PPP Stuff: We Are Officially A Food Allergy Family
In an effort to continue sharing some sort of “mommy moment” each week, I wanted to share our food allergy journey…
Pretty much since my daughter has been eating solid foods, we have suspected some sort of stomach or possible food allergy problem. Our little one nursed for around 15 months or so and, to be honest, pretty much went from nursing to small soft solids. I made baby foods and we tried to get her to eat those, but she was never much of an “eater” while she was nursing.
We have been visiting her pediatrician with this concern for almost 2 years and even went to visit a GI specialist. The problem was… whenever we would take her in for evaluation, she didn’t ever have any of the rashes and all the other symptoms she was exhibiting at home.
Well, last week I took her in to the pediatrician because she seemed to not be able to kick the sniffles we all have had since about February. He said she actually seemed to have some seasonal allergies… this didn’t surprise me too much since we live where there are tons of trees and lots of pollen and her daddy and I both have seasonal allergies.
What the pediatrician didn’t expect was for me to also whip out the digital camera and show him pictures of my daughter with a full blown rash, etc. Like I said, the Dr.’s kept telling us to bring her in when she was having the reactions we suspected to be some sort of allergy, but by the time we got her to the Dr., these reactions were drying up! So, mommy decided to use technology to my advantage… I took pictures! The pediatrician was stunned at how intense the rash was and right away said… “She’s got food allergies, you need to take her to an allergist!”
You won’t believe how great this made me feel, not because my child might have food allergies, but because it was nice to have someone acknowledge that my husband and I weren’t crazy! We had tried eliminating items we suspected, but hadn’t had much success.
Fast forward to a week later and my daughter made her first trip to see the allergist. I have to say my little 3 year was so brave and such a trooper for the testing… made me so proud. The news we received was worse than we expected, but now that we know what our little one is allergic to, we will be able to make the changes in our diets to make her feel so much better.
Apparently our little one has the following allergies:
- Eggs
- Barley
- Apricots
- Maple
- Cashews
- Peanuts
- Pecans
- Shrimp
- Lobster
- Scallops
- Chocolate
- Garlic
It seems like I am leaving something off the list, but that’s all I can remember off the top of my head. And, since our little one has a shellfish and nut allergy, we are now carrying an EpiPen (I will spare you on how shocked I was at the price of EpiPens when I picked it up).
So, over the next two weeks we will be on the strict elimination diet and then adding individual items back in for 3-days in a row to see if there is a reaction and so we can see if it’s just an amount thing or a true “we have to rule” it out allergy. We don’t eat shellfish a lot and I thought my daughter had had a piece of shrimp in the past, but hubby said “no.” Since we haven’t had those, we just plan on ruling it out for good… especially since there are still welts where those were tested. Also, our little one has never liked peanut butter and we haven’t been able to get her to really eat it, so we will probably just skip the nut one too… seems like maybe she doesn’t like it for a reason!
It was also nice to have the allergist say that little ones can have sensitivity to artificial food dyes, which is one of the things we eliminated and did see an improvement in our 3 year old behavior. Of course there is not a way to test for such a sensitivity, but she said to continue with what we were doing and if we noticed a difference that was all that mattered.
You have no idea at the guilt I have right now. I cannot believe it took this long to figure this out. To think the whole wheat bread I have been giving my child has possibly been making her sick… I just had no clue that barley was in whole wheat bread or that my child would be allergic. The good thing is that since we were having a tough time figuring out what she might be allergic to, we had pretty much already switched to fresh and organic ingredients… so cooking won’t be too different, just more of it since I will be attempting to make egg free pancakes, muffins, etc.
So, over the next few days, PPP may be slightly neglected. I will be spending what free time or stolen moments I have online to research new allergy friendly recipes and tips and advice from other moms.
I will also be working on getting a sister site that I have for PPP up and running. I have had another site just sitting there in case I ever needed it and it looks like the whole allergy friendly, organic lifestyle might just be a great topic for our family to blog about about… we discovered back when we made the switch to organic items how much more expensive the food was and now as a family with food allergies, we are discovering how expensive the store-bought allergy friendly items can be.
If you have a great resource for food allergies you want to share, please feel free to leave a comment. If you are a company that has an organic item(s) or allergy friendly item you would like to see reviewed her on PPP and the new site, please contact us… we would love to share with other families who might be starting out on the same journey we are!
10 Comments for this entry
Jenny says: Oh my! That is quite a list, poor baby. My daughter also saw an allergist at age 3. She is highly allergic to tree nuts, but luckily she can have peanuts.
Does you doctor think she'll outgrow any of these allergies?
Can you tell me more about how you eliminated food dyes from her diet?
Penny Pinching Parent says: Thank you so much Liz! it does seem like a big list, but I guess when you group it into nuts & shellfish… it's really not that bad.
I am just amazed at the difference being totally off eggs & barley (& of course the other things) has made. Our daughter's eczema & rashes are gone for the first time in forever! She seems to feel well, her tummy troubles seem to be resolving themselves and we are just so optimistic at this point.
