How to make a report after an allergic reaction

Here is a great flow chart of what to do and how to report an allergic reaction to prepackaged food or to food prepared from a food service provider. This is most relevant for Australia.

FLOW CHART from allergyfacts.org.au

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Reviews for Allergy Fun - Growing up with multiple food allergies

Would you like to know what others thought about Allergy Fun? Here are some of the comments we have received:

"Hello to all the allergy Mums and Dads out there. I just wanted to let you know that I personally think the book 'Allergy Fun' is brilliant! I received my hard cover copy just last week and I'm very happy with it. The book is sooooooooooooooo relevant to my 4 year old son who has multiple allergies. I feel like it was written for him! Lol! The pictures are bright and bold, the information is well written and easy to read and the message is loud and clear. I will definitely be sending this book along to school next year when he starts Kinder. Thanks again" - Emma, Tasmania, Australia, August, 2015.

"Received my little boys allergy book today!! Can't wait to fill it in to help him understand what he can't have!!
Book is brilliant big pages and easy to understand!!.
Very pleased very quick postage and delivery!!
Thank you so much x x" - Vicki, Stephenage, UK, August 2015.

"We received our book this week, can't wait to share it with my little girl and also family & friends. This will be great to help my daughter learn more about her allergies to and it's wonderful she can add her own story in the back.
Postage was fast also was here in a couple days very good.
Thank you" - Michelle, WA, Australia, August 2015.

"This is a beautiful way of looking at something that can be very challenging for children and families. As a parent, educator and writer myself, I am so glad this fun book has been created. I will be recommend it to all parents who have kids with allergies. It will help a lot of people. Grace's experience and unique perspective will help smooth out the journey for our kids. Thanks Grace! Congratulations on a wonderful achievement." - Joshua, July 2015.

Here are some sample pages from the book:

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Australian Delivery $24.00 AUDInternational Delivery $30.00 AUD

Allergy Free party food / convenience food in Australia

If you are new to the world of food allergies, the thought of having a party that does not contain the allergens of concern can be the cause of many a headache, and many a sleepless nights.

There are two sides to this... in the modern world, perhaps our desire to see our children "happy" is getting out of hand? Look up birthday party ideas on the internet and you will be hit with amazing, cute, awesome birthday/celebration ideas. Some are more colour coordinated and elaborate than the average wedding! But to do this every year for every child, with food allergies thrown into the mix... well, it leads to a very tired, probably highly strung mum. (Oh, hi there, my name is Grace!)

The other side is of course that we would like to celebrate the birth of each of our children, and do it in a way that doesn't make them sick, or worse! We have had parties with just my husband, myself, and one child. We have had parties with many people and many kids, with all sorts of food around. We have had parties with many people and only safe foods. The choice is a personal one, and there are pros and cons for each. My advice... do what suits you at this point in time. This changes as kids grow older... this changes as we grow wiser ;-)

No matter which way you choose, the more safe foods there are, the higher the chance that your child won't have an allergic reaction from cross contamination or just kids being kids.

Here is a quick list of easy to do party food that will hopefully take off some of the pressure. Please check the labels on all packets before you buy, to make sure they are suitable for you.

Milk/egg/nut free
Coles Spring Rolls -found in the freezer section. They do contain wheat and maybe soy.
Some brands of frankfurts
Doritos - plain flavour
Parkers Pretzels
Coles Canola Puff Pastry - for pizza scrolls or vegemite scrolls
Fairy bread using Nuttelex and hundreds and thousands

Gluten/milk/egg/nut/soy free
Birds Eye Golden crunch potato gems or hash browns
Red Rock Deli Potatoe chips
Aeroplane jelly
SPC Fruit cups
Sunbites popcorn
Rice crackers with home made guacamole dip
Fruit poppers/bottles - I prefer this at a party since the chance of spilling is slightly minimised.
Prepackaged Coles ham - comes in small packets, sold near the bacon.
Fruit skewers - make your own

 

If you have other products that you use, please add them in the comments section for others to read.

Just remember we are here to celebrate the child, not the food... Happy partying!

Click HERE for an easy cake recipe.

Dairy free sliced deli meat

Wow, I am impressed by our supermarket. For all the negative press there is in Australia about our big supermarkets dominating the market, I am grateful for the large systems they seem to have in place.

