My Son Julian was born April 1st … I call him my April fool’s day gift. A gift he was indeed. He turned my life inside out and showed a side of me that i never imagine existed. I think every woman that is ready to have kids understands this feeling.
When he was born he was covered all over his body with milia- they are little whit cysts , they typically occur in infants due to the oil gland in the infants still developing. After that rush dissappeared he developed exczema.
I was exclusively breastfeeding Julian…Then i started to notice rashes occurring when i ate certain foods. Well that is when it all started…
I kept track of what i was eating.. these were my cuplrits.. wheat, soy, milk , eggs, and fish. I told his Dr about it she didn’t believe that it could be possible.. i pressed her for a referral to an allergist , finally she gave in to just shut me up, and Lord behold.. he was allergic to all these things and peanuts and tree nuts.. we left there with an epipen.
He was diagnosed at 4 months old with the above allergies. His pediatrician said that i needed to stop breastfeeding him…I chose not to, and i gave up all the foods, and substituted for everything. I ate meats, fresh fruits and vegetables.. and learned there is a whole lot of people out there living without, and doing just fine.
I breastfed my son for 25 months and I think i could have never done it any other way . Personally, It was the best decision i ever made.
At 2 years, he outgrew wheat and soy allergies and now at 3 years we still cannot have him touch milk, eggs, nuts or fish.
It was hard at first then you
1. Educate yourself about the allergies,
2. Learn different recipes that out there without the allergens.
3. Always be prepared for those reactions
4. Turn one of your kitchen cabinets into your medicine counter.. stock up with Benadryl, Epipens etc.. for easy access.
….Have any questions how we made, or are you going through this and would like to share… please let us know..
Sophia,
I think you are a great mother and could educate others on your personal experiences, all your blogs are very well said and make me want to read more, so good luck with this and hopefully your family back home will have access so they can hear your stories on their growth as children and yours as a mother. I’m glad I have to opportunity to work with you I think you are a very special person….
Thank you Ladonna! It is not easy, but it is definitely manageable. I look at it as there some parents out there they are dealing with much worse. I promise to post more, hopefully i can help out others, or just bring more awareness. As always it is great working with you!
Thank you Todd, I surely try! I am sorry to hear your son has an egg allergy as well. I bet you guys have stayed clear of it. Does he get the yearly flu shot? Julian got it for the first time last year, they just had to monitor him for 30min at the Dr’s office before letting us go home that day.. since the flu shot contains egg.
If you like baking, i have found out apple sauce and mashed bananas are great substitutes for the egg in ingredient. You won’t even notice the difference.
I remember our allergist always explained that it was the egg white that is the most allergenic part of the egg.
Not sure that this is true:), but thanks for a post.
Zoran
Zoran-
What is not true?
Hi how are you doing?
How was your Halloween?
We had so much fun and David didn’t really care about the candy! He didn’t even ask for it!
Sorry to bother you again. I was going to ask you if can you tell me the name of the brands of the ham, turkey and bacon (lunch meats) that you get at sams because I haven’t try that yet and maybe I can find them somewhere else.
Also, do you have more lunch ideas?? We are being having, chicken nuggets, tater tots, French fries, soy butter sandwich, fruits, but I would like to try something new!
Thank you again!!
Leyla
Hi Leyla,
Our Halloween was a quite one at home, glad to hear you and David had fun!
The lunch meats we get are i think by Oscar Meyer, though i would have to double check for you. I am not home right now.
We cook at home a lot.
Rice with mixed vegetables, Rice with beans, Rice with beef or pork stew. Pasta with meat balls or pasta with ground meat ( i use the market pantry traditional sauce- This is milk free , also some of the Bertolli pasta sauces are milk free as well) , Taco soup ( I make this with ground turkey or beef, Mild Rotel, sweet corn, black or red beans, tomato sauce), mashed potatoes, boneless barbeque ribs, baked or pan fried baby potatoes with baby carrots, or with a side of green beans, or corn on the cob. chicken wings ( I deep fry my own wings at home and mix with sweet & sour sauce, or barbecue, or hot sauce).
There is a bunch of things i cook at home as it is much easier than having to worry with what is in most pre-cooked frozen entrees.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Thank you so much
I made the taco soup today and he loved it!
I just wanted to know the brand of the lunch meats because Saturdays we are always out home and it is easier to make a sandwich or something that I can pack… so you said Oscar Mayer right? What I am looking for when I read the labels of the launch meats??? Is it milk or egg??
I have to confess you that before we knew that David had food allergies I didn’t know how to cook anything! I was so bad in the kitchen! But since we know I being cooking every single day (but Saturdays) and thank you so much because your ideas are so helpful for me
I hope you understand everything that I say because I don’t know if you remember but I’m still learning!
