Adjusting To The Allergy
Coming to terms with the fact that Nick can’t eat eggs has been quite the adjustment. I constantly find myself thinking of things that Nick might be able to eat, and then I have one of those mental slap your head moments when I realize that he can’t eat this or that because it contains eggs. I never before realized how many different items contain eggs. Since it wasn’t a problem for us before I guess I just hadn’t paid attention. Now I find myself reading labels and doing a lot of research on egg allergies and foods that are allowed or not allowed (my mother has been a wonderful help with this).
Over the weekend I found a wonderful resource to help me know what foods Nick needs to avoid. The website is KidsHealth from Nemours. One thing that it had was a wallet size list that you could print that contained a list of foods that might contain eggs and a list of egg-based ingredients that would be listed on food labels. It is such a relief to be able to have that information right at my fingertips. The list, when folded in half, is the same size as a bill, so it can easily be kept in a wallet. I plan to make multiple copies so that everyone who watches Nick can have the list as a reference.
On Saturday I realized though that I’m not quite being careful enough because I almost fed Nick Stage 3 baby food that contained egg! Silly me assumed that baby food that is meant for babies 8 months and up would not contain egg since it is recommended that parents hold off on having their child try eggs until after 12 months. I had gotten Nick a jar of food that contained noodles. What I hadn’t realized at the store was that they were egg noodles. It still blows my mind that they would put egg noodles into baby food. I also got him another jar of food (different flavor) that contained noodles and those were not egg noodles. It seems to me that if they have noodles that aren’t made from eggs then they should use those in all of their baby food to prevent allergy problems. I’m so glad I had a feeling that I should look at the label before I opened it. We most likely would have had a big problem on our hands if I had fed it to him.
Nick’s allergy, for the most part, is easy to handle now since he isn’t eating a lot of table food, but we’re all going to have to be very careful of what we give him to eat in the coming months. We’ve already learned how to make a birthday take without eggs, so he can still have cake on his birthday. Once we learn what he can and can’t have at home things will be easier, but I think going out to eat is going to be difficult and nerve racking. I’m so glad that our vacation this year will be on the Disney Cruise since Disney is so wonderful about catering to food allergies. I know they’ll really help us out. Now I just need to remember to contact our travel agent and have Nick’s allergy noted on our reservation…
Disney has always been great for us too when we are dealing with allergies.
Glad everything worked out. Have fun on your Disney Cruise.
That must be so stressful having to constantly watch out for products that might give him allergies. Is it something he will have to deal with his whole life?
We’re not sure at this point. We plan to talk with his doctor about it at his 12 month well visit next month, and I’m sure she’ll refer us to an allergist. I have heard that children can out grow egg allergies, although I’m not sure if that’s true or not. I must say that I’m very ready to talk to a doctor about it. It seems a lot of kids with egg allergies also have some type of nut allergy, so at this point I’m afraid to try anything new!