The Food Allergy Epidemic {At Home}

I read a statistic today that frightened me.  Did you know that 1 in 13 children have food allergies?  I didn't either, but I do know my own 2 year old daughter does!  When she was 6 months old we started noticing that she would get hives around her mouth after eating certain foods.  For a while we thought it was berries, then one evening, for dinner I made Spaghetti alla Carbonara.  Within minutes of picking up the spaghetti and eating the way a typical 9 month old baby does, she began to have a severe reaction.  Hives, swelling, scratching, screaming...  That was our first trip to the ER.  After that she underwent allergy testing, but I knew without a doubt that day, for her, it was eggs. (You'll notice, if you follow my blog that 98% of my recipes are egg free, this is the reason why!) I wish I could say that was our last trip, but unfortunately, that's not the case.  We've had a few scares since then.

{That's Ella after she took a bite of my salad.  It had ranch dressing on it.  

I gave her benadryl before this picture was taken.  The hives & 

swelling went away fast, but I felt terrible for quite a while!}

Today, as I prepared to leave Ella in the very capable and well trusted hands of a friend (I had to volunteer in my 5 year old daughter's kindergarten class) I realized how much it terrifies me to leave her.  I packed her diaper bag with snacks, diapers, wipes, benadryl, epi-pen.  How I wish it were different for her.  How I wish I could give her a cookie, or let her have a cupcake at a birthday party.  How I wish there was more I could do**...  But, that just isn't the hand we were dealt.  So I gave the full run down on using the epinephrine auto-injector, said a little prayer and walked my 5 year old to school.  Everything was fine.  Actually, it was perfect and she had a fantastic time, but none the less it was scary not to have control over her environment.

When I start to think about what things will be like down the road, when Ella is in kindergarten, the world becomes a scary place.  I think about the little girl from our home town that passed away after having multiple epinephrine injections because she bit into a rice crispy treat with peanut butter in it.  I think about how much parents will be annoyed that cookies and cupcakes can't be served in her class because school policy states that if a child has a food allergy that food is banned from the classroom.  I think, what if she forgets, or what if she doesn't know?  I think, what if I make another mistake?  (It's happened!)

What I do know is that I can't control the future.  I can't make eggs disappear.  I can't protect her from every little thing.  I guess, we all feel that way...

**Did you know?

The School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act is now a federal law! What it means:
 *The law will encourage – but not require – states to implement policies allowing schools to stock undesignated epinephrine auto-injectors for use in emergencies. States who develop such policies that allow self-administration of asthma and anaphylaxis medication will be given additional preference for grants.
 *Undesignated epinephrine in schools has saved lives. Up to 25% of the serious allergic reactions that have occurred on school grounds are in patients who are experiencing their first reaction, and thus do not have the life-saving medication needed to stop the reaction.

If you'd like to learn more about what you can do to support this act and ensure that there is access to epinephrine on your child's school campus, please visit www.kidswithfoodallergies.org.