After a few days of learning to adjust we are doing much, much better.
Any tips you have are greatly appreciated & thank you so much for not only commenting, but reading PPP!
Liz says: I hope you can whittle down the list some! My daughter has egg and dairy allergies. Her numbers have gone down greatly since we first got her tested, so we have hope she'll out grow them. Hopefully yours will too! Hang in there, it does get better and easier once you know.
Penny Pinching Parent says: Thank you so much Gab! I've added your site to my Reader… can't wait to start reading!
This weekend I am sorta feeling a little overwhelmed with everything, so connecting with other moms of little ones with allergies is amazing! Thank you!!
Gab says: I blog about peanut allergy at http://www.peanutfreemama.com. If I can help in any way (even if you just want to vent, don't hesitate to contact me! I totally 'get it'.
Jennifer @ Jen Spends says: My sister is severely allergic to Red 40 and it has gotten worse through the years. She saw an allergist who injected different food dyes to test for allergies, so it is possible. She is mildly allergic to yellow also. My parents did not figure out the culprit until she was probably about 7, and then the doctors wouldn't believe them for the longest time! She would get migraine headaches, hives, and throw up every time she had Red 40…hotdogs and BBQ sauce were big culprits that we never suspected. She can't even wear some red clothing because she gets welts! It's amazing how many foods contain red dye…medicines too, and it makes me mad because it is completely unnecessary. She has to scrape off the letters from some pain pills in order to use them.
beth says: Well, mine doesn't act interested in weaning anytime soon,lol
Has the doc told you sun exposure helps? I sweat, 10 minutes a day outside has done wonders for his skin…it's the production of vit d that helps. Also, while nursing, I add flax to my diet to increase omega in my body…
Penny Pinching Parent says: No… thank you for actually reading it! 
)
My little one has had eczema since we brought her home from the NICU. One thing I suggest trying on the spots is Boudreaux's Baby Kisses & the Body Paste. It's a tad on the greasy side, but has worked better than anything for us!
I will definitely keep posting about the food allergies & like your little one, our daughter didn't like the texture. Once she started weaning though she got interest in food (thankfully)!
beth says: Hi! Thanks for your post…My guy is turning 1 next week and still nursing more than eating solids…he just doesn't like the texture, but he does have eczema so I have been nervous to try foods. No reactions that I can pinpoint, and the eczema is getting better…please update on your food allergy journey!
Hey Jenny!
About the food dyes… we sorta stumbled across that when we were trying to find out what was causing possible food allergy problems.
Our little one would get this awful rash and sorta turn into another person after eating… sorta like Jekyll and Hyde. So, we were desperately looking to help her.
The only common ingredient I was finding in some of the things she was eating was something called Red-40.
I decided to start "googling" Red-40 and food dyes to see if they could cause allergies and behavioral problems. I stumbled across a blog that really struck me: http://reddyefree.blogspot.com/. It's a wonderful place to start learning all about Red-40 and other dyes.
Everything that I was reading about how red dye affects your body was what my little one was going through. She couldn't focus, was moody and the list goes on & on.
As a family, we decided to eliminate at least Red-40 and see what happened. It's something easy to remove & you don't have to work with a nutritionist or your Dr. because you are just improving your diet.
No lies, within a week our child was like a new person. She was happy, her attitude was totally different and she would sit down and focus (as well as a 3 yr old can)on activities.
Two weeks later and we were pretty much off artificial dyes in general. We were so amazed after what removing Red-40 from our diets that we decided to opt for items that are naturally dyed with things like fruits and spices.
Once you start looking you see Red-40 is in so many things (things you wouldn't expect) and it can often be a challenge, but now our daughter feels so good that she doesn't want things with red dye.
We went out to eat one Sunday afternoon with family and she was given something that had Red-40 in it… we didn't know at the time, but the next day we sure did. Our little one was so pitiful, she was crying non-stop and was out of control. She even said to me, "Mommy, what did I have? I feel awful, I can't control this." That was enough for me to try to NEVER give her Red-40 again.
If all of this wasn't enough, family members who don't see our little but every few weeks were amazed… they said she was like a different child & asked if we had put her on medicine!
So, after removing the Red-40 & other dyes our little one was feeling and acting much better. She still had a rash, tummy troubles, night sweats & night terrors, but to have any difference was great for us.
As you can imagine now after finding out about all these food allergies, our kiddo is a different child.
Her moods are much more stable (she will still throw a good tantrum every now and then, but like I said, she's 3!), no more night sweats, no more sleep issues or night terrors, her rash & eczema are totally gone after only 1 week or removing these allergens from her diet. Also, her tummy troubles seem to be getting better too!
Having our allergist confirm that some people cannot handle food dyes was just one more reassurance.
Things are a bit more expensive & I have to do a lot of scratch cooking these days, but everyone seems so much healthier & happier in our household. I just feel awful it took us this long to get to this point, but everything happens for a reason and maybe my reason was so I could use my big trap & yap about our experience!