Teaching my son about his food allergies.

Teaching kids about their food allergies can be tough for many reasons. Trying to teach your child of the severity of a food allergy without making them afraid of the world can prove to be a challenge. There is no parenting handbook for anyone. Every child is different and may learn things in different ways. The way we taught our son, and are still teaching him, of his allergies was quite simple. Because I became lactose intolerant while pregnant with him, I no longer use milk in my every day foods. So, in our family the only one to eat "cow's cheese" and drink "cow's milk as my son calls them, is my husband. That is how my children have been raised. All that they have known is soy milk, soy cheese, soy ice cream etc. So, in our house the odd man out is actually my husband. My son learned that cow's milk, peanuts, tree nuts and eggs are yucky but daddy eats them. Then it moved onto that these things make him sick. Now that he understands allergies, he knows that these items will cause allergies. First, he had to experience allergies, even that of animals so that he knows how miserable it makes him. We didn't purposely go looking for an opportunity to give him an allergy. I knew that at some point he would experience some form of allergies and that was when I would tell him what was going on.  Now, he is very aware of what will happen if he eats something he is allergic to.

The other day we went to the store to pick up some cheese for my husbands grilled cheese. We already had soy cheese at home. At check out my son starts talking to the cashier. He tells her that cow cheese is daddy's favorite. She thought it was cute and funny that he called it cow cheese. She asks him if he likes cheese and he says I like SOY cheese. She says "Okay I get it now" He says "Yea, I have food allergies" He now announces that to everyone. Any time anyone asks him a question or even talks to me he announces his name and that he has food allergies. The other day we were walking in the grocery store and a nice gentleman tells me about how great the ground beef deal was. My son interjects with his name and that he has food allergies. I can't help but think it is a little funny and I am just happy that he tells people up front about his food allergies. I feel that it really is a great thing to do.

If anyone has had experience with this and has taught a child of their food allergies I would love to hear from you!

Spring Allergies

On top of having food allergies, most people that have food allergies will also have seasonal and environmental allergies. My son and I both suffer with seasonal allergies. It had been years since I had more than the sniffles, sneezing and itchy eyes. But, after I got home yesterday I had itchy eyes and rubbed them. I went to look in the mirror to see why they werent getting any better and had noticed that they were rapidly swelling with hives covering both eye lids. I actually started to feel so bad for my son. while he had not had the swollen eyes filled with hives, it just reminded me how terrible it feels to have that. Any time he touches something he is allergic to and then his face that will happen to him.  But, this is another instance where I will tell you how WONDERFUL Zyrtec is. Since I started to sneeze, I have been giving my son zyrtec every day and he seems allergy free. I know for a fact that he is not because I worked my weekend job today and forgot to give him some before. When I got home he was a sneezing mess. But, a little bit after I gave him his zyrtec he was back to playing outside in the sunshine without any sniffles! I have not bought any for myself and am still suffering with my seasonal allergies.

Aside from the allergies today was a great day! The beautiful weather makes up for it all! I even won tickets to see the Harlem Globetrotters when we went to visit the new neighborhood being built behind us! Yay!

Please Participate in this quiz! CASH PRIZE!!

Hello everyone!

I just posted about an experiment that I would like to try. I am going to have a quiz on here and have a rafflecopter to write your answers in so that they are private and you can be entered into the drawing for the prize! YES there is a prize involved!! $5 CASH PRIZE!! I will pay through Paypal or if you do not have paypal you can have a gift card of your choice.

PLEASE BE HONEST IN YOUR ANSWER. DO NOT CHEAT. The answers will be private so if you do not know the answer just take a guess and I will not judge in any way.  Some of the questions will be meant to have unique answers, no right or wrong.

Please go through and read the questions, then go to the rafflecopter on the corresponding question number and type in your answer. Then click Enter for it to be sent to me and give you another entry into the drawing for the $5. This quiz quiz will be open for 24 hours and a winner will be chosen once it ends! YOU DO NOT HAVE TO GET THE QUESTION RIGHT TO WIN! But, if you are just being silly and not truely participating, I may forfeit your answer.  Good Luck and THANK YOU

Allergy Quiz:

QUESTION # 1: Please tell me if you or someone you know has an allergy. If so, how do you know them? ( They are my child, mother, cousin, brother's best friend, etc.)

