Traveling with Food Allergies

I just read an interesting tip at the allergist office yesterday...When traveling bring along more Epipens than you would normally carry. I had never thought to do this. We always travel with L's and B's two pack of Epipen Jr's. We always keep them in a set. So we always travel with four epipens, two for L and two for B. I think this is a great tip for traveling because you may need your Epipen and be either farther from a hospital than usual or not sure of where a hospital is/get lost, etc. (just let your imagination imagine as a mom, mine usually will:) On our next trip we will take our "at home" epipens and "going out" epipens. Love this tip, hope you do too! Why so many Epipens, you maybe wondering? You can use an Epipen every 15 minutes as needed for anaphylaxis. Also, sometimes Epipens don't work or the person who needs the epipen shot fights it and you don't get it injected all the way, several reasons I have heard of and can imagine. I know my L, who is 5 years old, will fight me if the epipen is ever needed because he absolutely hates shots! Safe travels!

The forbidden fruit

I thought I had it all perfect. L knew that he could not eat anyone's food but his own at school--only his lunch, only snacks from his safe snack box. Well, for the Fall Curriculum his class learned about trees, specifically the APPLE tree. We went to Open House night as a family. The brother of one of L's friends, gave L and apple slice on a toothpick, and I was surprised to see L eat it without batting an eye! What my perfect plan ruined!

I talked to L about this on the way home from open house....WE only eat our food! We don't know if that apple had been in the hands of someone who had nuts on their hands or cross-contaminated when cut. L said "But mom I did not get sick. It was fine." Okay folks I have a smart guy on my hands. But I said "Yes you were fine, but lets not do that again. You only eat your safe food at school." End of discussion...Well, no not quite. The next day we are walking home from school. L says, "We learned the parts of an apple today and then our teacher let us all taste a bite of apple." "Did you L?" "I don't want to tell you, Mom." PUNISHMENT....he disobeyed. Then, time to reflect on my strict rules....L has a great teacher who can probably cut the apple up safely. I talked to teacher. L, teacher and I had a discussion about this matter. We decided if the teacher, L and I discuss the food (used as a learning tool) L can have it in the class. The next week his class rated Yellow, Green and Red apples and graphed the results. L was part of the apple tasting and rating contest. L knows I only want him to eat food from his teacher that she and I have discussed. So far it is working out. The teacher and I have discussed pumpkin seeds, popcorn and, of course, apples. By the way, the Yellow Apple was by far the most popular apple in L's class! L is a smart kid, who has a lot of food restrictions. L feels safe at school and trusts his teacher. I trust her too. She is really a great teacher for L. We have some new rules and they seem to be working. I feel that L and I have to be a team, working together to manage his food allergies, because one day he will be doing it all by himself. (DISCLAIMER: I am still the parent and the one who makes most decisions...L is just smart enough and aware of his food allergies enough to help me and be on the team to keeping him safe.)

Halloween

We survived it...that is always my first goal...It was fun...that's my second goal!

We trick-r-treated with neighbors. Our neighbor was just diagnosed with peanut and tree nut allergies. We were officially the nut-free gang! We had a little bit of an adventure. We got locked out of our house, without our epipen jr.s and benadryl. My mom and brother went and got a spare key for us from my mom's house (sorry I ruined there Halloween...but they saved the night!) And luckily we trick-r-treated with friends who have a epinpen jr and benadryl. I hope to not have that kind of adventure again, or at least if I do it again I want our epipens and benadryl with us for goodness sake! I let my boys accept all the candy and when they got home they traded their bags full of candy for a cupcake and half a rice-milk candy bar by Enjoy Life. Click here for a coupon. Very yummy! There was some kettle corn in their bag that they could have. L loved it. B left his bag for L to eat, not a popcorn fan I guess. Check out this great popcorn. This was a new brand for me. The packaging looked promising. I researched the company on line and felt it was completely safe for them to enjoy it! Check it out. In our area it sells at Remke Biggs and Costco.

Soy Free Vitamins

I have had a lot of trouble finding a children's daily vitamin that includes iron and is soy free. For L the challenge was Gelatin Free and Dye Free. The answer has been: L takes

A special thank you to all the Vegans who have made a market for "gelatin free" vitamins and other health foods. We found these vitamins at a locally owned health food store. You can buy them on the internet cheaper. I may do that next time, assuming I plan ahead in time. For B the challenge is he is allergic to SOY. He could eat the very popular Flintstones Complete:

But, I am trying to avoid the Red Dye for him as well, to avoid a future allergy (my own concocted method, not one I have reviewed with the allergist yet) Currently I spend a lot of time on the elementary school grounds. I have met many great people. I recently met a neat lady who works at Whole Food Market. She has become a great resource for me on healthy foods and vitamins. She recently informed me that most vitamins were wheat based until recently when the price of wheat went up....then they mainly became soy-based because soy is cheaper. I have not been able to discover for sure if the above mentioned vitamin, that L takes, only contains soybean oil and/or soy lechitin or if it contains the soy protein, flour, etc that B has to avoid. This post is motivating me to write Bluebonnet and ask if there vitamin just contains soybean oil....or actual soy protein and/or soy flour. I will get back to you if I receive a response. Do you have a favorite Soy-free, dye free-vitamin that contains iron??? Please share!!!

Birthday Party with Coconut Ice Cream

We had L's friend party this week. L is 5 years old! I can't believe it. His food allergies seem to be sticking around (no outgrowing them yet!) I served water(little ones still spill and oh! they did), chocolate cupcakess (egg free, dairy free, nut free, soy free ones) with coconut ice cream----chocolate or vanilla. No child noticed the difference in the ice cream. One child, who has a milk intolerance, took some convincing that he was allowed to eat ice cream. I took him in the kitched and showed him the containers with the coconuts on them (not cows!:) He liked the chocolate....evidence: it was all gone!

The cupcakes and ice cream were not sugar free. This was well noted when the kiddos went crazy after "cake and ice cream". It was so nice, as the mama, to see B and L sitting at their little picnic table (spilling water everywhere) and enjoying "cake and ice cream" with their friends. No special orders, no digging out their different "safe" cupcakes because they were all safe. Next week we will dig out our safe treats at a friend party, but for this week all the kids were the same and it was a happy day. Happy Birthday, L!

Coconut Milk

My boys love, love, love Coconut Milk Yogurt and Ice Cream by So Delicious! If you have not yet tried it...go get some! Don't delay! It is delicious and sweet! We will be eating some at this weekends birthday festivities:)

Basics

So I did a lot of reading of other mom blogs and I have read a lot of books about food allergies and this is what I determined was needed for L's situation: 1. ONLY eat food from home 2. Be in a Peanut/Tree Nut free classroom 3. Everyone washes there hands when entering the room 4. L always washes his hands with soap and water before eating 5. L always eats on a clean surface 6. L washes his hands with soap and water in the cafeteria (hand sanitizer will not do the trick) 7. L eats at the Peanut/ Tree Nut free table This has been working well for 3 weeks, but L has had hives the past two days. The possible culprit a sore in his mouth (probably where he bit his lip) and he cannot keep his hands off of it....despite my threats and redirections, I find his little hand in his mouth : (