Food allergy: I have seen the word many times. As a teacher, I have been very diligent in protecting my students that have food allergies. I have had to learn how to use an Epi-pen and how to scour ingredient labels of any shared food brought into the classroom. I thought I understood it, the fear of a parent with a child who has a food allergy. I just didn’t think it was going to be me…

A few years ago, I decided to give our (then) 7-month-old a piece of pasta with cheese sauce on it. He took it, ate part of it, and spit it out. When we were done eating, I took him upstairs to a bath. In the bathtub he started getting hives on his face. I scooped him up and ran him downstairs. Thankfully I had children’s Benadryl; after getting hold of the doctor and finding out what the right dosage was, I gave him some right away. After that he vomited. My husband was not at home and I was starting to get a little scared. I kept monitoring him though and his breathing was not labored. The hives went away and he was better. Wanting to address this quickly, we soon went to an allergist, where a skin prick test resulted in big hives on his back showing he was indeed allergic to dairy and eggs.

As I was still breastfeeding at the time, I decided to not eat dairy or eggs as well to see if that would help with allergies and with eczema (it did, a bit, on both fronts). Not eating eggs and dairy sounds like an easy thing, but it is very challenging—they are in everything. This was the start of finding a new way to feed my family.

Fast forward to my son being 2 years old and attending a daycare two days a week so I could substitute teach. Finding a school we trusted to take care of him and his food allergy was hard. Through personal recommendations, we found an in-home daycare school. It was hard enough letting him go in the first place, but the fear of not being there to monitor him during snacks and mealtimes made it even harder. Something that seems so minimal to one child like a cheese fish cracker could cause my son to break out in hives. I could not be there with him or tell the sweet child trying to share, “no thank you.” His teachers, thankfully, were wonderful in keeping his allergies in mind and ensuring he didn’t eat anything that would be bad for him.

To all the parents of kids with food allergies out there, I am starting to get it. You are such amazing advocates for your child. Hugs and high-fives to all of you. You have to be diligent when shopping for food as you look through ingredients, or like us make so many things from scratch. You have to check with every person you let your child be left with that they understand the allergy. Do they know how to use an Epi-pen? At restaurants, you have to ask the waiter or waitress a lot of questions to ensure food is not going to contain allergens. You end up with certain places that you go to eat, because trying a new place and finding new, safe food is challenging. I have been so thankful for friends who remember that our son has an allergy and get or make special vegan cupcakes for a birthday party. Have you had to carry special food with you when you go out to make sure they have something they can eat (like taken a special cookie to a party so they would be able to have a special treat like the other kids)? I have watched too as my son at times feels left out, simply with the phrase, “Sorry you can’t have that” and watches as other kids enjoy eating something. It is difficult.

Fortunately, and very recently, our oldest has outgrown these allergies. I hope he remembers what it was like to have food allergies, not to make him sad but so that he always think of others and makes sure they are not left out. Allergies create a food lifestyle that is not by choice, but necessity.

While we no longer have the urgency of these allergies to worry about anymore, we still continue to eat many of the same things we did with the allergies. We have enjoyed a lot of new foods and ways of eating. Choosing items that indicated “vegan” on the packaging assured us that they did not contain dairy or eggs. We really aren’t following the vegan approach to food, though, as we never gave up meat—making us vegan with a side of bacon.

The blog posts that follow will be about recipes I have used and liked and how we eat, and have eaten, dairy and egg free. Stay tuned for those posts, and I’d love to hear your stories as well!

P.S. I want to let all the amazing vegans out there know I understand your eating philosophy and I know that eating meat of any kind is not part of the vegan lifestyle. I am grateful for the carefully selected foods labeled as “vegan” because, without them, it would have been much harder to find foods safe for my family. Thank you for your pursuit of eating healthy.

Pictured below: Vegan Blueberry Pancakes, one of our family favorites.  The recipe is available at http://veganyumminess.com/vegan-blueberry-pancakes/