Our Food Allergy Beginning

Hey, you!  Thank you for being here! I’m Juliana!

While I love that you’re here, I’m sorry you’re probably here searching for answers to your own food allergy journey. This food allergy road you’re on isn’t easy, but I know that you’re in the right place, looking for community and resources that are going to make your life with food allergies that much easier.

First, if you JUST discovered food allergies, you might be feeling a bit overwhelmed.  I know I was.  I was overwhelmed knowing I had so many questions, but I didn’t know what the right questions were to ask! I wanted to protect my son, but I didn’t know what I didn’t know.  I’ve been there and it gets better.  You’ve got this. 

One of the biggest things I wondered was what other peoples’ stories were like.  When did you discover food allergies? What sort of reaction did you experience? What did you do next?  So, here’s a piece of our story.

DISCOVERING FOOD ALLERGIES

Our son Zeke turned 6 months old and we were starting solid food.  We liked eating peanut butter in our home, so we decided peanut would be the first allergen we’d introduce to him.  We mixed a very small amount with some breastmilk and let him eat it.  A few minutes later he had hives around his mouth, a swollen eye, itchiness, and a scratchy throat.  *Cue the anxiety* We watched him closely and after about an hour, his hives and other symptoms were gone.  We were prepared for an ER visit (which is only a few minutes from our home), but didn’t need to administer any type of treatment.  

We were already scheduled to see our pediatrician within the next few days so we told her about the experience then and talked about seeing an allergist.  I know exactly one person with a peanut allergy, so I got in touch with her and she recommended Allergy Associates of La Crosse.  People from all over the US go there for treatment and it had great reviews so that’s where we’ve been going for our allergist.  

A few months later we tried a 1/4 tsp of milk, which resulted in hives, a swollen eye, and itchiness (but no scratchy throat).  The symptoms resolved within an hour with no treatment.

A few months after that I made dairy free cupcakes for his first birthday.  Many dairy-free replacements are cashew based (new information for me!) so that meant we were trying cashew for the first time.  He had it on his first birthday with no issues.  A few days later we tried cashew again and ended up with the same symptoms of hives on the face, a swollen eye, itchiness, and a rash on his neck.  Again, symptoms resolved on their own within an hour.

We informed our allergist and they had enough blood from his blood draw at his first appointment to test for dairy and cashew allergies.  They were confirmed shortly after that.  We have decided to do SLIT treatment, which I will talk more about later!

We have been peanut, dairy, and cashew free since!  We are also completely gluten free because I am gluten intolerant. We have completely eliminated peanut and cashew from our home, but we do still keep regular dairy butter and cheese around.  Most of the meals we make are dairy free, as well, but we do like to include cheese in scrambled eggs for us and our daughter and butter in our favorite Sunday post-kids-bedtime snack of popcorn and a cuddle on the couch. 

We are extremely careful when we do decide to get dairy out and do everything we can to avoid cross contamination.  We haven’t had any accidental exposures to any of his allergens at this time, which we are so thankful for! 

I know knowing other peoples’ stories of food allergy discovery was so helpful for me to not feel alone and to start to understand how food allergies can present themselves.  If you’re in this season, hang in there.  You’ve got this.  This is the hardest season, in my opinion.  Once you know the things you need to avoid and know which foods are safe, it gets easier to try new things and feel confident in your decisions!