Hooray for being average!

We're celebrating at the moment - just did a measure and weigh and our son is officially in the 40th percentile for height and also in the 40th percentile in weight... that means he's totally average in build! Hip Hip Hooray!

Before we knew about our son's multiple food allergies, we already had to go for monthly weigh-ins with the nurse because our little tacker just wasn't putting on weight. Once we found out about his anaphylaxis, our whole approach changed, but he was already in the 3rd percentile for weight, while being 40th percentile in height. That meant he was super super skinny. Everything thing our son ate was carefully considered - not just from an allergy sense, but based on calories, digestability, fibre, glucose/fructose levels... ugh... I still think about that stuff, but there's now a lot more freedom and a lot less pressure. If you're interested in how we managed to finally stack on the weight, check out Weight Gain 2010.

Our son has just turned 3, and after being anaphylactic to eight of the nine most common food allergies, he is now only anaphylactic to three. In real terms, that meant that he was actually allergic to all sorts of foods like tomatoes, peas, onions, oranges, stone fruit, just to name a few. And that didn't even include all the basics of egg, milk, wheat, oat, shellfish, peanuts, tree nuts and sesame. But I'm now trying to readjust my way of thinking based on his anaphylaxis to just three of those foods. I've realised that I probably don't need to worry so much if he touches a shell at the beach now, and he can probably finally dip his hands into those touch and feel ponds at aquariums that can have prawns swimming in there. All these little things that others would take for granted have been up till now a cause of panic and prohibition. Now, I'd probably be very watchful, make sure I have my antihistimine medication ready and just clean his hands soon after. Haha, for non-allergy mums, you probably think I'm still being neurotic, but such is the life of an allergy mum.

I have gained confidence though - our son can now officially and safely eat fresh peaches, nectarines, plums, and even lychees after our food trials in the first couple of months of 2012. That is quite an accomplishment, not to mention the excitement for our not so little guy. But, as with all things, we have also recently had a setback. A couple of days of barramundi (a white flesh fish) have apparently led to about a week of very messy, very smelly, digestive problems. ie. diarrhea. Yuck! I'm just glad he's still in a toddler bed so that the sheets are smaller to wash.

Oh dear, that's not a very nice note to end on... My next post will be all about birthday parties and the like, and there's a lot of good progress on that front too! So, if your child has life-threatening food allergies, take heart, things change over time, and if not, then we change - hopefully for the better, for the stronger, and for the bigger where our children are concerned :-)

Chicken,Tomato and Pasta soup

This recipe was born out of a near empty fridge and pantry, but don't all great inventions come from bare necessity? Well, perhaps that is too great a comparison... this dish isn't really that great an invention, but it is a hearty meal, made from ingredients dug out of a pantry. My secret ingredient was actually a small tin of baked beans! Our son can't have bought chicken stock cubes since he's allergic to some of the ingredients they use. I had run out of tinned tomatoes, and I was wanting to somehow add a bit more nutrition and vegetable content to the soup... and there it was, a tin of baked beans! My husband actually really liked this dish, so it got ticks of approval from old and young.

Chicken, Tomato and Pasta soup
500g chicken fillet - cut into bite sized cubes. If you have chicken pieces then you can use that instead of course, but the fillet is the quickest option and easiest to find in my freezer.
1 onion, diced
2 medium carrots, diced roughly
220g can SPC Baked Beans in tomato sauce (dairy free, egg free, nut free)
300g San Remo soup pasta, or any other pasta of your choice

Boil about 3L of water, add the chicken pieces first. Once they have been cooked on the outside, simply add all the other ingredients, except for pasta. Simmer gently for about 30 minutes. Add the pasta to cook about 10 minutes before you are ready to serve. Depending on what pasta you choose, you may need to add more water to ensure the pasta doesn't stick together. This is a great simple, hearty meal for those days on the run. Garnish with some parsley just to add a bit of colour.

Allergy free Spring rolls - savoury and sweet

 

Hooray, our son can eat cabbage! I can just imagine the surprise as you read that. For our son, every new food is a cause for celebration - I have to admit that on this one, I didn't follow the strict rules of half a teaspoon one day, one teaspoon the next etc. I don't think that test would have been very successful because who wants to eat spoonfuls of cabbage?!

So, my test method was actually using Coles Cocktail Spring Rolls with Vegetable filling. Two spring rolls on the first day, doubling that portion over the next few days until my son could eat no more! This is where other allergy mums will understand what my cheering was really about. The picture that I've put up is of my home-made spring rolls, but my celebration over cabbage is because it now allows us to buy pre-made spring rolls! Just in time for birthday party number 3! This means that there is one less thing I have to make from scratch and one easy option when we want to bring a plate of something to share to other parties. The reason I chose this brand is because it has the least ingredients in it, thus making it more likely that our son can actually eat it: egg free, milk free and nut free still of course, but be sure to check the packaging every time you buy it.

Up till now, I have experimented with home made spring rolls like the picture above. I used Filo Pastry which is basically just wheat and oil. I wrapped shredded chicken with thinly sliced vegetables, or else slices of apple in the pastry and shallow fried it. Apple was our son's favourite naturally. For adults, I served it with a fresh garden salad, drizzled with sweet chilli sauce and mayonnaise. If you're adventurous, you could wrap them in triangle shapes instead to make samosas.

Home-made was probably more delicious, but shop bought gets my thumbs up for easier living.

Calling other allergy mums out there... do you know of a soy mayonnaise that doesn't contain egg?