A mommy friend contacted me recently to inquire about our relationship and why we'd seemingly lost touch. While reading her message, I felt nostalgic as I recalled our lively conversations and the support system we were beginning to develop. She posed a couple of reasons she assumed I'd been out of touch. Although I would have liked to have given some complicated reason, the truth of the matter is that I'd simply been very busy with life. I felt like that wouldn't be enough to satisfy her and would probably be misinterpreted so I gave a long detailed explanation which in the end I regretted because her response was one of pity. Who wants to be pitied? That's a far stretch from feeling dignified. I was actually hoping she'd understand my need to attend to my life and my family because it's true, I'm busy.
Little has five food allergies and a multitude of food sensitivies. This has had a huge impact on my life. Basically, I feel like I have to learn a new way of living and thinking about food. I personally subscribe to healthy choices as much as I can, so after bioset testing revealed four pages of sensitivities, initially I felt relieved and very hopeful. Hey, I had a list of her sensitivities, so no more flares and symptom hiccups. Right? Well, not totally. After a few days of trying to work around the sensitivities and allergies, I felt spent. What was she going to eat? I was still nursing, what would I eat? To add to that Little had recently become more selective about what she eats. So, my perfect vegetable eating baby seemed to have disappeared. This made me so sad that one day as my husband and I were grocery shopping, I literally had a meltdown. As I stood there, I no idea of what I should buy.
For a while after that episode, I felt as though I had hit a brick wall. I was embarrassed about her meals at daycare. All the other children ate the beautiful daycare lunch and snacks while Little ate my food. One day the teacher reported Little tossed her food to the floor during lunch. Then as if that wasn't enough, she stuck the dagger deeper when she said, "Maybe if she wasn't eating the same old things all the time." She had no idea of how sensitive I was about the subject and how that statement, at that moment made me feel totally defeated.
Out of desperation I posted the dilemma on my Facebook page and asked my friends for help. There was an outpouring of love and support in the form of sugesstions. I felt affirmed and more self assure as most were foods I commonly fed her. I also received a couple of suggestions that made me feel very hopeful. I can't emphasize how empowering it was to find more solutions and try new things. I've listed a few of the resources I found.
http://www.realsimple.com/m/health/preventative-health/cold-flu-allergies/allergen-free
http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org/resourcespre.php?id=139&
http://blog.childrens.com/seven-days-of-allergy-free-meals/
http://www.pinterest.com/kidfolio/allergy-free-recipes-for-kids/
Whether you are dealing with food allergies or something else, remember to reach out. You never know where your support will come from. Here's Little enjoying the hummus recipe a friend sent. You will see she signs thank you and at the end does the love sign, indicating she absolutely loved it.
Little has five food allergies and a multitude of food sensitivies. This has had a huge impact on my life. Basically, I feel like I have to learn a new way of living and thinking about food. I personally subscribe to healthy choices as much as I can, so after bioset testing revealed four pages of sensitivities, initially I felt relieved and very hopeful. Hey, I had a list of her sensitivities, so no more flares and symptom hiccups. Right? Well, not totally. After a few days of trying to work around the sensitivities and allergies, I felt spent. What was she going to eat? I was still nursing, what would I eat? To add to that Little had recently become more selective about what she eats. So, my perfect vegetable eating baby seemed to have disappeared. This made me so sad that one day as my husband and I were grocery shopping, I literally had a meltdown. As I stood there, I no idea of what I should buy.
For a while after that episode, I felt as though I had hit a brick wall. I was embarrassed about her meals at daycare. All the other children ate the beautiful daycare lunch and snacks while Little ate my food. One day the teacher reported Little tossed her food to the floor during lunch. Then as if that wasn't enough, she stuck the dagger deeper when she said, "Maybe if she wasn't eating the same old things all the time." She had no idea of how sensitive I was about the subject and how that statement, at that moment made me feel totally defeated.
Out of desperation I posted the dilemma on my Facebook page and asked my friends for help. There was an outpouring of love and support in the form of sugesstions. I felt affirmed and more self assure as most were foods I commonly fed her. I also received a couple of suggestions that made me feel very hopeful. I can't emphasize how empowering it was to find more solutions and try new things. I've listed a few of the resources I found.
http://www.realsimple.com/m/health/preventative-health/cold-flu-allergies/allergen-free
http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org/resourcespre.php?id=139&
http://blog.childrens.com/seven-days-of-allergy-free-meals/
http://www.pinterest.com/kidfolio/allergy-free-recipes-for-kids/
Whether you are dealing with food allergies or something else, remember to reach out. You never know where your support will come from. Here's Little enjoying the hummus recipe a friend sent. You will see she signs thank you and at the end does the love sign, indicating she absolutely loved it.
Written 7/19/2014 Updated: 8/16/2015 Although, she's been diagnosed with more allergies, we've made so much progress and all is going well. |