Play Dates!

My big boy is still at the age where I go with him to play dates. Though he probably would not flinch if I wasn’t there, I’m pretty sure it’s still a year or two away until I can send him out to the real world of play dates where only the hostess supervises. Sending an allergic child off to a play date must be one of the most stressful experiences for parents of allergic kids. How about hosting the allergic kid? Have you thought about this, or experienced this? Personally, I would NEVER do it unless the child is allergic to nuts and or peanuts since my home is entirely peanut/nut free. I started thinking about this topic a few weeks ago when another mom mentioned that she would never host a play date with a child who has a peanut allergy because she keeps peanut butter in her house. She explained that she was simply too nervous to have this responsibility. I don’t blame her, and I completely understand what she was saying. It is a huge responsibility, and I too would not be comfortable with it. I’m curious to know peoples thoughts on this subject; to host or not to host? :) J.

Boys, Boys, Boys!

It’s a boy! Exactly one week late, the newest addition of our family arrived. At 9 lbs 12 oz, he is a big bundle of joy. The big boy loves his baby brother and has adjusted to his new role as a big brother quite well. About an hour after birth, we were taken to our hospital room where a nurse walked in, introduced herself and immediately noticed my red hospital issued allergy bracelet. She looked at it, and commented “I just had a sausage with peanut butter sauce, it was delicious". Keeping in mind that I literally just delivered a baby, I was doing my best to be polite and calm. I explained to her that I am severely allergic, and that I would prefer if she not touch, or be near me considering she just ate peanut butter. She looked at me blankly, and asked when my last allergic reaction was and what exactly happens to me. I told her, and she came closer to me to check the IV. I explained that she should not take it personally, but that I would be more comfortable with a different nurse who has not eaten peanut butter. She continued to hover, and question me, and at this point I was starting to lose it. I politely explained that I would prefer to not continue this conversation. That I just had a baby, I am not comfortable with her, and that I simply want a new nurse. She returned with another nurse who introduced herself as the head nurse for the evening, and with all do respect she was just as useless. She just couldn’t understand why I would want a new nurse. For whatever reason, she was talking about the breakfast menu and how they will ensure it will accommodate my allergy. I told her I have no intention of eating any hospital food anyways, and that this has nothing to do with the food, I simply requested a new nurse because the current nurse had told me she just ate something with peanuts and I didn’t want her to touch or be near me with or without gloves. She then drilled me with allergy questions and my allergy history until I interjected and asked why my request was so difficult and could not simply reassign me to someone else. She finally agreed, and a new nurse was assigned. I was so frustrated that both these nurses just didn’t seem to “get it”. They are health care professionals, I would have assumed they would understand the severity of an allergy and be more understanding towards the situation, especially to someone who just delivered a baby. This experience was a reminder that I must always advocate for myself and be assertive when necessary. :) J.

Someone to worry about

First I would like to apologize for not posting in quite some time. Truth is, I have been busy preparing for the boy’s baby brother or sister who was set to arrive this week but is already fashionably late. The past few weeks have been busy with the boy’s 3rd birthday, wrapping up a renovation project, organizing stuff for the baby, and enjoying some me time. I look back at this pregnancy, and appreciate how much more relaxing it was compared to the first time around when we had just moved into our house, I was attending a post-masters certificate program, I was working in a reassignment job that I hated, and I was literally seeing private clients until 4 days before my due date. This time, I have been off on preventative leave and it did not take long to embrace the non working lifestyle. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job and there were days that I was bored and honestly missed the hustle and bustle, and intellectual stimulation. There is however something to be said about taking my time in the morning to hang with the boy, and having the freedom and flexibility to do groceries during the day without any time constraints is a luxury unlike anything else! In just a few days my life will be completely chaotic again, but I have done my best to prepare for the storm. My freezer is full, and I have at least a 2 months supply of diapers and baby products to avoid those last minute outings I remember all to well from 3 years ago with a shrieking boy who hated his car seat and seemed to be hungry at every intersection on the island! I know I have 6 more months until the baby is introduced to his or her first taste of food, however I am already thinking the worst. The only preventative measure I can take is that I plan to exclusively breastfeed this baby for at least 9 months like I did for the boy, and when he was introduced to formula at 10 months he was given Nutramigen (this brand was recommended by an allergist). I can only hope we will be so lucky to have 2/2 without any allergies. We have still not introduced the boy to peanuts, but since the blood test came back negative I am no longer too worried. Now that he is 3, we are ready to introduce and have a whole plan in place to take him for brunch at a restaurant across the street from the hospital just in case. So, I will do my best to update the blog regularly and I will keep everyone updated. I may even have to rename the boy for the purposes of the blog if I have another boy! : ) J.