Our son is anaphylactic to milk, egg, peanuts and tree nuts. That means that although he can eat beef, lamb and chicken, it always has to be cooked by us. I am terribly thankful that he can eat wheat, so we can have sliced bread (although I am very particular about exactly which brand we get in order to avoid cross contamination). So far, our son can have Nuttelex (a dairy-free margarine), some jams and also vegemite on his sandwiches. But I am always a bit sad that he can't have a ham sandwich like the other kids... or more sad, that I can't just get some deli meat from the shops to save cooking.

I bought some prepackaged Coles Sliced Roast Beef (2x50g) the other day for my husband and noticed with surprise that the allergen list did not include milk, eggs or nuts. Normally pre-sliced meat from the deli is always at risk of being contaminated by cheese especially since they use the same machines to slice the meat. However, because this product is pre-sliced and pre-packaged, en mass, at some other location, there was a chance it could be safe for our son to eat. There are labels and then there are labels. This product is made in Australia, so that does give me some assurance. However, there's nothing like contacting the company directly to find out. Any company that does not get back to me is off my list. If they can't take the effort to answer my question about allergens, then it's likely they can't take the effort to do a lot of other things too, like making sure there is no cross contamination.

I sent an email off, and got a message on my phone a few days later stating that the sliced meat was most likely contaminated with dairy products. This was what I would have expected, so I sent off another email suggesting they fix the labeling of their packaging to reflect this. A few days later, I get another phone message stating that they were unsure of the accuracy of their previous comments and would launch an investigation to address my question. (You'll notice that there's a lot of phone messages... that's my fault since I can never put baby down in time to actually answer the phone). Anyway, two weeks later, the phone rings again and this time I answer it. The lady confirms that after a full investigation, there should be no risk of milk, egg or nut contamination, and in fact their initial customer information was incorrect. Wow, that's customer service. All that effort for one customer (although probably also to ensure there's no risk of litigation). Still, I'm impressed, and I'll be even more impressed if my son actually decides he likes it :-)

Allergy free alternatives

This is a special post for a mum who's daughter has had a recent diagnosis of allergies and interolerances to multiple foods.

When our eldest son was first diagnosed with anaphylaxis to milk, egg, peanuts, all nuts, oats, shellfish, wheat and sesame, at the age of 9 months, we had to dramatically change his diet to exclude traces of all these ingredients. I also had to dramatically change my diet so that I could continue breastfeeding but I was able to have small amounts of most foods. This is a list of ideas for others who have to make such a switch. It's not all bad but does take some getting used to. Hopefully, by providing a list of alternatives, you don't have to reinvent the wheel with your cooking, but just use alternatives.

Milk - we use So Good Regular Soy since it has the highest nutritional content of all the soy milks available in Australia. It is also fortified with calcium, so provides minerals in that sense. Rice milk is another alternative, but apparently the calcium in that milk is not absorbed very well by the body. Using Rice milk is fine if you just want to have cereal, as long as you can obtain your calcium from other sources. We also use Nuttelex, a sunflower oil spread instead of margarine or butter.

Egg - The Allergy Menu website has a Sweet Treats recipe book you can download for free. Page 45 has a great list of alternatives you can use when replacing eggs in recipes. You can't really replace fried eggs I'm afraid, but you can use alternatives for cakes, pancakes, cookies etc.

Peanut - well just avoid that one!

Other nuts - depending on the allergies, sometimes, you can use soy nuts, sunflower seeds or other seeds... but try this carefully since other allergies might exist that hasn't been tested for.

Wheat - I'm afraid I never really found a good alternative bread. If you know one, please do let me know. Corn products are great - corn flakes, corn chips for nachos, corn crackers and rice and corn pasta. Rice products are great - natural rice of course, fried rice, rice crackers, rice noodles. Potatoe products are great - chips, gnocchi, mashed potatoe, roast potatoe etc.

So there you have it - a super quick list of alternatives to use in your cooking - if you have more specific questions or ideas, please let me know. I love hearing from everyone out there who is reading this blog.

Annoying products 2

We've been dealing with life-threatening food allergies for nearly 3 years now and every now and then I am tempted to relax a little bit. Afterall, all the other kids around us and all the other parents around us seem to be able to relax more... or so it seems right?!

Well, whenever I am struck with these thoughts, something comes along to jolt me back into vigilance... I was going to type vigilante mode since that's what it FEELS like at times! But no, vigilance is what is needed, not some battle-seeking vigilante mode.

