Today

Today my son woke up with a little cough so I decided he probably should not go to the indoor park. My husband then came home sick with a tummy thing. So, I had my son stay home with him while I took my daughter to the indoor park.

When we got to the indoor park everything seemed fine. Then lunch time came around and more people started to show up. They brought fast food and and even peanut butter, jelly sandwiches for their children. I saw crumbs of cookies on the floor by the tables. That was when I decided I could not take my son there. I am also thinking about writing the organizers to see if there is something we can do about that. (You get your first visits free and then you pay a monthly fee, so it is kind of a mom-run organization.)

After the park we took our kids out to eat. My daughter hardly ever eats out because if we do venture to a restaurant, I bring them food since my son cannot eat anything. It makes taking her out to eat a fun occasion. I ordered my favorite salad, then noticed it came with almonds on it. It just reminds me that I REALLY need to wash my daughter and my hands when I get home.

After dinner I was going to make gluten free brownies. My husband stumbled upon those while grocery shopping and they were the first brownie mix we have found without any of my son's allergens. I was going to make these because my son needs a little bit of eggs baked into something everyday. I have a previous post explaining why. (Oral Immunotherapy) The eggs in my fridge were expired so I ran to the store to get some more. By the time I got back there was not very much time before their bed time. I decided to make muffins instead. While rushing, I accidentally got some egg shells in the batter. I have no idea if that could cause a reaction from my son because he is still allergic to eggs. Baking the egg in at a high temperature destroys the proteins enough that his body does not recognize it as a threat. (Do not try this at home, read my previous blog post for my personal experience with another allergen.) So, egg shells may change that and cause a reaction if he runs into one. Of course, I had to start all over! They turned out nicely. I am planning on doing another blog post with the very easy, mostly allergen free recipe. So, Stay tuned!

Britny's Kitchen

EGG-LESS CREPES

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Milk (You can substitute with whatever kind of milk you use. I use soy.)

2/3 cup Water

1/4 cup Butter, melted (I use vegan butter, Smart Balance Light)

2 tablespoons Vanilla Extract

1 cup All Purpose flour

1 tablespoon White Sugar

1/4 teaspoon Salt (I just shake the salt shaker a few times)

1 tablespoon Vegetable Oil (If you have a nut allergy, you can use olive, canola or other. Sometimes vegetable oils are derived from legumes, a peanut is a legume.)

Powdered sugar to top

In a medium bowl mix milk, water, melted butter and vanilla.

In a small bowl mix flour, sugar and salt.

Whisk flour mixture into milk mixture until it is smooth.

Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours. (If you don't have that kind of time, just put it in the freezer for a little bit so that it thickens up. I would use this time to get together what you will be filling your crepes with.)

Cook on skillet at medium to medium-high heat. (If it is not non-stick use the oil to wet the skillet.)

Fill with sliced strawberries, peaches, berries or what you prefer. (My son is silly and likes grape jelly in his lol.) Add some powdered sugar over top and enjoy! 

Britny's Kitchen

I have decided to add a new segment to my blog. As you can tell it will be called Britny's Kitchen. I am not sure yet how to get the tabs at the top of my page so for now I will just name my posts Britny's Kitchen and you will have to be surprised in what recipe I post. I have some yummy recipes. Even if you do not have allergies, you will think they are yummy. So, I will post a new blog tonight with my first recipe.

STAY TUNED!

Today!

Today was a good day for the most part. As far as food allergies my son was fine. He did get red eyes today but that was probably for another allergy. I'm excited because we found a new food for him! It is hard for us to find any new sweet foods because a lot of those will have one or more of his allergens in them. But, while away this weekend, he was introduced to sorbet. I had read sorbets before and seen that they usually have a milk protein in them. But, appearantly Haagen Dazs does not! So, not only is he able to have an ice cream outside of the So Delicous brand but it is a GOOD brand! Tonight he had some and LOVED it. He says to me "I'm so happy mommy!" You could be having the most cruddy day but when you hear your child say that, it turns it all around! :)

Tomorrow we are planning on visiting the indoor park for the first time. I am quite nervous about that but I'm hoping it will turn out fine! We will see, and I will let you know. Maybe it will be warmer than today and we can go to an outdoor park. That would be best.

