Multiple food allergies...a rookie needs your help!

[roseylea]

Hi, I posted on the cake recipe thread but there were too many things I wanted to ask so I thought it was better to start a new thread!

My dd was diagnosed with allergies to soya, egg, wheat, and nuts in the autumn. She has severe excema and since we have cut those foods out her skin has improved a lot - we are using far less steroid cream on her now and for the first time in her life (she's 4 yo) her skin actually feels quite soft!

We tried the gluten-free pastas but both the dcs hated the stuff. So we stick to variations on rice and potatoes. I'd love any ideas along these lines. Dd really doesn't like meat...she does eat veggies quite happily.

Also Chandra on the other thread you were saying about avoiding soya....can I ask, is it ever labelled as anything other than 'soya'? Is it in baked beans?

I like the idea of the emergency food supply in the car. We have not eaten out since we discovered about the allergies.

Thanks!

Normal Heinz Baked Beans are fine - you need to watch out for the word 'leicithin' as that is often soya lecithin.

Have you tried Orgran's Buckwheat pasta? Buckwheat is a relation to rhubarb!!!, but it holds it's shape really well and all my chidren like it. Their lasagne sheets are good as well

Try different gluten free pastas- mine will only eat one brand.

I sympathise about eating out. DS1 cant ahve gluten or dairy, me and ds3 dairy. Fortunately its not a life threatening allergy just an intolerance (but linked to very severe behavioural issues, ds1 is autistic).

Mine eat the Heinz beans yes, and we're gradually getting the hang of things. I presume as its wheat rather than dairy dd can have oats etc? That makes flapjacks a possibility then, and oatcakes, porridge etc. My ds1 likes the cheezly cheese alternative you can get in Asda now, he has it with rice cakes.

My eczma is realted to diet also, and the improvement without the dairy 9and to many other complaints) is amazing.

there are food suppliers on the net that carry quite a range, but I have started to teach ds1 (7) basic cooking skills as they will be important to him if he ives independently as an adult.

Thanks for thaose replies! I'm not sure about oast - dd had quite a nasty reaction after eating a homemade flapjack a couple of months ago so we haven't tried again since then. I think there might still be othe foods she's allergic to (we had RAST tests to ascertain her allergies and she was allergic to 4 of the 6 things she was tested against, so it would make sense that there are other things out there that she hasn't been tested against yet...)

We had succotash for dinner and the dcs loved it! They ate far more than either dh or I!!!!

Dd is only 4 but she's very keen on doing jobs in the kitchen so I let her chop veg (lots of warnings about sharp knives!) and grate (ditto) and put foods in the saucepan etc. I was reading about the Children's Cookery School in London - it sounds fab but all the recipes (this was in BBC Good Food mag) she was allergic to. Oh well, I'll just have to make our kitchen the cookery school!

oats not oast!

Altho I used to live in Kent so 'oast' brings back nostalgic memories of oast houses with their funny roofs! [nostalgic]

Soya is hidden as tofu, hidrolised vegetable protein, vegetable protein (if it doesn't say what kind of vegetable it might well be soya), soya lecithin (or vegetable lecithin), E322, Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP), vegetable starch, vegetable gum, etc.

I have been more lucky with corn pasta than with rice or millet ones. I keep a tupper with corn pasta in the car too

Beans belong to the same family as soya so if your child is very allergic to soya chances are she may react to beans too. DS has had reactions after eating baked beans, although I'm not sure if is was because of the beans, the tomato sauce, milk that had accidentally got in the batch of the product or any other rubish happily hidden as propietary flavourings. We have avoided them for quite a long time that I tried to reintroduce them lately and DS hated them! Anyways, they should be fine as long as they don't have soya hidden in it, but avoid the cheapest supermarket own brands, they tend not to be that careful with the labelling of the cheapest range.