QUESTION # 2: What is a food allergy?

QUESTION # 3: What is an Epipen?

QUESTION # 4: How do you use an Epipen?

QUESTION # 5: What are some signs of someone going into Anaphylaxis?

QUESTION # 6: What is Anaphylaxis?

QUESTION # 7: Do you know any of The Big 8 food allergens?

QUESTION # 8: Please tell me what you see in this picture:

You can click the picture to enlarge it.

QUESTION # 9: Please tell me what you see here and how this makes you feel:

You can again click the picture to enlarge it.

QUESTION # 10:  Which of the following can set off a reaction in a food allergic person? (Please report all that you believe apply)

A)ONLY ingesting the particular food allergic to

B)ONLY touching the particular food allergic to 

C)BOTH ingesting OR touching the food allergic to

D)Steam from a food cooking that you are allergic to

E)The smell of a food you are allergic to

F)Cross-contamination of even a minuscule amount of the food allergic to onto a food not allergic to

G) Food allergies are not real

Again, please write your answers into the rafflecopter below. If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me at britnycellerini@hotmail.com  Thank you for being honest in what you believe the correct answers are. After you have entered all of the answers into the rafflecopter below there will be bonus entries to pop up. Those are NOT required but will increase your chances of winning the cash prize!

Experiment!

Hello Everyone. I want to put together a short quiz to see how much the general public really knows about allergies. I am not sure yet if I will be using a Rafflecopter or just writing the questions on here. But, please, no cheating. This is purely an experimental test to see what you all will say and how much you as parents of children of allergies, someone related to someone with allergies or someone that knows nobody with a food allergy know about this matter. I am going to get it all together and start it up! Thank you and I appreciate any involvement!

Family Vacations

Last weekend I surprised my husband with a trip to the coast for his birthday. At first it was a no brainer to me that my kids would be joining us. They love the beach and I love to watch them marvel at the ocean and the many things you find on a beach. But, then I got to thinking about how we have never had our children stay the night at the coast. We would be in a hotel room, eating out and strolling along the stores. This may seem like nothing to the normal parent but to a parent of an allergic child, it becomes a scary thing. I decided that this time I would not bring our children but to see what happens and how to approach the next time when we do take them.

The first thing we did was went to Mo's as my husbands "surprise birthday lunch" (Hehe, he thought that was his one and only surprise!) When we had been there in another city on the coast with my son, they had given us an allergen menu. I looked it over and saw that there were actually a few things that he could have. I was too nervous about actually letting him eat though because I didn't know where the nearest hospital was. This time at this restaurant we were seated to where I could see right into part of the kitchen. I was sitting directly in front of the door. I saw that they also had the allergen menu with the children's menus. Although any menus they got back uncolored on were put back in with the others in the same slot they kept the allergen menus. Then I was really baffled. I have gotten my food handlers before and I know at least a small gist of what they are required to do when handling food. There was one waitress cutting up a peanut butter cream pie and dishing it onto plates. She would then take it to the person that ordered it. There was one piece though, that sort of fell apart. So, I guess it was not presentable enough. I saw probably 5 people on the wait staff grabbing forks and taking bites of the pie as they walked to a table or picked up someone's food to take to the table. They weren't careful either. These people used a fork, one dropped their fork on the ground another wiped their mouth with their hand and so forth. Yes, I may sound like I had way too much time, which I did but I also was using this trip as a way to see if I could even bring my son to these places. I was not the least bit impressed. In fact, I probably would not go back to that one.. even without my son.

We did a lot of visiting shops which could be hazard when there are candy stores surrounding them. But, I could keep that manageable. We also went down to the tide pools. I thought about that even and was unsure if that could REALLY be safe. I think that is one thing, though, that we will have to just try and see what happens.