Leyla!
I forgot another question
Sometimes it is so hard for me to understand every single word on the labels, but almos always at the end of each of them says allergy warning, contains milk, or egg, or it may contain milk or egg, etc,
My question is, if it doesn’t mention milk or egg on the warnings, is it safe? This is because sometimes I don’t understand the rest but I do understand the allergy warnings, so I want to double check that even if I don’t know some of the ingredients, if the warning says that is safe for me (no milk or eggs) we can be able to eat it.
Leyla
Still read the ingredients, some labels will not show them as it is in the ingredients. Like it would say Dairy or whey, lactose all this mean milk.
Maybe milk.. It is Oscar Mayer. They have the luinch meats like Turkey , ham, roast beef, bologna etc
HELP!!1
We just got back from a friend house..
David ate a peace of home made play dough, I saw him and washed his mouth and everything but I am not sure if he actually ate some
Do you think he is going to be okay? Should I panic?
She said she made it with flour
I never use flour with him!!!!
I am so scared
Help!
Hey Leyla,
Sorry to hear that… If the dough had milk, butter, or eggs, then that would cause some kind of a reaction but flour alone is ok. Also, for any immediate reaction, David would have probably broken out in a rash, or react in a way that you would have seen a change in him. If so far you do not see any change in him, chances are he is ok.
Do you have Benadryl at home? If you do, keep it close just in case he reacts, you can just give him the Benadryl, just follow the dosage instructions on the bottle, or what your allergist recommends and give him some.
Don’t panic, you may have caught him on time, and there may be no reactions.
It was so scary
I feel like I don’t want to take him anywhere. Finally when I was feeling like you know he is a normal child and he eats pretty much everything, an accident happens!
My friend said she vacuumed so I was okay but when I saw that I just started crying, I knew we were going to end at the ER because that always happened before when he had a reaction he gets so sick that we need to cal 911(when we didn’t know he was allergic)
We came home and I watched him like his shadow and thank god nothing happened to him I think I saw him on time. I do have Benadryl but I was just waiting.
Now I am so scared I want him to be a normal kid :S I don’t want him to feel like his mom is going to be like his shadow all the time
How do you do it? Play dates? Birthdays? Play areas?
Leyla
I feel your pain, but it does get better. The good thing is now you know what his allergies are. I make sure all our friends know what he can and can’t have. He is still youn g right now and can’t understand why mama doesn’t want him to eat this or that, but he will eventually grow up. I know it is easy for us to feel guilty you are constantly saying no you can’t eat this or that, but it is our job, we are just trying to protect our kids the best way we can.
So when i have kids over i cook what Julian can have and if other mommies bring a dish over they also try to bring something that is allergy free. For his birthday, i make his cake, and now that he can have wheat, i plan on baking everyone’s cake too, in the past i used to buy the store brand cake for everyone and bake the allergy free one for him.
If you have a playdate, call ahead and find out what the other moms will be serving if there is food involved, bring your substitutes.
Accidents will happen sometimes, but very rarely, when they do, just reach out in your diaper bag for your Benadryl, or whatever antihistamine applicable. Hang in there. David will be fine as he has a caring mom like you around!
I I just wanted to thank you for all your help… we had our appointment and David, my son is not allergic to eggs anymore! We are really excited for it! He still allergic to milk but the numbers are getting lower!
=)
Do you have some ideas that what he can have that have eggs on it? I am so use to avoid them that I can’t thing about anything and I want to introduce him to all of those new things that he can have!
Thank you again!
Leyla Moss
Hi Leyla,
That is great news!!! I am very happy for you!
There is a whole lot of things that he can have with eggs… definitely i would start with just eggs first. Make scrambled eggs for him, see how he does. You can also just make hard boiled eggs, or make an omelet adding some of the veggies that he already likes.
You can definitely add eggs to baked treats, like cupcakes, muffins, cookies etc..
And for pasta, he can definitely have any of the pasta or noodles.
Have fun you two, i can relate when you have avoided a food so long, now you can have it, you almost forget what you can do with it
Enjoy
Sophia.
Thank you!
Actually we had a challenge at the doctor’s office and he did great! And you are right I was try to think what can I give him now? I made banana bread with eggs and he loved it is so exiting but I am so use to avoid eggs that I couldn’t think of anything else..
I have a question for you… where do you buy you margarine supplement? Because I want to make him some cookies but all the recopies that I know call for margarine and I don’t know where and what kind to buy,, Do you have any recipe for cookies without margarine?
Leyla
Earth Balance would be a good substitute you can get that from any whole foods store, Trader Joe’s if there is one in your area, or in the health market section of your local grocery store. Also Shedd’s Willow Run Soybean Margarine however i have never tried it.