Allergies

As most of our friends and family know, Paola has a number of food allergies - to wheat, eggs, peanuts, shellfish, and tilapia fish.  Her condition has led to a few scares, and it definitely has been difficult for her since she can't eat pizza, birthday cakes, some ice creams, cookies, most crackers etc.  I guess we are lucky though because now there is actually a good number of alternative products available for people with food allergies.  We shop a lot at Glutenfree.com, Ener-G Breads, Whole Foods, Wild Oats, and more recently Vitamin Cottage.  Even Kroger and Safeway stores now carry a lot of the gluten free foods.  This year we even found a cake mix from Pamela's Products that was egg and wheat free but didn't taste different than regular cakes.  Still it is hard for Paola because she must always take her own food to playdates and parties which makes her feel a little left out.  She is really a trooper though and proudly announces her allergy to whoever will listen.  It has helped that we subscribe to a newsletter for kids with allergies from the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxsis Network so she can see how many other kids have allergies as well.

When we had Kobe we were even more careful in introducing allergy-prone foods to him, but we felt pretty lucky that he didn't show any reactions to any food.  He used to taunt Paola a little telling her he loved wheat, but recently he seems to feel left out so he made up that he is allergic to cheese.  Of course he can eat cheese in quesadillas and pizza, but not straight cheese.  As it turns out, he didn't need to make up an allergy.  I found out yesterday that he is likely allergic to shrimp.   During a playdate, I happened to look at him and saw the tell-tale red bumps surrounding his mouth.   Though Paola had had those bumps commonly when younger as we were first learning about her allergies, I hadn't seen them in at least 2 years, and never on Kobe.  It was surprising since he had eaten the same snacks before, but sometimes allergies manifest themselves in 2nd or third episodes of eating a food.  My guess is that the culprit was some shrimp chips since that is the only thing he doesn't eat regularly.  Given this allergic reaction and the fact that he can barely breathe a night due to congestion, I'll call National Jewish Hospital this week to make him an appointment;  they are the best in the country in terms of allergies and respiratory  conditions, and Paola already goes there as well.

With Alessi, I had also held off on giving her any of the foods Paola was allergic to until after she turned a year.  She had wheat and egg free cake for her birthday which was easier anyway since Paola didn't have to feel left out.  My suspicion was that since Alessi had had some of the eczema problems that Paola had then she was more likely to have food allergies as well.  Last week we tried wheat in small amounts over a few days and thankfully it didn't seem to cause any problem.  Paola was a little disappointed since she had hoped to have someone else share her condition with (we didn't know about Kobe at the time).  I am going to wait to try peanuts or nuts, but I figured I would try eggs this weekend especially since Alessi is scheduled to have a flu shot which is cultured in eggs next month.  I fed her just a couple of small bites of our scrambled egg this morning which she wasn't crazy about but ate anyway.  Sure enough it didn't take but a few minutes before her mouth started showing the same red bumps that Kobe's did just a day before.  So the food allergies are now truly a family affair which does give Paola some consolation. 

At least so far they all have similar allergies so we just have to avoid foods that we are accustomed to already.   We are much more prepared and knowledgeable about food allergies, reading labels, etc. than we were when Paola was Alessi's age and had just had a trip to the emergency room due to eating a cookie.  But I realized that I had gotten complacent with having a child who pretty much already knows the do's and don'ts of eating foods carefully, and in one weekend I find out I have two more who have to be educated and are in a perilous position.  I am thankful for all the resources there are now for those of us dealing with food allergies, and this weekend is a good reminder for me to stay on top of the precautions that our family needs to take.

Comments

[Tia Maria]

Sorry to hear that Kobe and Alessi are allergy prone as well. But hopefully you have caught things early and maybe they will grow out of some things. At least Paola won't feel she's the only one with allergies (and who has to be called by her middle name)! Good luck with Kobe at the Dr., I hope they find a way to help him breathe when he sleeps too...poor baby was waking up all night when I was there I think b/c he couldn't breathe. Love to all!

[Chelsea]

Wow, I am amazed and impressed by everything you've had to learn about this subject to protect your kids! Who says mothering isn't a full-time job?

Caelyn's best friend at school is severely allergic to peanuts, et al., so she has to sit at the "peanut table" during lunch. Caelyn gets to sit with her once in a while, when she hasn't packed a PB&J.

You're a great mom, Alex.