Needing Direction of food ideas for my child who has a lot of food allergies.

Tabitha - posted on 01/24/2010

Thank you girls for this wonderful advice. I also shop like that with different bags and seperate cupboards in the house. Rice milk is a blessing and they also make a cheese and ice cream! Blake enjoys both. There is a butter by Fleishmans that you can use. It is a great idea that Dawn mentioned to start young & talk to your baby about not being different. Hope all is well!!

Rachel - posted on 01/13/2010

I am in the same boat as you my son is allergic to : cows milk, egg, peanuts, and wheat..For me personally is the way I start shopping is start a list for the rest of the house hold. Start a different list for the youngest, and as I do my shopping put things in two different carts, when I go to the check out line I put the food up in the same order but two different groups. Also when I go to bag the items I use paper for my youngest food and plastic for the rest of us. As for at home I put the food my son is allergic to in the top pantry and the foods he is not allergic to in the bottom pantry. Have you invested in BEnadryl? My son breaks out in Hives, when eating food he is allergic to (and he also gets the poopies), I feed him Benadryl and give it a while to work. It may be expensive but you will have to go to a natural foods store, or you can make everything from scratch.. If you can find anything else to do let me know...Also look online for vegan recipes, and substitutes for certain ingredients..

Dawn - posted on 01/12/2010

Hi Angela!

You can also check out the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis network. They have alot of different recipes and advice for you, they also have a children's section. It can be a pretty daunting thing to deal with a child with multiple allergies. My son originally tested positive for wheat, egg, soy, milk and peanut through blood tests when he was two years old. He would vomit with no warning of and on for about 2-3 months. We had him scoped and found out that he has eosinophilic esophogitis. He was extremely under weight at three years of age (28 pounds) and had gone way down on the growth charts. We had him retested through skin testing (at four years old) and found out that he was only allergic to milk. The allergist had told me that the blood testing was very sensitive and sometimes can give false positives. His milk allergy has gotten more severe, but we have learned to work around it alot better. One very good piece of advice we did get from a doctor was to make his diet a way of life and not a chore we have to deal with. Our entire family now is almost milk free and we don't notice. Come to find out three years after my son's diagnosis, my husband has the same condition and allergy.

One important thing we did teach our son, was that he isn't "different" because he can't have the birthday cake at school or the ice cream at the birthday parties. I made it a point to eat certain things in front of him and explain that just because he couldn't have it didn't mean I couldn't have it. We started at an early age so it wasn't a shock for him when he started school. And when he started reading, we taught him how to look for things that may make him sick.

I know this is long, but it is a rough road, but it can be manageable. Please message me if you have any questions!

Tabitha - posted on 12/23/2009

Hello Angela. It's tough isn't it? When I first found out I thought I was going to lose my mind. We found out Blake was allergic to milk at 13 weeks. If he's allergic to milk & soy are you using Neocate? We tried many of the other formulas but this is the only thing made for Blake's sensitive stomach. Wheat is also a tough one, but there are a lot of stores that have a special section of gluten-free products. If you use mostly potatoes and rice, it makes family meals much easier. Borders also has a lot of great cookbooks that are allergen free. Plus, if you call your doctor, they can refer you to a nutritionist. This is a journey that you have just begun. Lift your head, put back those shoulders and hold on tight! I am always here, feel free to contact me any time!!