The hotel room was one thing I did not think much about until I saw it. We got a nice room in a nice hotel. In fact, it was labeled a suite. But, I saw that there were crumbs on the floor and I know how hotels can be with cleaning the bedding. Also, if my son could not be eating out at these places, I would need to bring something to be made there. That would mean we would either have to find an even nicer hotel with a kitchen or I would need to bring things that could be made in a microwave or stored in the fridge. I am willing to do that, of course, so that my children can have the experience. When that time comes I will be calling ahead and probably calling around to see what accommodations can be made for him.

Some friends of ours are getting married in June. They are doing so at the coast and since both my husband and my daughter are part of the wedding party we will be staying the night before for rehearsals and such. So, apparently I will be having this coast experience soon! I have no idea what hotel we will stay at but when I know, I know that I will be having some conversations with some of the staff there. I will definitely be blogging about how that experience goes as far as the allergy aspect. But, I am hoping that all will go smoothly and I just may be a bit of an overly protective mom!

Easter!

Oh boy, Easter was definitely one for the record books. I stayed up late getting the baskets together and filling eggs. My kids were to excited to go to sleep so I had to wait a long time to even start. Then Easter morning comes. BOTH of my children woke up vomiting. My daughter at 7 am, might I add. They both were sick all morning and a little of the afternoon. My daughter was the worst. every time she would stand up she would vomit. It was terrible I felt so bad for her. They couldn't even get excited about the Easter baskets waiting on the table for them. When it was about lunch time I went to the store to pick up chicken broth, crackers, bananas and gatorade to try to ease some discomfort. When I got back, they had an appetite so I let them eat a little. But, then they came back for more and drank their whole big bottles of gatorade. I tried to get them to sip it but that was not happening. It was amazing though because it was like they were VERY sick one minute and perfectly fine the next. So, I got to dress them up and let them do the egg hunt and then even go to their grandpa's house for dinner.

I did my Easter shopping last minute this year. I am usually well prepared and stocked up weeks in advance. But, this year I got it done on the Wednesday before.  I will show you what I got. ( I didn't get a lot due to the lack of time but it did the job. :) )

These are what i got to fill the eggs with. The starburst jelly beans are free of ALL of my son's allergens. The Sweedish fish are too. They love them and are free of  the big 8 allergens.

These are what I got to put in the Easter basket along with some other things.

Now with this "Fluffy Stuff" I read the ingredients and they did not have any of his allergens. In fact on the back it shows this statement:

Click the picture for a bigger view. It said it was produced in a facility that does not use peanuts, tree nuts, eggs or gluten. But it says nothing about Milk. So, I look in the ingredients and none are fishy. I ultimately decided to buy and give to them anyway. But, after they had brought it to me to open, I started to doubt again. So, I was using the trusty ole google to find what ingredients are make of. Once I saw that there was no milk, I gave a small peice to my son to try. He looks at the package and tells me that he is allergic to peanuts, peanuts give him allergies. I tell him that is true but that picture of peanuts means that it is peanut free. So, I give it to him and he keeps looking at the packaging and says "Mommy, peanuts give me allergies" HE REFUSED TO EAT IT! Even from me! I was so proud at that moment that I did not even want to correct him. :)

So, here was the ending product as far as their Easter Baskets:

Although it started out VERY crumby, it ended as a great day!

Today 4-8-12

It is only 8:30 here so you would think I would not have much to tell of this morning but I do. I was going to write a blog about the Easter baskets I made for my kids and the Easter eggs I put together and was going to hide. But, it looks like Easter has been postponed at my house. I have 2 vomiting children. The weird part is that normally you have one vomiting child that gets the other child sick so you get a little bit of a break between kids. But, both of my kids as soon as they woke up, threw up. It is hard to juggle to vomiting children at once. And I am just stumped as to what could have caused this. I mean, they haven't really been around anyone besides my son in his class but even then, he would have gotten sick first and given it to my daughter. So, the point of this blog post is not to gross you all out on Easter but to let you know that I WILL be doing an Easter post it just most likely wont be today... unless my kids start feeling better. If anyone has experienced anything like this or has any idea why this could possibly have happened, please let me know. I'm going a little crazy not knowing. Thanks, and I will be back when I can.