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What kind of a parent are you?

August 14th 2008 08:37

As a parent you are pretty much always rating and comparing yourself. Some parents think they are doing a perfect job, however most question themself and whether or not they are doing things 'the right way'.

One parent's evil is another parent's saviour

Whether it's issues regarding behaviour, diet, TV or discipline, everyone has a different viewpoint and a different way of doing things. The same goes for handling your child's severe food allergies.

How to handle food allergies is just as debatable as any other parenting issue. Do you make all your food from scratch to ensure that nothing containing 'trace' amounts of allergens enter your home? Or do you have your child's food next to a jar of peanut butter in the cupboard?

There are extremes and moderates on all ends of the scale. I read about a woman who was so stressed about handling her child's severe food allergy on a daily level that she asked the government for special welfare payments. Another parent might not take many precautions at all.

In some areas I think I'm pretty laid back --, maybe even too laid back. I have most processed foods in the house, except those that obviously contain nuts. There's no peanut butter or nut products, but nearly everything in our cupboard has the ole 'may contain traces of nuts' on the package, and my daughter eats most of them. Yet I won't take a vacation without ensuring that the hotel staff are aware of my daughter's condition, and want to ensure we're close to medical facilities.

Where do you fit in the scale? And what do you think should be considered 'normal' parenting behaviour in this situation?

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Why are there more kids with peanut allergies?

June 25th 2008 02:22

That's the $64,000 question, and no one has come out with a confident answer. Researchers have pointed to two likely theories behind the rise in severe peanut allergies in children:
1. Genetic predilection
2. Increasing exposure to processed foods.

parents just want to keep their kids safe

It almost brings us back to the nature vs nurture debate. Children are born allergic or they are raised to be allergic through constant eating and exposure to processed foods. Of course, it could be a mix of both that is causing the increased incidence of food allergies.

Another theory (not as common) that is discussed points to diagnosis. That perhaps previously the same number of children are developing these allergies, but they were never diagnosed.

Some argue that it's actually the opposite: it's a case of misdiagnosis. Children are more likely these days to receive skin-prick tests. If they react to peanut (or other allergens) they are deemed highly allergic or even anaphylactic, without ever having a reaction (or just a minor reaction).

An article from the Boston Globe states "According to Anne Munoz-Furlong, a researcher and the founder of the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network, an advocacy group, today about 25 percent of parents believe that their children have food allergies, although only about 4 percent really do. A parent may suspect one after a few spit-ups or a screaming fit following a new food. Yet these are rarely true allergies. And even among children with true allergies caused by harmful IgE, only a tiny fraction will have life-threatening reactions, called anaphylaxis."

It is because of this that I'm not offended when educators and health practitioners ask me if my daughter has ever had an anaphylactic episode. I can say confidently that yes, she has. They then go on to question me how I know. I explain the wheezing, swollen face and that it took an injection of adrenaline to stop it from killing her. But many parents are told that their children have this allergy. No one wants to see their child in a life-threatening situation, so they avoid the allergen.

Although different studies point to different conclusions, parents themselves can see that there has been an increase. We all grew up with peanuts, peanut butter and the like. I don't remember as a child ever being aware of it making any of my friends sick. I've spoken to enough parents who have children with severe allergies to know that their child's condition is real and not a result of misdiagnosis. Therefore something is making it increase.

The one thing that is clear is that researchers and doctors don't really know much about how to prevent, handle or decrease food allergies. The popular theory to prevent peanut allergies is to avoid peanuts during pregnancy. To this day no one believes me when I tell them that the thought of eating peanuts made me sick when I was pregnant with my daughter. AND I LOVE PEANUTS. Even back then I suspected something. With my first pregnancy I subsisted on peanut butter, and my first child has no such allergies.

In fact research trying to show that avoidance of allergens during pregnancy helps prevent their liklehood has shown nothing of the sort. Doctors and those in clinical immunology are the first to admit that there's still a long way to go, and much to be done. But at least they're working on it.

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Cure for Peanut Anaphylaxis Likely in Five Years

June 20th 2008 01:56

Article originally from news.com.au "Days are numbered for peanut allergyz' By Will Dunham
appeared: May 03, 2008 04:04am

According the an expert in the US, there could be a form of immunotherapy that could get rid of a person's allergy to peanuts within five years.

