Food Allergy Awareness Week Giveaway!

Updated 12pm 5/13/10: The winner has been chosen by random.org. Comment #2.
Thanks for the comments and suggestions and even the question!
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Original Post:

Another week long celebration I didn't know existed until it applied to me.

Happy Food Allergy Awareness Week!

We are a family that lives with food allergies now. One of many.

Recent numbers say that between 6-8& of all children (3 and under) have food allergies. And of that 2.5% of children (3 and under) are allergic to milk.

E is dairy allergic and possibly peanut allergic. (We have not tried peanuts yet and are waiting until she turns 2 to do anymore testing.)

She can't have any cheese, butter, milk, yogurt or ice cream.

This means Cheez-It's and cheddar flavored crackers and chips are out. Along with milkshakes and smoothies. And string cheese. I'm pretty sure she misses that the most.

If E gets even just a swig of milk, she will typically throw it up within an hour, if not sooner. We have had a few instances with butter that she ends up very uncomfortable and seems to have an upset tummy.

We are very thankful that her reaction is not more severe. And we are also very hopeful that she will outgrow it as most kids with this type of allergy can and do.

Around the time of M's 5th birthday party, there was a boy that was invited to the party who was allergic to peanuts and I remember the mom asking me several times about the food and making sure it was all peanut free and I checked and double checked and yet the day of the party she sent her own cupcake for her son. I was so annoyed but now I completely understand!

While E's reaction to milk and dairy is not life threatening, I still want to be extra careful and cautious that she is not eating anything that could make her sick. I can only imagine how that mom would feel and worry when her son could have an anaphylaxic reaction which can be fatal.

I thought I would share some of the resources I have used and found the last couple of months since we found out that Miss E has some allergies because until all this came up I had no idea about the options available.

Soy Milk, Rice Milk, Almond Milk. The list goes on.

Goat's Milk is not an alternative because there are some resources that say it is not a safe alternative to cow's milk.

E is on a soy milk diet that includes soy milk, soy yogurt and soy cheese.

Soy milk is available most major grocery stores now but the other items can be harder to find.

Our local Target carries Stonyfield Farms O'Soy yogurt that she eats.

We buy our soy cheese at our local Trader Joe's.

And we also now buy individual chocolate soy milk boxes there too. Those are a fun treat for E. Sunday night she drank the entire 8 ounce box without even stopping to breathe.

I do find myself reading labels a lot more than I used to to make sure there are no actual milk proteins in certain foods. We avoid all cheddar based foods but if something like Vanilla Wafers that the box says "may contain milk", we do allow her to eat it and haven't had any reactions.

The reason E hasn't had peanuts yet is because many times when kids already have a diagnosed food allergy they are more likely to have another allergy and many times that is peanuts. (One of the most common food allergies.)

I was thrilled when I heard of SunButter. It's a sunflower seed spread that has a peanut butter like texture.

It is high fat and high protein (which in our case with E is very good!) and very tasty.

All four of our kids love it on crackers and sandwiches.

It is peanut, dairy and gluten free.

This is available at Target and other grocery stores. There is also a generic version I've seen at Trader Joe's but I haven't read the label yet to make sure that it is safe.

While there are some things that have been harder with E's allergies, we have adapted pretty well. I do sometimes struggle with the fact that with H it was so easy to have a babysitter or go to a friends and he could eat and drink anything and now I need to plan more for E. And also communicate more about what she can and can not have. I am already a little anxious about the idea of future playdates and preschool and all of those things that I won't necessarily be there to speak up about. However, I think we'll wait and cross that bridge when it comes.

There are tons more resources out there that I haven't even uncovered yet. One of the websites I have turned to for information is FAAN. But I am always interested in more info.

**Another local Minnesota resource is Missy of the Marketing Mama. She has an entire series on her blog devoted to food allergies.**

Do you have any experience with food allergies or any further advice to give someone?

Please leave a comment of your own experience in the comments or further suggestions you have or if you have no experience on this topic, a question you have. All comments will be entered in a random drawing for two tickets to this Friday nights (May 14, 2010) St. Paul Saints Game. Comments will be closed and the winner will be chosen by random.org at 12pm Thursday.

Disclosure: I was not paid or compensated in any way to write any of this post by any of the above companies or products listed. However, SunButter did send me samples of their product to try with no obligation. Metro Dentalcare has offered me the St. Paul Saints tickets to give away. I am not a patient at Metro Dentalcare and did not receive anything from them for hosting the giveaway.