Passover

Passover starts next week, and I have already begun my preparations. For obvious reasons, Passover is my least favorite holiday in the food department. Over the years, my family has discovered a few repeat worthy desserts that call for nuts, but we simply omit them. For example, the Second Helpings Please “Mocha Nut Squares” have been a family favorite since I was a child (hint-double the recipe and add chocolate chips). Most people stress about their menu, and what to make that tastes good during this holiday, however I find myself more consumed with the ingredients that go into the food.

Many Kosher foods are manufactured in the United States or imported from Israel. This year I noticed that some of the Manishewitz products actually stated “made in a nut free facility”. This is the first time I have seen this, and I commend them for taking this step. Despite the products coming from the USA, I have still made several calls over the past few weeks to explore Chocolate options for baking. Ultimately, it is the Israeli products that really make me nervous because the ingredients are simply translated from Hebrew to English and stuck on with a white mailing label for resell in Canada. I am blogging about this simply to bring this to the attention of people who may be hosting a guest with an allergy. My advice is to read the ingredients carefully and save all the packaging for the guest to read and determine if it is safe for them.

For a list of the Passover nut free options: http://www.manischewitz.com/healthcorner.html


Feel free to share any nut free Passover friendly recipes!

: )

J.

Peanuts and Pregnancy

I was out for dinner with some girlfriends tonight, 3 of us are pregnant, and the fourth has a 3 month old. We were talking about the link between eating peanuts while pregnant to allergies. I was asked if I would eat peanuts during pregnancy if I was NOT allergic to peanuts. I had no answer to this because I have never done any research on the subject and it’s something I never considered.

FYI: (note-This is the abstract for a recent study on this topic)
http://www.jacionline.org/article/S0091-6749(10)01334-5/abstract

So for all the moms out there:
Did you eat peanuts while pregnant? Did your child develop an allergy?

:)

J.

Trust

When it comes to my allergy, I have serious trust issues. In recent years there have been more and more companies declaring to be peanut free, egg free, gluten free, milk free etc... I subscribe to the Canadian Food Allergy Inspection Agency (CFIA) service that sends me an email every time there is recall on a food product. I guess I never filtered that I only wanted the peanut/nut emails so I get them all; recalls for listeria, milk, eggs, sulphites, gluten, fish etc… I get at least one email daily. To me that’s a lot of recalls. Sometimes the recalls for nuts/peanuts are related to random products that have mislabeled ingredients. However, I have noticed a higher frequency of recalls on products that are declared to be nut free, milk free etc… It worries me to think that I can be eating something that is “peanut-free” but not. I'm simply putting this out there to remind people with allergies that we always have to be careful and never be too trusting. I call companies all the time to ask about their allergy practises, even when they have the peanut free label.

:)

J.

Grey’s Anatomy

When we started watching Grey’s Anatomy and saw the little girl come into the hospital while having an allergic reaction I wasn’t sure I wanted to watch any further. Obviously, this is a sensitive topic to me, but I don’t think a week has gone by where I have not cried watching Grey’s Anatomy in months. It was hard for me to watch Clementine in so much distress, but she pulled through.

I have a few thoughts of my own about the episode. First, I felt that Niko and Clementine were adorable, and their love story was very cute to watch. As far as the allergy was concerned, I thought it was odd that she was never given an Epipen. It was only after she began to show breathing difficulties that they gave her Epinephrine. I’m not a doctor, but I have always been told to take the Epipen the instant I think I am having an allergic reaction. It seemed surprising that she didn’t have an Epipen on her. Also, I felt Niko’s mothers response to giving Clementine peanut clusters despite her allergy was highly inappropriate (that she is too busy to read the letters and reminders sent home about the peanut allergy). Unfortunately this type of attitude is common, and hopefully having portrayed this on the show will help some people out there realize that maybe they should pay attention to the letters sent home. Overall, I was happy to see the scene. It brings more awareness to the issue, and hopefully people learned a little something while watching.