Thanks for reading! I'll post more info soon!

Today

Today wasn't much of a hard day with allergies. The only significant thing was when we ran errands. We went to the mall to pick up a game that my husband wanted. While there we went to the Target food court to buy my son some water because he seemed like he wasn't feeling too well. (He was fine, just tired) When we were walking up to the register we had to stop and change our path to the register because there was buttered popcorn spilled all over the floor. While getting it on the bottom of his shoe would not be an immediate threat, it would not be safe once we got into the car or home. If he would have stepped in it he could have trailed it into the car or into the house where it could later be touched and cause a reaction. Or he could have touched it while taking off his shoes and gotten a reaction then. The little things like that make it a bit difficult to go places where food may be but, being observant and avoiding the situation can keep the allergic person out of trouble.

Meals Away From Home

It can be pretty scary going to a friend or family member's house for a meal. There are some things that will make it go smoothly and be less stressful.

1. Plan ahead!
2. Make sure to speak with the host explaining to them how to lessen the chances of an allergic reaction. That would be to make sure that the allergic person can eat the food or that there will be no cross contamination.
3. Bring back-up food. Even if you believe that there will be food for you/your child to eat, sometimes others will misread an ingredient list and end up contaminating any safe foods. (I would ask them to leave any labels out for you to read yourself as well)
4. Be sure that everyone washes their hands after eating and that food will not come in contact with the allergic person.

While out of town this weekend, we packed our son some food to have for dinner that night. We had planned on feeding him a safe breakfast that she specifically bought for him, then we planned on heading out before lunch. We ended up staying through dinner without food planned for the kids. They had chicken nuggets, that were safe, left over from the last time they were there. She had bought tater-tots to go with it. So, for dinner she pulled out the chicken nuggets and tots and put them on the plate to be cooked. I saw that the tots were Ore-Ida and knew they were safe but read it anyway. After reading it I realized that the bag was unopened yet there were tots on the plates. So, I asked her about it and she said that she had another bag she used. I asked if it was the same brand and she said "No, but they are the same." I asked if I could see the package so she pulled it out of the garbage. As soon as I saw the brand I knew they would not be safe. They were the Walmart brand which almost every time may contain all or most of his allergens. I read the package and it said in bold writing that it may contain milk and egg. She starts to take the tater-tots off the plate when I inform her that now the nuggets are contaminated. So, she starts to pour them off the plate and then realizes that I would want new plates since they have now been contaminated as well. It takes time and experience for people to really understand the severity of a food allergy and the cleanliness needed when it comes to foods and kitchen utensils/dishes.
  After some time with us, she really started to see the seriousness of the allergy. I was making pancake batter for my kids when her husband walked up with a gallon of milk to pour into his coffee. His coffee was very close to my batter so I picked it up and moved it for the few moments. When she saw this, I think she really saw the severity because she said "You must see so many things as poison. I see a gallon of milk and think Yummy!. You see a gallon of milk and think its poison to your kids." That was what we allergy parents try to explain to people. These foods are poisons to our children.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow after I get off from work we will be heading out of town. We are visiting family 1 1/2 hrs away. This is fun for us because we don't typically stay the night places. This is the one place we do. It is always stressful because we plan out the meals ahead of time. They decided to make enchiladas. I was told that it should all be allergy safe. After me explaining what to look for and where to look she had found cheese cultures in almost every piece of the dinner, not realizing that was NOT a safe food. We are bringing safe chips and vegan cheese to make them nachos. By the way, a lot of vegan cheese is still not okay. It will either have milk proteins in them or be made from or around nuts. There is one brand that my son can eat, that I have found, and our store in town stopped carrying it. So, now I drive out of town to buy vegan cheese every other week.

This specific family member goes out of her way to try to accommodate our son and I am very grateful for that. She even buys soy milk and ice cream when we are coming over. It turns out that the soy milk and soy ice cream still were unsafe for him because they are processed with nuts.

