happy allergy family

My husband and I have been allergy parents since our older son was born.  He started having a lot of skin problems when he was 2 weeks. I still remember having to reschedule his newborn photoshoot because his skin kept peeling and weeping. Unfortunately, our old pediatrician misdiagnosed our son’s eczema as an ear infection, and it took a while for us figure out what had really been causing his skin condition.

After we switched pediatricians, we were sent to test for food allergies.  At 4 months old, he was diagnosed with eczema related to food allergies.

At 6 months, he was able to eat only pumpkin puree and rice. With anything else, he had flare ups. It was one of the toughest times in our allergy journey. We went back to his allergist every 6 months and ran skin prick tests.  

After we were able to control our son’s diet, his eczema got significantly better. Slowly but surely, he began to out grow some of his food allergies (avocados, spinach, potatoes, citrus fruits, etc.)

We have been struggling with handling food allergies since neither of us has many allergies. When we first became parents, we were not aware of the “food allergy community.” It was hard figuring out how to navigate flare ups and allergens, and we were pretty anxious.

One of the most difficult things as a new food allergy mom was cooking meals without our son’s allergens. It was especially difficult during birthdays and holidays.

Before I became a mom, I always wanted to cook cute sweets and colorful meals for our future child.  On top of that, eating together as a family was something always looked forward to because fun and enjoyable family meals meant great memories!!

So, I was pretty sad that I couldn’t provide great meals, and deserts for our son. But, I didn’t give up.  I tried creating fun and safe foods that our son could enjoy with us, together as a family.

As an allergy mom, inclusive eating is something I really care about. We want to our son to develop healthy self-esteem. That is very important to our family. So, we always try to provide an environment where our son feels comfortable and not left out due to his food allergies.

 

When our son turned one year old, I tried to bake a birthday cake.  I failed miserably so many times. But now, I know how to bake allergen-free cake from scratch and also where to find amazing allergen-free cake mixes. I’m still learning, but I have learned a lot of useful information about allergy cooking and Top 9 Free recipes over the course of these past few years.

Now, I want to share all of this information and knowledge with other food allergy families. 

I hope this blog will help you navigate your own food allergy journey and thank you for joining ours!

DISCLAIMER:

We are sharing our experiences with managing our son’s  food allergies.  Everyone is different.  Please consult your physician before attempting any of our suggestions.