Thoughts?

:)

J.

My New Phone!

About a month ago, I made the switch to an Iphone. A decision I pondered for months, and do not regret for one second. My phone is an extension of my arm. I am not proud of this, but I do use a lot of airtime! I do my best to not speak on the phone when I am with the boy so that I can give him my full attention, and I only use bluetooth when in the car for safety (and to avoid a ticket!). The phone took some time to get used to, and still I find myself sending the most ridiculous texts and emails because I type too fast and the auto correct changes words.

I don’t use many of the apps, but I have downloaded a few. Namely facebook, scrabble, words with friends, allrecipes, backgammon and cnn. I know there is an app for essentially everything, so I searched for peanut allergies and found a few options. I have not downloaded any of these yet, but some sound useful. The “allergy translator” translates your message about your own or your child’s allergy in pretty much any chosen language. Sounds great for travelling. The other one that seemed useful was “Anaphylactic Allergy Alert”. This app claims to provide first responders with important allergen information (through wallpaper images with a message of your choice). Though I am a firm believer of a medic alert bracelet, that app may serve as a second reminder. There were a few apps for restaurant menus, however I am of the opinion that a menu can change overnight, so I personally would not trust any apps that claim to have detailed menu descriptions with safe and unsafe options. Has anyone tried any allergy apps? Feel free to share any you may have discovered.

:)

J.

McDonalds

Eating at McDonalds is a very rare guilty pleasure that is reserved exclusively for road trips and desperate situations when I am hungry and there are no other suitable safe places around. To be completely honest, I love the fries, and nothing compares to the Chicken Selects (which I think are available in the US only). The boy had McDonalds for the first time a few weeks after he turned 2 while on route to Boston, and now every time he sees a McDonalds he says he wants French Fries!

We were visiting my sister in law and family in New Jersey this past weekend, and stopped in Albany. I immediately noticed that the McFlurry table behind the cashier was covered in topping. Initially I wasn’t sure what the topping was but when I looked up and saw a sign for the all new Reeces Peanut butter McFlurry I was so frustrated. McDonalds took an active step a few years ago to pre-package all the peanuts for the sundaes. If my memory serves me correctly, this was a response to people’s complaints about cross contamination and the risk to allergic people. Also, McDonalds does have a very detailed list of every product and possible allergens that may exist. I have always felt comfortable eating at both the Canadian and American locations because they were essentially peanut free with the exception of the pre-packaged peanuts I mentioned (which I was assured do not even have cross contamination risks with the other food at the factory they are packaged at). I knew a conversation with the manager about the Reeces Peanut Butter McFlurries would go nowhere, so I didn’t bother addressing it. It did not take me long to write McDonalds a letter, and I was extremely disappointed by their response as it did not even address the issue! I wrote back today asking for someone to actually address the content of my letter and I will keep you all posted. But for now this is what I sent and received. Thoughts?


Letter I wrote:
To whom it may concern,
I am writing because I noticed that McDonalds (in Albany New York) is now serving a Peanut Butter Cup McFlurry. I along with thousands of others suffer from a life threatening Peanut Allergy. Until today, McDonalds was one of the only safe 'fast food' options for me. Years ago, a switch was made and the peanuts went from being in open bins, to individual plastic bags. My understanding is the switch was a response to cross contamination issues and at the time I was impressed with McDonalds response to the growing number of children with Peanut allergies. Today I observed there to be Reese’s peanut butter pieces all over the counter, and the cashier immediately touched boxes of food after preparing a McFlurry.

I am writing to request that McDonalds consider removing this menu item. I live in Canada, and as far as I am aware, the Canadian menu does not contain the peanut butter McFlurries. However for the thousands of children in the USA with a peanut allergy AND their entire family, eating at McDonalds will no longer be an option. These kids won't understand why one day they were having a happy meal, and the following they cannot even enter the premises. It is my hope that this request will be taken seriously as McDonalds to some degree is a part of most American kid’s lives, and children with peanut allergies already have so many limitations to deal with when it comes to eating out. Sincerely, Jennifer

Reply from McDonalds:
Hello Jennifer,
Thank you for contacting McDonald's about food safety. We appreciate receiving your comments and welcome the opportunity to share some information with you.

