I am very fed up now of having to avoid certain foods and cook carefully and watch what we eat yadda yadda yadda

[foxinsocks]

well not totally fed up but just sort of sighing fed up. And this isn't all allergies but I'm guessing you lot will know what I mean .

today I have a migraine. I have a migraine because last night I ate a bag of delicious sweets (jelly snakes). I love jelly snakes. But if I eat sweets, the next day I get a migraine (think it is something to do with the sugar rush then the low). I know this. But I wanted snakes so I ate them so it is ENTIRELY MY FAULT.

Dh is allergic to egg and chicken. Dd has outgrown most of her allergies but because she was allergic to dairy for all of her baby and toddler hood, she still struggles with creamy sauces (won't eat them) and won't have cheese etc. which rules out any of that.

We can't have seafood because I'm allergic and I suspect dd is too.

So that rules out chicken, eggs, seafood, creamy sauces and anything too sweet because it gives me a migraine.

And for the first few years, we had to avoid soya, dairy, eggs, fish and chicken and it was a pita.

Now I know other people have to do a lot more, but sometimes, I think it would be very nice just to eat and cook what the fuck I fancy quite frankly

Oh yes! And to be able to eat out without grilling the chef!

I agree, I have a whole shelf of cookbooks I never use any more. I suppose I could make the effort, but with DS being allergic to milk/eggs/lentils and DH very intolerant of soya and also has IBS, sometimes (often) I just chicken out and cook something plain. I REALLY want to cook a curry... and I miss macaroni cheese too...

oh me too!

let's cook for each other. Virtually!

I shall make you a curry and I'll eat your macaroni cheese. Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

With lots of bacon bits in it and extra cheese grilled on the top, and no need to worry about scrubbing the plates/cutlery to within an inch of their life, or wiping the probably non-existent cheese molecules off of everything!

Can you tell it's Friday?

oh

what type of curry do you like?

I am a dab hand at a rogan josh and a sort of mild to medium type one

Oh yes, lamb rogan josh! And saag paneer please, naan bread, dahl soup - the works really!

Oh hell, I'm soooo hungry now, this is torture - in the best possible way though!

oh now I am very good at lamb rogan josh I'll have you know. And I love spinach in Indian meals!

We are made for each other. Let's divorce our allergic families, pretend our food issues don't exist and cook merrily forever onwards.

fantasy makes the world go round!

YASNBU. For the most part i just get on with it, but every so often it would be nice to just put whatever in the shopping basket rather than having to scrutinise the ingredients.

I'm so with you. Have had to give up dairy myself for a while because I was starting to feel really ill all the time. Plus my absolute favourite foods are pulses - lentils, hummous, chick peas - yum, yum, but DD is allergic so I can't make a recipe for everyone with these ingredients. The worst is eating out. My fantasy would be to go to a restaurant where everything is safe and DD can pick from anything on the menu instead of being reduced to one option (if we're lucky!)

Ladies I do so sympathise with you, I only have DC2 with gluten intolarance and that's bad enough, I doff my hat to you dealing with that.

I sympathise too... one of the things I really like when DS1 is away at grandparents' is that I can just cook anything.

When he's here, I sometimes end up making separate meals, or at least giving the kids the dairy free leftovers (or frozen leftovers from previous meals) and cooking something creamy for us!!

We don't even bother with restaurants as a family - between dealing with behaviour, keeping the 21mo occupied and having to bring along all DS1's food, there doesn't seem much point...

Oh, its so nice to come on this board and see that others are the same! It really is a pita, and I'm only dealing with DD allergy to eggs/dairy/lentils, and my own to scallops (pretty easy to avoid!!). Got baby 2 on the way and just dreading what new allergies we might have to incorporate...

We have a freezer full of our food, and a separate one for DD's food, and food shopping takes hours (whilst DH spends hours at home cooking up food for DD) as I look in vain for stuff that she can eat. So its really nice to be able to say yes, its a pita and I hate it, rather than mouthing platitudes to people about how she might grow out of it and you learn to manage it etc etc (all true, but its still a fecking PITA!). DD went to her first birthday party at the weekend, and sat there with a plate full of fruit, whilst everyone else had cake and saus rolls :-(

@ Miss Creosote - for the birthday parties or other events, I've always tried to make sure DS1 has something as similar to the others as possible. We live in France and parties here are easier as it's only cake and sweets, but I always send him with his own box. If it was more complex like in the UK I'd ask the host each time what the other kids were having and try to provide the same for my child. I guess people have different approaches, but I take the view that he already has to feel very different and I try to minimise it as far as possible - especially if the other kids are having "treat" food. If we're out somewhere and other kids are given sweets or whatever I give him some when he gets home.

I was the same as you when pg with DS2 but fortunately he's not allergic to anything!!! It's amazing... we did keep him dairy-free when he stopped bf at 15 months as he had eczema and it seemed as if it might be linked to dairy, but he's been having normal milk since he was about 18 months. Also had a scary moment when he had diarrhoea for several months as thought it might be gluten, but he's now fine.

So do be vigilant, but don't assume it'll necessarily be the same with the 2nd child.

Thanks Weta, yes, fingers crossed number 2 won't be allergic. I did read a study a while ago that the first child has more chance of being allergic, can't remember the reason though.

I will start to do as you suggest for birthday parties, just didn't this time, as she's only 20 months, so she's too young to really mind yet (and doesn't get many invites!). It was more that I minded IYSWIM! Same as missing out on stuff like cheese or standard chocolate - she'll never know the difference as she's never had it, but I still know so it occasionally makes me a bit . Still, you learn how to get round it - e.g. I make dairy free muffins at home etc, which DD thinks are the biggest treats in the world (that and raisins of course ).

Fair enough if she's so small! Know what you mean about you minding more than her though. Make the most of it while she doesn't realise... DS1 thought rice wafers (even plain) were the biggest treat in the world till he was about 3!! and is still surprisingy keen at 5.5.

At least they have really healthy diets!

We are thinking of trying to list different foods (bread, pasta, ready meals etc) on our blog (www.freefromfood.co.uk) and provide details of which food allergens they contains and links to where they can be bought (supermarkets and web shops) but this would be a lot of work. Does anyone out there think this would be a good idea and they would use it or are we wasting our time!!!

reynia, that would be a fab idea!!

I would definitely use it.

It would be good if it could be interactive and you could have tick boxes to select the allergens you are avoiding and it would bring up a list of food.

I realise that would be a huge amount of work though.

It must be a huge pain, fox. I can't stand faffing around, cutting all sorts of meals out of our diet. As dairy-free has made no difference to dd2 so far, it looks like I won't have to do it for much longer. Huzzah!

I know the feeling, I feel exactly the same.

food is too much effort these days, and so I seem to have slipped into boring-groundhog-day mode with meals. I know what I can eat, what the children like/will eat, and what DH likes, so every week feels the same now.