In preparation for tomorrow, I am packing tonight. There are SO many things to remember. My son is not only food allergic but animal allergic and an asthmatic, they have cats. They keep their house so clean that he rarely gets a reaction if I plan ahead and have him taking Zyrtec. I am very happy with that medicine. I need to remember to pack all of the clothes, inhalers, spacers, nebulizer, nebulizer meds, nebulizer attachments, zyrtec, benedryl, more than one epipen, extra foods and all of the other things for the family. I don't mind, I just need to make myself lists anytime we travel for more than a few hours.

I hope to blog tomorrow but I am not positive it will happen. I need to download the blogger app to do so and I am not very smartphone savvy. I'll just leave it up to my husband. :) I am sure I will have plenty of new topics and stories to match after this weekend though.

STAY TUNED!

Today

I have started this new trend. My goal is to get some exercising in at least 3 times a week. We as a family will be going on walks. Today we decided to go on a nature walk. After visiting 2 parks that were closed off, probably due to the recent flooding and unsanitary conditions, we settled on walking by the river. That actually turned out nicely. My kids loved it!

They really enjoyed walking the path and looking at the scenery.

I decided that I was faster at running than my husband because when running with our dog, he never caught up. My husband always tells me that our dog is faster than him. So, OF COURSE I challenged him to a race!

Not a great idea!

But, my kids got to bring home two shiny golf balls they found because we were right next to a golf course.

That was today's picture story!

White Sox to host a "Peanut Controlled Zone"

This is an article about how the White Sox will host a "peanut controlled zone" at the home games! This one is specifically the the game against the Orioles, my personal favorite.

http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120223&content_id=26821450&vkey=pr_cws&c_id=cws

It is exciting that more and more places are starting to take allergies more seriously. While this is now a peanut safe zone, it is still not a safe zone for the other allergens. This definitely lowers the risk of a life threatening reaction but does not eliminate it for those with other food allergies. Maybe somewhere down the road places will start making a "Big 8 Safe Zone" :)

Your Opinion Matters!

What I would like to know is what YOU would like to hear. I know I do not have a lot of followers yet, so YOU will help me shape what this blog will be!

Do you like reading my stories? Do you like reading informational posts? Do you like pictures? Do you like the daily posting talking about my days run ins with allergies?

I am thinking about posting some of my recipe's too. Would you be interested in that?

You don't have to answer all of those questions. I just generally want to know what you as a reader enjoy reading/ seeing. Please let me know! It is VERY appreciated to hear ANY feedback!

Thank you

At the Park

Today we decided to go for a walk since we have a break from the cold and rain for a little bit of sun shine.  After leaving the house my son says he wants to go to the park. I tell him that I just want to go on a walk but we will see. As we get closer to the park we decide that we will just let them stop and play for a little bit. We walk through a big field of grass to get to the park and as we walk up and see all the other children, I reach into my pocket finding the only two things I thought we would need. My phone and an inhaler. If I had known we would go to the park I would have grabbed his Epipen. 

My son playing at the park.

I am a little nervous and debating on walking all the way back but I decided that I would just leave if I felt he was threatened. 

My kids usually play on the younger children play set while the older kids (5-7 year old's) play on the bigger one. My son of course likes to venture over to the "big kid's" play set and on the occasion we will let him. But, today when he went over there I noticed a group of teenage girls eating ice cream at the top. I told him he could not go up there because there are big kids up there. He was sad but went on. 

Over on the other side of the park he joins his sister again. I decide I would like to sit down for a bit. This is what I see:

On the left is a soda bottle with a chocolate bar wrapper under it.
This is what was on the right:

Peanut butter cup wrappers. Can you imagine? A parent looks away for one second and their child wants to sit down to take a break or just gets curious. In those few seconds that right there could kill them. I know that may sound far fetched but in reality it is not. That would be at LEAST two of my son's allergens. And to think that this day I forgot the Epipen. But, I did notice and kept my kids far away, although it scared me that they were now playing on the same equipment that whoever ate those may have been playing on as well, spreading the allergen all over the place. A lot of allergy parents will just forfeit going to the park all together. But, my son has not had any bad reactions from going yet and I want to try to let him have as much of a normal childhood as I can give him.