Dr Wesley Burks, a food allergy expert at Duke University Medical Centre in the United States wrote in The Lancet medical journal that a solution was on the horizon.

"I think there's some type of immunotherapy that will be available in five years. And the reason I say that is that there are multiple types of studies that are ongoing now," Dr Burks said.

Ideally, such a therapy would change a person's immune response to peanuts from an allergic one to a non-allergic one, he said.

One approach was using engineered peanut proteins. Other approaches showing promise include the use of Chinese herbal medicine. Genetic engineering might also produce an allergen-free peanut, Dr Burks said.

But, he said, because several peanut proteins were involved in the allergic response, the process of altering enough peanut allergens would probably create something other than a peanut.

He said peanut allergy affects about 1 per cent of children under the age of five. He cited research showing the condition becoming more common - doubling among young children from 0.4 per cent in 1997 to 0.8 per cent in 2002 in one US study.

It is unclear why it was more common, he said. One theory was the "hygiene hypothesis", which holds that too little exposure to infectious agents in early childhood raises susceptibility to allergic reactions.

Peanut allergy often appears in the first three years of life, with the allergic reaction to eating peanuts ranging from a minor irritation to a life-threatening, whole-body allergic response called anaphylaxis.

Many children grow out of allergies to milk or eggs. Only about 20 per cent lose a peanut allergy.

Symptoms of peanut allergy include skin reactions such as hives, itching around the mouth and throat, diarrhoea, stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting, shortness of breath, wheezing and, in severe cases, anaphylaxis, which is a medical emergency.

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Milk Free Egg Free Nut Free Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins Recipe

June 19th 2008 02:54

Easy to make AND eat!

1/2 cup dairy free margarine
1/2 cup sugar

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Food Allergy Dilemma: The Easter Disaster

April 2nd 2008 01:10

A friend was telling me the other day of how exasperated she felt over Easter. Her child has a severe food allergy to nuts and eggs, and she finds Easter the trickiest of all holidays. Everyone kept giving her child easter eggs... although it was a nice sentiment, she was left with a screaming child when she had to throw the eggs away as she didn't know if the eggs were nut free or not.

But for her this wasn't the worst of it. On Easter Sunday she went to her husband's family for Easter lunch. Although her in-laws are well aware of the allergies and precautions that needed to be taken, they had bought a gigantic egg for the non-allergic child, and then gave the allergic child a handful of jellybeans. "Why should your other child miss out on Easter? She doesn't have the allergy?, was the reason stated". My friend let these comments go (she had already given both children easter eggs that were nut free). But things still got worse

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Taking a vacation with food allergies

March 3rd 2008 23:29

Recommendations for planning a vacation with allergies:

- RESEARCH

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Just the facts: A simple explanation of Anaphylaxis

February 15th 2008 02:47

People these days are often throwing around different terms regarding food allergies -- let's clear up exactly what is meant by 'anaphylaxis'. Many people suffer from food allergies. Many more people suffer from food intolerances. Often these two terms of mixed up and confused. For example, people with 'lactose intolerance' get stomach troubles if they eat dairy. But they're not allergic. Someone who is allergice will have vomiting, hives, rash etc.

Epi-Pens

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Weekly Recipe: Egg, Nut and Milk Free Yummy Chocolate Cake!

February 8th 2008 02:26

Great cake recipe for those with egg, nut or milk allergies. Afraid it's not good for those with problems with wheat.

Ingredients

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Bring back the Peanut?!

January 30th 2008 03:11

The poor peanut really gets a bad rap these days. Where it was once a happy and welcome food group in a now bygone era, it is now the enemy of many parents, carers, child cares and schools internationally. And even the poor airlines are having to cop flack for offering nuts to their passengers.

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I want to hear your stories

January 14th 2008 04:25

Way back when I had my first child I started hearing stories about children with peanut allergies. I thought how horrible it would be if that happened to me. I lived off peanut butter, as did my daughter. So when her day care had to become 'nut free' I found myself struggling with her lunch box. But I understood. I couldn't imagine the stress of those parents who had to worry everytime their child left the house that they might get exposed to an allergen and therefore... risk death.