Warning: Peanut Allergy

Last week my little one was diagnosed with a peanut allergy. It's not the worst thing in the world. God, I could think of a million things worse. However, it has definitely added a curve ball to the world of eating and if you read my previous post about food, this just adds another element to the mix.

After getting the b/w results, his pediatrician referred him to an Allergist who said no peanuts, no tree nuts, and no chocolate. Wowzer!!! The last two are just a precaution. His rationale was most places that process peanuts also process other nuts and we don't want to risk cross contamination. The same with chocolate. Most places that process one kind of chocolate bar process ones that have nuts in it. He said he sees a lot of cases where cross contamination is the culprit of a nasty reaction. He even talked about a woman he saw before seeing my son who went to get a smoothie and because the machine was used to make one with pb earlier that day, she had a reaction and had to administer an epi pen in the food court. He talked about a kid whose school provides peanut free cookies at lunch but directly after eating one he had a reaction and was taken to the hospital. So the really frustrating part to all of this is that no matter how cautious I am about not exposing him to nuts, something as simple as as the smoothie incident or a factory not thoroughly cleaning their equipment could lead to a reaction. He's not in the care of others very often but I have visions of him going off to preschool in a year or so and how all of this will play out.

I'm trying to make a conscious effort for this not to rule our lives. But the reality is we are now going to be reading labels for one addition piece of information, being mindful of cross contamination, letting caregivers know pb&j's are off the menu (not that he would eat it anyway- see food post), and asking if foods are cooked with peanut oil when going to restaurants. Yes, it will be a challenge but we will make the best of it.