Teaching allergic babies to talk....

[heliotrope]

Any tips from parents who have been through this - I just realised that we give DS 16months his cup of soya formula in the evening and happily refer to it as his 'milk'.... this obviously isn't that sensible as he will soon need to know that 'milk' is not for him. So we're trying to break the habit and call it 'soya'. He's just starting to say a few words.

I know that he will have us or other carers making sure he doesn't get things he's allergic to for a long while yet but I guess we should get into good habits - up until now I think I have been optimistically hoping he'd grow out of the allergies quickly but have being having a bit of a reality check (see other thread on freak milk incident!).

Anyone got good ideas of neat ways of using words to help the littluns understand their allergies?

I'm not sure it's really a problem because by the time he is tasked with the responsibility of having to warn people of his allergies he'll understand that there are various different milks and will be able to explain to his caregivers.

I think explaining his allergies will be a natural process as his interest in his food increases as he may start requesting stuff he can't have and you'll have to explain 'well you can't have that as it makes your mouth sore' or whatever. You'll be suprised how much he'll understand.

don't wprry about teaching him to ask for the right thing, teach him to always check with his carer that food he's been handed is safe to eat.

dd is almost 4 and has been cow's milk free since 6 months and wheat free since 22 months and knows that unless i hand her food she cannot presume it's ok to eat.

the playschool staff are facinated by the way she won't even take sweets or chocolate from them unless they reassure her that they're safe for her. she never eats things other kids offer her and asks me if she gets something at a party she's unsure about.

even at home she often turns to me and says 'mommy, does this have no wheat in it?'.

she doesn't know the alternatives she eats are spelt, rice, oats, maize, etc.... she just know she can't have wheat

Good ideas, I will need to teach him that he is dairy free and needs to check what food he is handed. His new nursery seems really clued up with special diets as so many children seem to be affected, so that is good.
Your DD sounds wise beyond her years! I know of a little girl who was dairy free and when she grew out of her allergies she was upset as she wasn't 'special' anymore at nursery!

I'd agree with the others - we just referred to it as milk, although at some point we did explain that it was special milk and he mustn't drink cow's milk.

He's now 5 and always refuses sweets etc, and we were impressed the other day he was at a circus class (where I wasn't expecting there to be any food) and they asked who wanted a cake, and he said he didn't put his hand up because he knew he couldn't. He always asks if food has cow's milk in it - the only problem with this is that other adults may say it doesn't when in fact it has hidden cow's milk (eg in ham, sausages, biscuits etc).

You'll be fine

mine learned very quickly about what they could and couldn't eat - they were dairy intolerant - terrible excema and ashtma if they ate dairy so not allergic.