Whew, venting sure does feel nice! And feedback in comments would be AMAZING! I just want to know that I am not speaking into space now and again. <3

Expect the Unexpected

It is amazing how many foods have milk, eggs, peanuts or tree nuts in them. When we first found out about my son's allergy we thought it wouldn't be so hard. We thought we just couldn't feed him a bowl of cereal with milk in it and he couldn't have scrambled eggs in the morning. I then saw that most all baby food had something in them that he was allergic to. Finally, when he started to eat table foods we thought he would be able to eat so much more. But, then we realized that it was in almost everything; baked goods, canned goods, crackers, chips and even meats. The hardest part is going to someones house when they are making food. At that point it is pretty much completely out of your hands. At first people may not understand the severity or how many things have these allergens in them. You can go buy a bag of pretzels not realizing that it may contain nuts.

Another unexpected place you can find a food allergen is in vaccinations. Some vaccines are grown in eggs. That means that people that are allergic to eggs may have a reaction to these vaccines. My son was unable to get the MMR vaccine until recently when he got it under special conditions. For him to get the flu vaccine, they had to give him 6 different small shots over a couple of hours to avoid a reaction. The H1N1 shot was the worst for him.

Some lotions and soaps contain nuts to enhance the product. Play-doh has wheat in it, so those with a wheat allergy cannot touch play-doh.

There are many unexpected places that you can find food allergens. Caution is always best any time you are around someone with severe allergies.

Today

My son had his early intervention class today. As always, if I forget to give him his Zyrtec before he heads to the bus stop he reminds me. I love it. He is finally learning that he has allergies and that he needs medicine. He can tell me when he needs allergy medicines or inhaler. We give him his Zyrtec so that in the case that he comes in to some sort of contact with any of his allergens we can prevent it from escalating. He is very allergic to animals as well as food. If he were to get up close to someone that recently held their cat without any Zyrtec in his system he would react pretty bad. Which then the teachers could assume it was a food allergy and not an animal. So, it is just a good idea to keep it in his system when he goes places.

When his bus pulls up the driver will stop it, get out of her seat and wipe up the seat and railing so that when he gets on he wont come in contact with anything that the other kids may have brought onto the bus. I had never even thought about that. The school came up with that action plan and I am so grateful for that. They are wonderful. There was even an article in the newspaper right around Christmas about it. They followed him to school taking pictures and interviewing people that come in contact with him during the day, including myself.
In fact, I just checked and it is still on the website. If you would like to read it, click HERE. It is very informational and tells you more about us.

Oral Immunotherapy and the dangers (Example)

I told you yesterday in my daily post that I would explain to you what oral immunotherapy is.

Let me start by letting you know that there are many different types of immunotherapies. The most common is injection. That is where they take a miniscule amount of something you are allergic to (when injected this is usually an environmental allergy like grass or pollen) and inject it into your body through a needle. They slowly will give you increased amounts over the course of a few years, starting at going into the Dr's office weekly.

My son, however, is practicing oral immunotherapy with eggs. What we do is bake egg into something such as a muffin, cake or cookie. This way it extensively heats the eggs, destroying the proteins enough that the body does not recognize it as a threat and does not attack it.  At first my son would get welts on his lips from eating the muffins with eggs baked in but with a swishing of Zyrtec in the mouth those welts would fade away.

We tested my son 2 weeks prior to his muffin test and he had a welt about the size of a quarter, maybe bigger. So, we know that he is still allergic to eggs. We are just hoping that feeding him eggs everyday in the state that his body accepts it, he will grow out of this allergy or at least tolerate it better.

