To be fed up of people thinking peanut allergies are the worst?

[misdee]

Not many take the eggs and milk part of my daughters allergies as seriously as her nut allergy.

Why?

Why do some assume that peanut allergies are always deadly and others aren't?

Anaphylatics is anaphylatics whatever the trigger is.

dd4 has t-shirts for toddler groups. neurotic maybe, but i dont care. one says 'ask my mum before you feed me. i have allergies.' the other says 'dont feed me, i have allergies'

at nursery her badge has no milk, eggs or nuts on it. plus her pic is in every room and the kitchen. she has a F.A.S.T plan in the school office which states which reactions to gove piriton for and which requires her epipens.

she is only 3years old, but so good now. recently sher has become very aware of what she cat have. the older girls quiz her as well at home.

i dont feel safe taking her to new groups unless i know the set up. one group is a no go as the biscuits are everywhere and get smooshed into all the toys.

If you line-dry it doesn't need it. I did start putting a few drops of lavender essential oil on a muslin and chucking that in the dryer and that works really well, much better than adding the lavender oil directly to the soap mix.

It works really well but some stains need pre-treating. I rubbed a bit of neat washing up liquid into them before washing and that does the trick. All this has been learned through trial and error.

DS isn't allergic to any foods thankfully but toddler group with smooshed biscuits everywhere sounds like somewhere I would actively avoid anyway!

It is amazing how quickly children adapt to things, I guess its because its the norm to them, DS is 2.5 and asks for his inhaler when he needs it now as he can tell.

Hopefully the fact that she is so aware will mean as she gets older she quickly learns not to eat anything unless she asks you or she knows it safe.

DS3 is nut allergic, but that allergy can be dealt with with Piriton syrup (antihistamine).

If someone spilt milk on him, he would go into anaphylaxis. Even trace amounts do this, whereas with nuts he would have to ingest them for it to cause a reaction.

So CMP allergies can be much worse than but allergies.

DS3's dad and grandmother are both also CMP allergic, and I have a hell of a lot of other allergies myself.

Two Atopic parents = DC's with quite severe allergies.

misdee really really good idea about the tshirts. Made, or bought?

nogoodnamesleft Ordinarily I would line dru, but if late the weather doesnt permit. Ive used lavander in the fab conditioner tray which smells nice when its washing but doesnt make the washing smell if much.

Thanks for the muslin-lavander-tumbledrier tip I'll most definitely try that.

i had them made.

One positive note for the future - the people I am most happy around my cmp-allergic 4-year-old when food is around are her little friends. They are WAY more careful and thoughtful than most adults, and always check before they share any food with her. I once turned up at a birthday party to find that the cake was dairy-free, because the 4-year-old birthday girl (who i didnt know at all) had told her mum that my dd was allergic to milk. In 20 years, the battle against allergy ignorance will be won, if these thoughtful little souls are anything to go by! Contrast this to my dds own grandparents, who in the face of all the evidence still don't take her allergy seriously.

thats sweet libelulle.

i really must brush up on my cake skills and try and find a decent egg free one that i can make (i have substitues for milk already, inc baking spreads)

Do parents of children with food allergies find it difficult to find recipe books to cater for these allergies? I love baking and I'm interested in developing recipes for people who can't eat standard cakes/biscuits/etc.

I'm so so lucky in that neither of my children are allergic to anything but dh is severely allergic (death is the most likely outcome) from wasp and bee stings and it's got me interested in other allergies. I also have a friend who's son is so allergic to milk, eggs, apples and various other foods that I've learned to wash my children before we see him and be careful about what we eat before he comes over.

CrustyBurd we know because the test results showed he had gone from severe to mild/moderate. We have also found out he is allergic to another food but mildly. I hold my breath every time I give him new food because I know there could be more. The consultant also told us if there's no excema or asthma the child stands a good chance of growing out of it. He is 2.5, I wonder if he will.

its usually a case of adapting what recipies we have, and going from there. but my last dairy/egg free cake was an auuter disater. her last birthday cake was a rice krispie cake made with kinnerton chocolate.

All 4 of my DC's have epi pens for allergies, all different!

DD - pineapples, papaya and kiwi
DS1- Penicillin, Amoxycillin, Erythmoricin, wasp stings.
DS2 - Latex, pineapples, papaya and kiwi
DS3 - Dairy and Soy

They all have other allergies and intolerances too, varying in reaction from hives to sickness and explosive diarrhoea, to tongue swelling and difficulty breathing but not quite full blown anaphylaxis.

DD - metronidazole (an antibiotic) - severe hives.
DS1 - is diagnosed coeliac, gluten makes him bleed internally, have severe stomach cramps that require morphine, severe explosive diarrhoea, and he also gets severe hives from latex, but not as severe as his brother's anaphylactic reaction to it
DS2 - had a reaction to Amoxycillin last time he had it, severe hives.
DS3 - gets severe hives from tree nuts, have been warned to keep him nut free so that his allergy doesn't worsen. He also has had smaller reactions to chickpeas and peanuts, so we are steering clear of legumes too for now...

When people try to hand your DC a biscuit despite you explaining that they have allergies and can't have it, and you have safe snacks for them, it gets a bit wearing.

I like the t-shirt idea though. Maybe a very bright colour (DS3 loves orange) with black writing...