McDonald's potato products, such as french fries and hash browns, are prepared in the same fryers. McDonald's beef, chicken, fish and pork products are prepared in distinct and separate sections of the restaurant food preparation area. McDonald's has rigorous food preparation standards in place to ensure the food safety and quality of the products. McDonald's stringent practices deliver great tasting, high quality products our customers enjoy.

To obtain the most current, accurate and comprehensive information about allergens, as well as nutrition and ingredients, go to www.mcdonalds.com.
McDonald's has rigorous standards in place to ensure the food safety and quality at every step of our supply chain -- starting with the farm all the way to the front counter. These systems and processes enable McDonald's to serve high quality, great tasting products every day at 14,000 restaurant across the U.S.

We hope this information helps you. We look forward to serving you again under the Golden Arches. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us in the future. Again, thank you for contacting McDonald's.

Latkes!

Happy Hanukkah!

The other day I made my first batch of Latkes for the holidays. They were gone within minutes! People always think that making latkes is a long procedure and that the house stinks. If you have a good fan then the house will not smell, and even if it does, they are worth it! A food processor with a grater attachment saves tons of time. Just make sure to squeeze out the liquid from the potatoes.

Latkes:

2 Cups peeled, grated potato’s (Yukon, OR Sweet)-about 6 potato's
1 Med grated onion
2 eggs
4 tbsp Flour
1 tbsp salt
½ cup canola oil
Drop about 2 tablespoons into the oil and let fry until golden brown on both sides (about 2 minutes per side).

Makes about a dozen latkes (to make more just double the recipe)

Happy Hanukkah!

:)

J.

Thank You!

Thank you to all the readers who took the time to send a letter requesting that it become mandatory for teachers to receive training around managing Anaphylaxis.

When people tell me they read my blog, I cannot tell you how happy it makes me. I I really appreciate the feedback I received around the letter writing campaign and the recent voting for the blog to be in the Circle of Moms Top 25 Food Allergy Mom blogs (which I lost but I had only entered 2 weeks into the voting and still ranked around #55!).

So thank you to the followers, regular readers, and those who visit every once in a while!

:)

J.

Letter writing campaign to demand emergency training in Quebec schools

Article from The Montreal Gazette, December 06, 2011:

MONTREAL - Following the death of a 6-year-old Montreal schoolgirl, parents of children with food allergies and support groups are calling on Quebec to make it law for all schools to institute training programs and emergency measures to deal with the potentially fatal allergic reaction known as anaphylaxis.

It’s estimated there are 72,000 students in the province who are potentially at risk.

First-grader Megann Ayotte Lefort was in the care of daycare staff at Saint-Germain Cousin elementary school in Montreal North while her parents were at an information session with her teacher in September 2010. Megann started showing signs of distress at 6:20 p.m., crying and asking for her father soon after taking small bite from a store-bought sandwich her mother gave her, but it was 25 minutes before staff gave her two puffs from her asthma inhaler when she had trouble breathing, a coroner’s report revealed. It was 40 minutes before staff came to get the parents to say their daughter wasn’t breathing.

When they got to Megann, the parents demanded the staff call 911. Paramedics managed to revive her and rush her to the hospital, but she was declared dead at 8:20 p.m.

“The school was well aware of Megann’s allergies and her asthma. ... Everything about that night was wrong. Everything,” Megann’s father Sylvain Lefort told Allergic Living magazine.

“The problem is that in Quebec the management of children with food allergies in schools is not centralized,” said Marie-Josée Bettez, a Quebec City lawyer who is the mother of a 13-year-old with numerous food allergies and the author of two books on the topic. “Each school board and each school has its own protocol, which means the protection afforded to each student varies from one school to another.”

Anaphylaxis is the most serious form of allergic reaction, and can lead to swelling of the airways or a drop in blood pressure, both of which can be fatal.

In 2005, Ontario created Sabrina’s law, named for Sabrina Shannon, a 13-year-old who died at her school in 2003 from an anaphylactic reaction. The legislation requires training for teachers and school staff, as well as a detailed plan for each school, as well as a plan tailored for each allergic child, with input from their parents and doctors.