We tried the muffin test with his allergist before ever doing this at home. Over the course of 2 hours they fed him 1 muffin watching for any reactions. This test is very dangerous and SHOULD NOT be tried at home! After we found out we could do this with eggs, we waited a few weeks and tried with milk. He did better than he did with the egg for the first hour. Then after feeding him the last little bit he went into anaphylactic shock. I noticed about a minute after he finished his muffin that he started to turn pink around his eyes. Then he started to itch right by his ears and complain while itching his hands. His whole body turned bright red and hives formed on his cheeks. I called in the nurse when i started to notice him itch and by the time she had the epinephrine shot in hand he was beat red and covered in hives. They gave him a shot to the arm and he started to calm down. The Allergist came in and told us that because we caught it so fast that he wont need another shot, he will just need to be watched a couple more hours. So, he leaves the room and within a matter of minutes I notice my son start scratching again. His face is becoming more red, his hands and arms are bright red. The way I explained it before was that if you had a terrible sunburn and ran a mile in 100 degree weather, you still would not be as red as he was. He was a little tomato. At this point I am freaking out. He is getting worse and obviously the epinephrine is not helping. They have to hold him down as hes begging them not to stick him and they give him another, this time in a better spot to be delivered better and faster. They pumped him full of epinephrine, Zyrtec, other allergy meds and steroids. We were there 5 hours before they let us go home. And he still had to be watched carefully and taken to the ER if the symptoms came back. It is a scary thing to see your child suffering like that, not knowing if the doctors can help or if one little muffin is going to kill your baby. Since it was so recent (This year!) I am still not completely over it. I am more scared than ever to have him around milk and blame myself a little for letting them test him when I had that bad feeling the whole time about it.

So, the point of sharing that experience with you is to back up my reasoning for telling you to never try that at home! Without all of the things they had available there, my son may not have made it the 10 minutes it takes to drive to the hospital.

Other than the possibility of being denied the treatment of immunotherapy it can be a great thing to help you get over or tolerate an allergy.

Avon with Britny: Ingredient lists

Avon with Britny: Ingredient lists: I now have a tool on my Avon page that tells me of the ingredients in Avon's products. I have some customers with allergies to specific thin...

The Big 8 Allergens

There are 8 foods that account for more than 90% of all food allergies. These allergens are the ones that companies will sometimes write in bold writing at the bottom of an ingredient list. These allergens include:

1. Milk- This is the most common allergy among children. Typically children will have developed the allergy by 6 months of age. Milk allergies are twice as common as an egg allergy and three times as common as a peanut allergy!
2. Egg- A lot of children will develop an egg allergy. Many of them will outgrow it by adulthood, some even by elementary school.
3. Peanut- Peanut allergies are known to give you the worst reaction. This is because while 20% diagnosed with the allergy will eventually outgrow it, the remaining 80% will likely have worsening reactions over time.
4. Tree Nuts- Don't think that because you are diagnosed with a peanut allergy you are automatically allergic to tree nuts. Your chances once diagnosed with peanuts are much higher but not a done deal.
5. Fish- The most common fish allergies are that of the cod, halibut, mackerel, trout and salmon. Be sure to be tested for multiple fish or to avoid fish altogether if found to be allergic.
6. Shellfish- If you are allergic to shellfish you are allergic to what is known as a mollusk or a crustacean.
7. Soy- Soy is a very hard allergen to steer clear of. It is found in most foods and can result in an unbalanced diet if avoided completely. The best way to learn to cope with a soy allergy is to consult your allergist.
8. Wheat- Wheat is another allergen hard to avoid. Commonly people associate wheat with celiac's disease but that is not an allergy. An allergy is when your body incorrectly identifies a food's protein as a threat and attacks it by releasing chemicals into the blood stream causing an allergic reaction.

If you are found to have any of these allergies, you should carry an epipen on you at all times.

Today

Today I made some gluten free chocolate chip cookies because the package contains none of my sons allergens and I didn't feel like making any from scratch. My son is allergic to eggs but after passing a muffin test a few weeks back we have started him on oral immunotherapy. I can get into what that is in a post tonight or tomorrow. (I planned on doing that next but I thought I would fill you in on today first) So, the way it works is that he is still allergic to eggs but if we bake egg into the cookie, muffin or cake we can feed it to him. (As I said I will get into why that is later) We can only feed him so much in a day but I still make the full package and save it to give him over the next week. Today was particularly hard because I added the egg to this mix and put the cookies onto the cookie sheet. When they are finished I pull them out and let them cool. I had to do this several times because I decided to use a small cookie sheet. The tricky part was that when the cookies are in the dough form and placed onto the sheet he is allergic to them. When they are pulled out of the oven they are no longer in that severe allergy category. Not cross contaminating the uncooked cookies with the cooked cookies was a bit of a challenge. I ended up just not touching them at all, using gloves and utensils to assure no contact with my hands or the bowl of dough close by.  Feeding him those was also a struggle because any time you feed your allergic child something for the first time it is nerve wracking. Even if you have read the ingredients and jumped through all of the hoops to be sure it is safe, it can still be quite nerve wracking. Add on top of that that he is still allergic to eggs and I am just sort of tricking his immune system into not reacting.

