Kids Food Allergies Blog

Today has been a dark, dark day.

I had been feeling pretty euphoric since the egg challenge. I had let my guard down a bit and been optimistic for the first time in years about the prospect of my daughter outgrowing some of her food allergies.

Wednesday went by without incident. Yesterday too. Eggs, blintzes, and potato latkes — everything was fine.

This morning, I whipped up some French toast. As I try to hurry my little one out the door for a playdate, I look at her face. Her right eye was swollen. Her mouth red welts around it. It couldn’t be. But there it was staring me in the face. An allergic reaction. Albeit mild — no epi-pen required, just benedryl thank goodness — but an allergic reaction nonetheless.

The physical reaction passed within 20 minutes. But I’m still frightened 6 hours later. I had no idea that it was possible to have an allergic reaction days after successfully passing a food challenge. After several frantic calls from me (and my husband) — I talked to the allergist who acknowledged that sometimes this happens. We’re going stop giving her foods with high concentrations of egg over the next 48 hours — but we are advised to give her foods with small concentrations of egg in it (bread, cookies, pancakes) and see how she fares. Wish us luck. We’re not out of the woods yet.

Hurray, hurray! My brave little girl passed her egg challenge with flying colors.

And boy does she love eggs. When the allergist left the room after her initial dose (1/8 tsp) — she tried to eat the whole plate. My kind of kid.

As to garlic — we’re going to take a pragmatic approach. We’re not going to give her food with garlic in it, but we’re not going to worry about trace amounts either.  In this way, she’ll be able to continue eating the foods she has safely enjoyed for years. We’ll see how it goes.
If any of you have garlic allergies (or garlic allergic children) and can offer any tips — I’d love to hear them.

Great news.  The egg challenge is a go.  Everyone in my house is so egg-cited.  We have promised my daughter a celebration tomorrow night — no matter the outcome — for being so brave.  Real brownies made with eggs or Cherrybrook Kitchen egg-free brownies, depending on the results.  And a slumber party in our room with late night TV.  Maybe we’ll watch the Egg Channel.

The less great news from the blood test is that we have swapped one serious allergy for another.  Our newest kryptonite: garlic.  At first blush, it seems like no big deal.   So, we won’t put garlic in meatballs and use my favorite chicken marinade.  But the more we thought about it — garlic is really in a lot of things.   Those that will hurt us most: spaghetti sauce, barbecue sauce, and ketchup.  Yes, ketchup.  Chicken nuggets will never be the same.   I look forward to talking to the doctor tomorrow to see what this all means.

Today, I wait for news from the allergist as to whether we can go ahead with my daughter’s scheduled egg challenge on Wednesday. Since we’ve never been through a food challenge before, I’m having difficulty figuring out how to prepare for it. From what I understand, I must bring a cooked egg with me from home, and she will it in the doctor’s presence. And wait. If all goes well, she will eat more and not get sick. Got the big picture: check. It’s the details that elude me. After four years of explicit orders not to cross contaminate my pans and cooking utensils with suspected allergens (and a child who has had several contact allergic reactions from eating on a grill or being in a home where an allergen was being cooked) - I must confess, I am afraid to cook eggs at my house. So, I have arranged to cook my eggs at the home of a good friend who lives nearby. I am guessing I should prepare the eggs several different ways to account for the real likelihood she won’t like them. Oh the anxiety!