This week, the Quebec Association of Food Allergies, Allergic Living and Asthme et Allergies Québec launched a campaign to create a similar law here. They’re calling for a standardized training program at all schools with students with food allergies to instruct staff in the proper techniques to follow.

Because of the rapidity with which a reaction can occur, caregivers need to give victims an adrenalin shot immediately via an epinephrine auto-injector, or EpiPen, then call 911, and give a second epinephrine shot in five to 15 minutes if the reaction continues. Patients must go to hospital right away because the reaction can worsen.

All schools of the Commission scolaire de Montréal, the city’s largest school board, are instructed to follow the protocols set out by the province’s health board, school board spokesman Alain Perron said. Parents have to tell the school if their child has any allergies, and if so, supply the school with two EpiPens. In Montreal’s multicultural mix, where many students can’t speak English or French and are often too young to know how to treat the reactions, it’s especially important for parents to supply detailed information, Perron said.

With 11,000 meals served every day in CSDM schools, the multitude of allergies present and the possibility of children dipping into the meals of their peers, it’s impossible to shield allergic children from all hazards, the board notes on its website.

Bettez’s son Christopher is allergic to eggs, nuts, dairy products, mustard, chicken, turkey, kiwi, and fish, among other foods. What is harmless for most can be poison to him, causing an allergic reaction “that can very sudden and very violent, and where the margin to act is very limited,” Bettez said. She knows from experience.

“When you’re rushing to the emergency room with your child in that condition, it’s very difficult,” she said.

At the start of every school year, Bettez had to meet with school administrators, teachers and staff to explain the proper procedures. But not everyone has written two books on the subject and is in a position to instruct the teachers, she said, which is why there is a need for a an overarching law. That Quebec does not have one yet is in part due to the fact the public has not pushed hard enough, she said.

In response to Megann’s death, and the concerns of parents expressed for years, Allergic Living magazine recently launched a write-in campaign on its website, allergicliving.com, calling for an anaphylaxis law for Quebec schools. Parents are asked to write Education Minister Line Beauchamp and Health Minister Yves Bolduc.

Reached yesterday by The Gazette, an aide for Beauchamp said she would not be commenting at this time. Bolduc’s spokesperson said only that the minister had taken note of the campaign.

The magazine was hoping to generate 2,500 letters. To date, 855 have been sent.

-----

Please support this cause and write a letter. These are the email addresses to send the letters to:

line.beauchamp@mels.gouv.qc.ca
ministre@msss.gouv.qc.ca


Thanks for your support

:)

J.

Peanut Butter Parties

I came across this article about mothers in Australia who take their kids to organized ‘parties’ to test for a peanut allergy.

http://m.news.com.au/TopStories/pg/0/fi916927.htm

There appears to be a heightened awareness of peanut allergies amongst new parents compared to years ago. It seems everyone fears their child may be allergic to peanut butter and worries about the first time they introduce it. A recent study I read showed that 8% of children in the United States under 18 years old suffer from food allergies. The most common allergen was peanuts. Of the 8% with food allergies, about 39% had a history of severe reaction and 30% were allergic to multiple foods. The number of kids with food allergies went up 18% between 1997-2007. Considering these numbers, it comes as no surprise that parents have this fear.

As you know, we have been introducing nuts very slowly, and we have been actively doing this near the hospital in the event of an emergency. I’ve never heard of such a party here in Montreal, but perhaps Australian moms are onto something. I have heard that there is a room at the Montreal Children's hospital for parents to bring their kids to introduce peanuts. I asked an allergist at the hospital about this, and he laughed at this rumor. Yes, there is a room for allergists to do food challenges on kids known to have allergies, but not for random people to come and introduce their kids to food for the first time. Perhaps the hospital cafeteria would be a good public venue for this sort of party!

:)
J.

The Boy who Ate Almonds

Round two of our nut introductions was successful. We gave him slivered almonds which rumor has it are not so tasty on their own, but he ate them all up! No reaction … next cashews. Stay tuned.

Are there any good chocolate bars with cashews?

:)
J.

The Best Peanut/Nut Free Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever!

I make these cookies all the time. The recipe yields a lot of dough, so I often freeze half and use it when I have impromptu company, or when I give the boy a really special treat.

