to break down food as easily as adults. That means if foods are introduced early, bigger, more recognizable chunks can float into the bloodstream. The immune system may then inadvertently label a food protein as an offender, prompting it to attack when it next encounters that substance.

So - Kason tested very high for IgE (I love how they call it the body's burglar alarm!)  And Kelly has a food allergy.  So the odds were already stacked against Kason. 

So now we have a peanut free house, and we don't cook with dairy or eggs.  This experience has opened my eyes to the possibility that maybe we should have made this change while I was pregnant.  Note - is it safe to cut out dairy when you are pregnant?  No - your body needs the calcium.  But, I will cut out peanuts next time (which isn't hard, considering I avoid them at all costs now).  And I likely will cut out dairy as I breastfeed next time too (a worthwhile sacrifice).

Last Note of the day - are you asking if I am pregnant?  No, Kelly and I are happily enjoying the single child life.  Will there be a 'next time' for pregnancy?  maybe - we haven't quite decided and frankly, I'm not going to dwell on it.  I love Kason, and I want to provide for him the best I can.  With a supportive daycare and working hard to afford the substitutes for Kason I feel like I am being the best mom I can be to him.  That is taking my entire focus right now

... Ok that and Kelly.... and also my fave show Million Dollar Listing NY.
:)

Did I mention he likes the lasagna?

He likes it! But the goal is obviously to be able to make things that we can all eat as a family. The Daiya cheese is kind of not my thing. But I will work towards creating meals for all of us!