I almost cried, I was so touched! Parties are usually massively stressful, especially random nursery parties, so to go to one where I knew no-one would inadvertently give her milk was a really big deal.

Having said her grandparents are rubbish, actually my lovely mum made dd an egg and milk free cake for her birthday (bless her - dd is not actually allergic to egg!!) which tasted pretty good. I must ask her for the recipe!

People know more about nut allergies, and also they are familiar with the idea of lactose intolerance which can be extremely mild.

Don't forget these food allergies (especially dairy and wheat) are a relatively recent thing. 10 years ago I knew noone with one. And now, many many people. It takes a while to raise awareness.

YANBU. I think it's practically one of the worst things about allergies, other people poo-pooing it and not taking it seriously. My son is severely allergic to cows milk protein, also allergic to egg, lentils, peas, nuts...... When he was at nursery school they just seemed to be so dismissive because the problem was milk - they kept telling us they were very experienced with allergies as they'd had peanut allergy kids there before. They INSISTED that he had school dinners, and insisited that they could cope.

During his time there they gave him: Chocolate shortbread, quiche, and finally the last straw, A GLASS OF MILK. And this was an Ofstead 'Outstanding' nursery.

That is the worst that has happened to him at the hands of other people's ignorance, but I do feel worn down some days by the little things like, friends buying him a chocolate easter egg (he can have chocolate though can't he?) and both sets of GP's in the beginning not taking it seriously at all, and thinking we were being precious. If only we'd let him eat some mud, or try their dinner he'd be fine....

Eating out is always interesting too. Last time after explaining to waiter that he could not have anything dairy, and listed all the elements, milk, butter, cheese, egg etc etc he then went on to suggest that we give him 3 dishes which contained cheese. :S

Most of the time we do take it in our stride but, yes,occasionally it makes you fed up! :)

I made his birthday cake from GF rice crispies and marshmallows...the GF rice crispies were so that DS1 could eat it too.

I made a chicken tikka with tinned tomatoes, tikka spice, a squeeze of lemon juice, coriander and nutramigen for DS3 tonight, it didn't split as I was worried about, and he enjoyed it. The rice pudding turned out well too.

should link to a pic of her t shirt here

You know until my child developed severe allergies I think I was pretty ignorant on it too so I try to cut people a bit of slack when they return the favour.

I now say my ds has an anaphylactic reaction if he has any milk product so we have an epi pen and that gets the message through.
But I never count on others to watch out for him at p,any groups. When he was tiny I would pick up the bits of cheese dropped at snack time to prevent him trying to eat them. The truth is that people do not understand how dangerous it is until they see an anaphylactic reaction and you want to avoid that anyway.
My advice. Do not count on anyone to be as careful as you and teach your child to know what makes him sick as soon as he understands.
It is rough.
Yanbu
But people are just not as reasonable when they have no experience.

Misdee I use this cake recipe for all birthday cakes and fairy cakes, it has never let me down. It makes a moist sponge cake, but with no egg it sinks as it cools so its quite a heavy cake but very tasty. People who don't know compliment me on it and are surprised when I say its egg free.

7oz self raising flour
4oz caster sugar
2oz marg (I use dairy free)
1/2pt milk or milk substitute (I've used goats, rice and soya in the past)
1 tsp vanilla extract if wanted

Rub marg into the flour, mix in the sugar, add the milk / substitute and the vanilla. Give really good whisk, into greased tin, cook on about 175 for 25 mins.

thank you xx

pitmountainpony - I totally see your point, but in the case of DS's nursery situation - He was totally aware, and has always told anyone who will listen that he has allergies, never accepts food from anyone etc. He was even nervous about eating at nursery - especially after the first incident - and we had to reassure him that nursery knew about his allergies, and that his food was made specially for him. So when they put food in front of him, he trusted that it was his own special food / milk.

"With my milder allergies, what I experience could not be described as a bit of tummy upset, I can hospitalised even though it isn't anaphylaxis.

"If my toddler DD is exposed to CMP she gets terrible diarrhoea. By terrible I mean really terrible, it lasts for 5-7 days usually and she has explosive diarrhoea up to 8 times a day in that period. "

Kirsten I often try to explain this to people about allergies and intolerances . . . I have a friend with a SEVERE cheese intolerance, like your DD's. It is much worse than my DS's allergy to peanuts, yet people don't get that a severe intolerance is worse than a mild allergy.

I don't think it's complicated...

Balloon I know, tell me about it. It has been a real problem for us and when people say 'oh, its just an upset tummy' I get .

YANBU

My twins have moderate CMP and egg allergies.

My particular bugbear is when people say breezily 'oh well, they'll grow out of it.'

Yes, they probably will, but that doesn't help me now, does it? The implication being that it can't be that bad if it's all a distant memory in a few years time.

It's the same with my older kids' wheezes.

Grrrrrr

JoJay yes, we get the 'grow out of it' phrase as well. I wish I knew whether they would or not, but like you say it hardly helps at the moment does it?

I think sometimes people just don't know what to say so spout some clap-trap they read somewhere once you know, it normally goes something like this:

"oh really? allergic? Well a little bit won't hurt... build up their tolerance... they'll grow out of it... its all in fashion these days isn't it, allergies?... didn't have them 20 years ago... let her have some cake... isn't mummy mean?... "