After we ran our errands in town we decided to finally take our kids to Red Robin. This is the only place I let my son eat anything in our town. I bring my two children food and order them the gluten free fries because they are also the big 8 allergen free. I do the usual asking them to wipe down the table a second time explaining to them that my son has allergies. When our food comes the girl, who is not our waitress, brings our food and my sons fries. Usually they will bring them out on a separate tray so there is no cross-contamination. This time she brings everything on one tray. I notice that and get antsy and nervous but not enough to say anything. Then I notice that the paper that is under the fries has touched our food and now has mayonaise and whatever else on the paper. Now, I am not one to get angry or complain unless I have to but I waved down our waitress. I said: "The reason I asked for these fries is because my son has food allergies. She brought these fries on the same tray and it touched other food." I showed her how you could even see it on there. "If my son eats these he will end up in with a shot in the leg and in the ER" she apologizes and takes them back into the kitchen. I look over to the kitchen to see them all huddled around and the girl that brought the fries staring me down. (That upset me too but I left it alone.) The manager came out and told me that they are supposed to bring it out separately and she is sorry, it should not have happened. I told her that we always eat there and they always bring it out separately so I am not upset I just needed to send them back because I did not want my son to eat them.

Thank goodness I noticed because who knows what would have happened. That most likely would have ended badly. But, he is fine and had a blast eating out, that is what matters!

Why we should read every label every time.

I am one of those Allergy moms that will read a label at least 4 times before feeding it to my child. I know I am not the only one and that I am most certainly not the worst. I spoke with a woman that would read it about 15 times before-during and AFTER eating it. But, when someones life depends on it, you can't help but to be absolutely sure.

When purchasing an item that the allergic person will be eating you must ALWAYS read the ingredients. Some people will consider that they have bought it 10 times already and read it every time when deciding not to read it. That is a dangerous move. Companies are constantly growing and changing. They always want the best products and more consumers. Because of that, they are changing the ingredients in the food the make. It can be the smallest change, one small ingredient but that is going to change whether someone allergic to that ingredient can eat it. Other companies, especially around the holidays, will manufacture quite a few different products in the same building and even shared equipment. The possibility of cross contamination is far too high at that point to take the risk. We have come across many candies and foods that my son used to eat as a safe food but no longer can eat them due to the change in manufacturing. It is always a sad thing to see that he has lost yet another safe food but we do what we have to do.

An example of a time when we fed him a "safe food" without reading the ingredients:

On new years eve 2010 we had gone to a family members house to have dinner and games. They had bought my son's favorite food at the time, little smokies. Normally they buy them at costco and my son had eaten them in the past. So, when we arrived, the smokies were already heated and ready for him to eat. Normally, I would double check them as I do myself every time as well. It is also easier for other people to miss specific ingredients especially if they are unaware of the so called code words for certain allergens. But, I did not read them because the wrapper had already been thrown away and I didn't want to hurt feelings by asking to double check. (Never be afraid to hurt feelings. It is much better to be safe than sorry.) My son sat down with his favorite meal cooked in front of him. After eating half of a little smokie he screams. We are all a little stunned not sure why he is doing that until i realize that he is rubbing his lips on the table and fussing. When we can finally get him to stop rubbing his lips we notice that they are bubbled up to double the size of normal. So, we give him benedryl because sometimes we can stop it with benedryl and not need to use the epipen. I have been advised that in a case such as this we can give him a specific amount more than normal to help get rid of it quicker. We ended up in the ER that night anyway although they couldn't do much for him but tell us we did the right thing and to continue with the benedryl for 24 hours. When someone ingests something they are allergic to they will continue to show symptoms the entire time that the allergen is in their system. This can be 24-48 hours. It had turned out that there was dehydrated milk powder in the little smokies and after 1 bite he had reacted.