We were at a medical facility - the one place where you would think should be reasonably safe for a child... but then I noticed a bottle of bacteria killing lotion on the bench for everyone to use. These days all the hospitals seem to have them, and actively encourage you to use it to prevent the spreading of bacteria. We had just been in one of the offices where I had used some to clean my hands after an urgent nappy change of our new little bub. That office was dark and I was in a rush so I hadn't read any labels. But in the reception area, I realised with horror that this container had MACADAMIA OIL added! How absolutely ridiculous! Can nothing be made without the presence of nuts?!?! Can you imagine if this was used in hospitals?? Every nurse and doctor would be putting it on their hands, then touching every handrail, every door handle, every piece of equipement... Aaargh!

 

The other source of food contaminant was in a loaf of bread... I know - so simple. Our son does eat white bread since he's outgrown his wheat allergy. We tend to buy just one brand of bread, made in a large facility, to minimise contamination. Afterall, we're still not sure about his sensitivity to sesame, we know linseed gives diarreah, and all other nuts are on the anaphylactic list. I've stayed away from wholegrain breads since the possibility of an allergic reaction increases with the number of ingredients. Seems neurotic, I know, but then I get given a loaf of bread... looks white... looks fine, until you read the fine print: oat fibre. Yup, in an attempt to increase the fibre content I guess, the producer has added finely ground oats - so the kids can't see it I suppose. Our son is still allergic to oats! So stay strong I tell myself... stay neurotic! I need to!

So that's our latest list of annoying products - the lesson for us? Stay on alert at all times, never stop reading product labels each and every time you buy something, and never let your guard down. Sound tiring? Yes, a little but it's worth it.

Thanks Tiffany for the cartoon, and bringing a lighter side to living with food anaphylaxis.

Turning 3, free of eggs, milk, peanuts and treenuts

Happy Birthday my not so little man! For some reason, this age seems to be more significant as I see our son go from nappies to undies, and watch him really play with other children in such a way that shows he really is not a baby anymore.

This year we decided to split his birthday celebration into two separate parties to ease the pressure and allow us to enjoy more time actually chatting to people. I'm not convinced that the first aim was achieved, but at least we did get to enjoy talking to friends more when the party size was halved. Having the first party at a friend's place was by far the best part though! Thanks Mei and Vince!!!!

As I compare the party last year to this year - there are so many differences! Food wise, we had so much more variety this time around and we didn't have to cook nearly as much special food for the kids. For those of you who also have allergic kids, we had Parkers Pretzels (mainly wheat), Red Rock Deli Potato Crisps (mainly potato and salt), Coles Spring rolls (cabbage and other vegies) and plain corn chips (mainly corn) freely available on the table... there was no cheese or cheese dip in sight, no nuts obviously and not even crackers with dairy or egg traces. It is quite a relief and surprisingly relaxing when you supply all the nibblies on the table, and for at least the first part of the party, you can let your highly allergic child run free - he was even allowed to help himself to the shared nibblies since I knew they had not been contaminated. Admittedly he ate way too many potato crisps, but I'm not complaining.

The main food event was of course the cake. A Wiggles cake for Party #1. I used the basic egg free, milk free, nut free recipe for one layer, and a new chocolate recipe for the second layer. We've managed to find a milk free and nut free cocoa powder (Planet Organic Cocoa) - which isn't as easy as you would think to find. The icing was simply icing sugar, water and food colouring. The greatest tip I have for cake decoration is simply to buy a toy to put on top! Forget trying to carve something out of cake... this is so much easier plus your child gets a toy at the end :-) We used Sweet William soy choc chips as well as SF Health Foods Premium milk free marshmallows for the added decorations, and to hide any imperfections in icing technique.

And for Party #2 the theme was Cars... I actually bought a Lighting McQueen toy to place on the race track, but our son found the toy the day before, and do you think I could find it on the day I needed it?! Oh well, I ended up washing some of his other cars and placed them on top instead... he was till happy with that... of course! I'm pretty sure us mums create some of our own headaches. The green grass was made using dessicated coconut mixed with green food colouring. Soy choc chips made the race track while the magnificent finish line was made by printing the chequered pattern onto an overhead transparency, secured with toothpicks. In the end I think I was more happy with the Wiggles cake - I think the simpler it is, probably the more glamourous it actually looks.

For lunch, we served small dinner buns (allergen free) and sausages for the kids. For adults we simply ordered BBQ chicken and I did buy some pre-made salads (which did contain dairy). But with the number of allergens significantly reduced by providing all the food, actually a lot of stress was removed and we really did enjoy having friends and their kids over. To be honest, most of the stress came from having to assemble a bunk bed and a trampoline, ready for the main event (while we were also suffering from a household bout of gastro... but that's another story all together).

And when you see something like this, with no rash at the end of the day...

... success!