2/3 C. Butter or margarine (Melted)
2C. Lightly packed brown sugar
2 Eggs
2 tbsp Water
1 tsp Vanilla
2 1/2 C. Flour (plus 2 tablespoons)
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Baking Soda

¾ C. Milk Chocolate Chips or Semi Sweet
¾ C. White Chocolate Chips
(OR 1 1/2 C. of swirl chocolate chips which are half milk/half white-Presidents Choice makes these)

Beat the melted butter, brown sugar, eggs, water, and vanilla
Stir in the flour, baking powder, and baking soda
Mix the chocolate chips and cranberries

Bake at 375f for approximately 10 minutes

Makes about 50-60 cookies (depending on size)

Enjoy :)

J.

Peanuts and Medication

The other day I had a close call. I was prescribed a medication that had peanut oil in it. Luckily, I have a habit of double checking EVERYTHING that goes into my mouth, including medication. While I was waiting for the pharmacist to check his book of medications, I googled the medication, and to my surprise there was in fact peanut oil in it.

This situation reminded me that I can never be too careful. It is my responsibility to double check everything including medication. So for all you allergic people, double check!

:)

J.

The Boy who ate Nutella

Since the test results came back negative a couple months ago we have been talking about introducing nuts. I have had almond milk and nutella in my grocery cart at least six times, and each time I get to the cashier I freak out and give the product back. Something about having these products under my roof seems wrong to me.

Today was a beautiful fall day, and we were heading to the market to buy some pumpkins. Since it was early, we had no plans, and the market is down the street from the Children's Hospital, I decided today was going to be the day! I called my neighbor and she made a nutella sandwich for the boy in her house, double bagged it, and off we went. When we arrived at the market, I insisted we take a parking spot that had quick access to the road in case we had to drive up the hill to the Emergency room. Armed with the Epipen Jr, we gave him his nutella sandwich on the corner about 25 feet from the car (I didn't want any to get on the car seat).

This stuff must taste good because the boy loooved it! He devoured his sandwich. We were checking his body for hives and making sure he was breathing every 10 seconds. He chose 3 little pumpkins, and we went back to the car. On our way home, he fell asleep which is not uncommon for him, but of course we kept checking if he was breathing. He was 100% fine.

Next week...Almond Milk.

:)

J.

Trick or Treat!

As a kid Halloween is one of the most exciting days of the year. Dressing up and eating candy freely! I remember the minute we walked through the door my siblings and I had to empty our bags so my mother can filter out the peanut snacks. At the time, it was not uncommon for people to give peanuts as treats. I walked away from those houses! Nowadays, Reeces Pieces, Peanut M & M’s, along with countless other treats are still very popular choices and parents need to be on top of their children with allergies before they dig into their stash. Every year there seems to be a new company declaring themselves peanut free, meaning more to choose from for those allergic. My personal favorites are the mini-chips ahoy, mini mars bars, and the mini Hershey’s variety pack (with the cookies and cream, milk chocolate and caramel chocolate bars).

What is your personal favorite Halloween treat?

Have a safe Halloween!

:)

J.

School Board Bans Peanut Butter Substitute

http://www.canada.com/health/peanut+butter+substitutes+sticks+parents+craw/5549994/story.html

In my opinion, this is going too far. Parents of allergic children should be happy the school board is peanut free to begin with. I could understand if it was banned because it is not considered a well-balanced meal (this is a topic for another post altogether!). I understand that the two products may smell similar, and cause cnfusion, however tf the parents are writing 'peanut free', then it should be acceptable.

Thoughts?

:)

J.

A Reminder

As ridiculous as it may sound, people who are not allergic to nuts or peanuts may not realize that nuts can be found in foods even with the word ‘nut’ in it. Everyone knows peanut butter has peanuts in it, however, someone very close to me once had Honey Nut Cheerios in their home, and when I noticed it and commented, they honestly said they didn’t realize there were nuts in it. Another time, a mother sent her child to the daycare with bread and nutella for breakfast and I smelled it from across the room at drop off, and she too explained she didn’t realize there were nuts in nutella. And again yesterday the same story with Almond Breeze. So… this post is just a reminder to not take anything for granted and always make sure to check, double check and triple check everything.

:)

J.