So, my point is to ALWAYS read the label before it enters your mouth or your allergic child's mouth.

I check when I am in the store, before putting it in the cart. I check before I cook the item. I check before he eats the item and a lot of the time I recheck after his first bite. That may seem like a lot but you can miss things and you need to check and recheck. The lady I told you about in the beginning would check before she put it in her cart, while standing in line to pay, before putting into her cupboard, before cooking, during cooking, before eating and while she was eating she would keep it next to her to read. She would even keep it out for a couple hours so she could recheck if she had doubts. She stated that she would check multiple times while cooking and eating until it equaled about 15 times.

Recognizing the Signs

When you first learn that your child is allergic to something it can be very overwhelming. It is scary to see your child suffer through something like that. Just remember to stay calm. Without a clear head you cannot think clearly to make the best decisions for your child.

First, when feeding your children new foods, remember to feed one new food at a time. Also, starting them out young can increase the likelihood that they will develop an allergy.

If after feeding your child a new food, or even something they have had before, they develop any of these signs immediately seek medical attention.

• Hives (Red bumps on the skin that itch and can be hot to the touch)
• Coughing
• Vomiting
• Difficulty breathing
• Tightness of the chest
• Severe stomach pains
• Dizziness 
• Feinting
• Swelling around the eyes, nose, mouth or other areas of the body

Mild signs can include

• Stomach pain
• Diarrhea
• Mild itching of the mouth
• Nausea

No matter the signs, you should seek medical help. If the allergy is not severe it can still become severe over time.

It is important not to place your child into a warm bath once symptoms have started as this can worsen them and speed up the process.

If you have any questions you can ask me here. I am always happy to help in any way that I can.

Why I started this blog (A little bit about my family)

My name is Britny. I have had allergies all of my life. I thought I had one of the worst cases due to the amount of things that would set me off. Little did I know, I was very wrong. My son was born in 2007, 6 months later we learned of the TRUE meaning of an allergy.

When I was in school there was 1 person I knew with a peanut allergy. Our class was told to wash our hands when walking into the classroom because we were the class after lunch hour. There would be days when some kids I knew would sneak through the line and sit down because they hadn't had a peanut butter sandwich that day so there was no way anyone would ever know. Thank goodness we never found out first hand how allergic our classmate was. But, it is ignorance like that that makes this world so scary for some.

We have all heard of allergies. Some of us get the sniffles in the summer or an itchy mouth/tummy ache from eating a raw apple. But, food allergies that are not merely an intolerance are much worse. On that day in 2008 when I had fed my son a baby food jar labeled Macaroni and Cheese, our lives changed forever. While feeding him his first baby food meal, he loved it. We were happy and excited to finally let him have something outside of carrots and green beans. As I wiped the mess of cheese off of his face I noticed little red dots. I thought nothing of it of course because 'What baby doesn't have imperfections?'. I began to feed him some spinach when he started to cough. Thinking he was choking i rubbed his back trying to help him calm down. He then started to gag so I ran him into the bathroom so he could vomit in the sink but there was no vomit. I started to really notice that something was not right. His face was turning colors as I ran around the house trying to soothe him. At that point we figured that it was an allergy and decided to drive to the hospital ( We were about 5-10 minutes away) I'm sitting in the back seat talking to my son with tears running down my face trying to keep him awake when he stops crying.(Silence) "HE'S NOT BREATHING!!" I screamed. My husband starts running all of the red lights as we regret not calling an ambulance.We finally make it to the ER, bursting through the doors in a loud panic and being surrounded by nurses. That was the day we found out that our son has food allergies.

After that day, we went to see an allergist. He tested him and discovered that he was allergic to the milk and eggs in the mac 'n' cheese. A couple of years later we tested him and discovered that he was also allergic to peanuts and tree nuts. So, living with allergies is an everyday struggle in our family. That is why I wanted to start this blog. It is nice to find people you can relate with and can support you. Support is a HUGE part of living with allergies as an allergic child, adult or parent.