Rosie was born with food allergies, more than I could count on 10 fingers. Thankfully, she’s outgrown many – except peanuts, tree nuts, and soy protein. It was because of an incident at pre-school involving Rosie reaching into a cracker jar smeared with peanut butter from a sloppy classmate that triggered an allergic reaction and ushered in the EMTs. The school has since been “nut-free” (except for some of the teachers).
When she outgrew milk and egg allergies around age 5 she could finally eat pizza, cake and ice cream at birthday parties. When she got to first grade in the public school, however, she was ushered to the allergy free table and felt like a pariah (there was only one other boy with a milk allergy). Luckily, a few friends decided to forgo peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and began to sit with her. I attended parent meetings that essentially were Parents of Kids Who Could Die from a food allergy vs. Parents of Finicky Kids who only eat PB&J. The compromise of those meetings netted out that any classroom birthday celebrations could not involve food. Needless, to say we’ve become avid food label readers and carry emergency medicine but have not needed to use it.
I always reflect back on my pregnancy with her because I followed one of those ridiculous high protein diets (and gained 50 lbs) – and she became allergic to every high protein “brain” food I ingested. I must say she IS very smart, in the 75% for height and weight, and a graceful athlete. Maybe it is her father’s genes. Anyway, when I was pregnant with my second, Adele, I avoided all those foods. She has no allergies and is consistently in the 25% for height and weight – she’s a “peanut” so to speak. And she hates being the tiny one. Our family allergist says this is all anecdotal, but I’m convinced that both my pregnancy diets influenced my girls’ development.
We’ve adjusted to all the food restrictions but I worry most when Rosie is older. You know, when she’s a regular risk-taking teen, unsupervised at house parties, and all that. The most anaphylaxis events happen in teens and adults, not children. I worry that Rosie can’t eat ethnic foods, confections, and Belgium chocolate (many foods are “manufactured in facilities that process foods with peanut and tree nuts” which leaves a lot of items, like comfort foods, out of the shopping cart). I worry what might happen when she travels abroad (as I assume she will) where ingredients are not well labeled. Most people just don’t get the food allergy thing – how it changes a household and lifestyle and creates a subtle backdrop of anxiety no matter how “normal” things are.
So I was happy that a little recognition of the issue appeared in a New York Times blog by Tara Parker-Pope. She wrote about Trump’s show, The Celebrity Apprentice, where one of the celebs, Trace Adkins, had as his charity the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (his daughter has the same allergies as mine). FAAN saved us in the early years with their cookbooks and newsletters. Adkins didn’t win the contest but now proceeds of his hit song via iTunes sales are going to FAAN. Check it out.
