Meltdown in the Bread Aisle

This title might bring to mind an all-too-typical trip to the grocery store with a toddler, but I was the one who had the meltdown. Our favorite bread, Oroweat's Whole Grain 100% Whole Wheat, added milk as an ingredient. Out of the 100 or so bread options, this was the only dairy-free sliced bread that was tasty enough for my kids and healthy enough for the parents. This had been such a reliable standard for us that I haven't felt the need to read the label for quite some time. It was even on my son's "Safe Food" list. Recently, however, I read on FAAN's website not to make such a list and to check labels every time since manufacturers change their ingredients. With that sound advice on my mind I flipped the Oroweat loaf over and what I saw nearly floored me: whey and nonfat milk in bold, black letters at the end of the ingredient list.

I'm used to checking labels and the frequent disappointment that comes with that necessary task but this was too much. A healthy, allergen-free food that everyone likes is just too hard to come by and this one was now being taken from us with no warning, no bright yellow banner stating, "Now Containing Dairy!" or anything of the like.

After gathering myself and inspecting all other options only to read milk, milk, milk on all of them, I finally found another Oroweat bread: Dutch Country 100% Whole Wheat. It, by the way, isn't nearly as tasty. I called Oroweat to complain thinking that they need to hear from their dairy allergic customers. The nice lady at customer service sympathized and promised to pass on my concern to the powers that be. She also sent me coupons for any of their products . . . excluding Dutch Country.

A Review of Food Allergy Children's Books

We've been looking for books to help our son prepare for preschool. We wanted to increase his awareness, help him become an advocate for himself, and hopefully find a book that his teacher could read to his class to help them understand and be supportive.

Here's what we got through interlibrary loan and Amazon:

Cody the Allergic Cow by Nicole Smith

This is our favorite of all of the books. Though Cody is just allergic to milk, food-allergy issues like symptoms, being careful about what foods "hide" the allergen, feeling different than non-allergic friends and family members, and having the epi-pen close by are all covered. There are other books in this series that deal with peanuts and nuts. This book is great for my preschooler and it would be great for his teacher to share with the class as well.

The BugaBees: Friends with Food Allergies by Amy Recob

This beautifully illustrated rhyming children's book features 8 characters with different food allergies. Since my son shares 6 of those, we have plenty of opportunity for discussion about foods to which he is and is not allergic. This book is appropriate for children in the primary grades and would be great for a teacher to share with the class.

The Day I Met the Nuts by Mary Rand Hess

This is a cute book that describes nut allergies from a child's perspective. He goes through all the emotions: He's sick, scared, frustrated, he feels different and left out, and eventually he learns how to adapt. This book is appropriate for nut-allergic children of any age.

Food Allergies by Jason Glaser

This is more of a reference book for kids than it is a children's book. Teachers could effectively use this book to share with a class what food allergies are, what reactions look like, what causes them, etc. This book could be used from preschool through most of the elementary grades.

A Day at the Playground: A Food Allergy Awareness Book for the Young by Tracie Mulari-Schrand

This book is not specific to any particular food allergy. It's geared toward helping children be aware of food allergens in a play setting. It's age-appropriate for my 3-year old boy. It is a good cautionary read.

Taking Food Allergies to School by Ellen Weiner (Part of Kim Gosselin's Special Kids in School Series)

This book is very good at explaining how foods with an allergen make a food-allergic person sick, complete with talk of white blood cells, antibodies, and histamines. This is a great book to read and discuss with my food-allergic 8-year old but not with the 3-year old.

About Our Food Allergy Family

My husband and I both agreed that we wanted to reach out and connect with other families with food allergies. We receive a lot of encouragement, ideas, and moral support by reading blogs of other food allergic families and we felt that we wanted to contribute too. We have two happy and healthy children who are the lights of our lives. They both also happen to have life-threatening food allergies which has dramatically changed the way our family eats.

Our son, age 3, is the most severe of my two food allergic children. He has multiple life-threatening food allergies to dairy, eggs, nuts, poultry, fish, pinto beans, peas, and most likely tropical fruits. He has had one actual anaphylactic reaction after accidentally taking a drink of another child’s cow’s milk. I pray that that never happens again. We avoid eating out because of the possibility of cross-contamination.

His most recent IgE test showed that his allergy levels were actually increasing. His peanut test is actually over 100 which is off the chart. My husband and I were feeling pretty down about this and I guess that’s why we wanted to reach out to others.

We have known that our son was a food allergic child since he was about 7 months old. We had him tested because he was having severe eczema and rashes. We had also noticed how his eczema would flare up after eating certain baby foods. At Thanksgiving when he was 8 months old, after eating turkey, his cheeks became bright red and rough. We didn’t know at that time that the turkey was bothering him. We actually had family photographs taken and the photographer asked if I’d like to have her retouch the photograph to take the redness out of my little guy’s cheeks!

My daughter, age 8, also has life-threatening food allergies to nuts and sesame. Honestly, I sometimes forget about the seriousness of her allergies because compared to her brother, she’s a breeze! It’s fairly easy to avoid nuts and sesame; however, we have to be vigilant about making sure she never eats them. We first discovered her food allergies when she was still very little. My husband and I were eating take-out Chinese cashew chicken. I gave her a cashew to eat. Her reaction was delayed by about an hour but she began projectile vomiting and broke out in hives. Her pediatrician said it was most likely an allergic reaction and that’s what we chalked it up to. It didn’t feel like a huge deal… so we wouldn’t eat cashews anymore, right?

Then when she was two and a half, she ate an ice cream cone with a few peanut sprinkles on the top and then we went swimming. At the pool, she started having chills and as I was holding her, I noticed her eyes and lips swelling! We rushed home and gave her Benadryl, and she was better.

Looking back, we were so naïve about dealing with food allergies. My daughter was our first experience with it; however, the extensiveness of my son’s allergies has forced us to become very well educated in the food allergy department. My goal is to share my experiences, ideas, support, and recipes for others who find themselves in the same situation. Thanks for reading!