What do you mean my daughter can have a sandwich?

Why is soy in Everything?

One of the hardest things we learned in our parenting journey so far is how to parent a kid who is allergic to all of your favorite foods. 

When we found out we were basically poisoning our daughter (just after her first birthday), we were actually relieved. For months, she was experiencing severe atopic dermatitis a.k.a. Eczema. We thought this would be a lifelong issue. 

I’m grateful we decided to go the steroid free route. Instead of just applying medicated ointments and creams on her skin, we wanted to use things that weren’t as harsh, as she was a baby and the skin is the biggest organ on the body. We did not want to put sooooooo many unnatural chemicals into her tiny body. 

When we found out about her allergies (Beans, Dairy, Eggs, Nuts, Soy, Wheat, and possibly Fish), I personally was devastated. 

What do you mean she’ll never get to eat Pizza? Or Chili? Or TrailMix? 

The good news was, she wasn’t experiencing extreme eczema, she was having an allergic reaction that lasted for 10 months!

She nursed until her third birthday. September 2024 means she is now 3.5 years old. In the time of her nursing, we realized that I could not enjoy my favorite foods either. I eat pretty healthily, but I had to clean up my eating habits even more. I tried to go on a Raw Vegan diet. I lasted 90 days. But, I love spaghetti. And Pizza. And Eggs just make breakfast feel real!

In my research of how to better feed her, I came across: the concept of eating to your blood type to boost your immunity, an amazing blog, and some products to supplement what she is missing. 

Gluten free Dairy free nut free Banana and Blueberry Muffins

1. Eating to your blood type: Google University is the best place to search what your specific blood type should be eating. Prescott Naturopathic Doctors is the list we use. My husband and I compared our lists and found the mutually acceptable foods and create our meal plans and grocery lists based on that. An example of the AB Blood type list is here → https://prescottnaturopathicdoctors.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/TypeAB.Diet_.pdf 

2. The amazing blog: Mama Knows Gluten Free. A few years ago, I thought gluten free was a crazy thing to say because it seemed like it was too new to be real. I thought it was a fad. Now I know the truth. This blog was a game changer in the journey of figuring out what to feed my daughter. We started with the banana bread. We made pancakes. There are soo many ideas on the blog and even ideas not using real milk. Our favorite is the banana muffins with blueberries (pictured). I never thought of myself as a baker. This blog makes it so easy to follow along for beginners. I’m grateful for this blog. Hopefully, one day, she sees this and realizes what a game changer she is! 

3. This is the best time in history for someone to have food allergies. Having the allergies requires us to look at the labels. Every label! E-V-E-R-Y LABEL. I once gave my daughter poison by giving her some grocery store french fries. I didn’t expect them to have soy in them. It wasn't until she was having a reaction that I knew. So, we found some trusty products and brands that have made this journey a bit easier. In finding out that she has allergies and lives so closely to her cousins who do not have allergies, it has made it difficult for us to prevent her from knowing some things exist. 

• Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free (Baking flour, Egg replacement, Etc.) Red label. 

• Daiya (Dairy replacement products). Pizza, Cheese slices and shreds. I wish I had a video of my daughter seeing the Daiya commercial on TV. She said, “THAT’S MY CHEESE! MOMMY MY CHEESE IS ON TV.” as she jumped on the bed excitedly! The only thing they are missing is just the pizza crust so we can make our own pizzas. I guess using the cheese pizza as a base is fine.

• Utz potato chips. I didn’t expect it, but she can eat the regular and BBQ chips from this brand because they use real potatoes and no soy!

• Frito chips (BBQ twists and original). 

• The Good Crisps - Chips

• Katz Egg Free Sandwich Bread. This was the biggest game changer because it meant I could make us sandwiches for our busy lifestyle homeschooling. The excitement she gets from seeing this bread delivered makes their expensive pricing worth it. We order from Amazon. 

  
  

Staples we have for feeding her. 

1. Corn

2. Rice

3. Avocado Oil (be careful to not get certain brands like the Walmart version because it uses the same equipment as some of her allergies)

4. Broccoli 

5. Rago (not Prego because of allergens) - we prefer the Simple 8 version because it only has 8 ingredients. 

6. Sweet Baby Ray’s traditional BBQ and Sweet n Spicy

7. Salsa

8. Tostitos tortilla chips 

9. Instant Grits

10. Honey / Strawberry preserves

11. Honest Juiceboxes

12. Fruit cups

Tips for raising a kid with allergies. 

1. Read EVERY LABEL

2. Figure out their blood type and find the diet list for that and make foods that will give them the most nutrients and flavor.

3. Make sure they know their allergies. Repeat it in first person until they can repeat it for themselves. 

“I am allergic to _____ and ____.”

1. When they are around someone who is eating something they are allergic to, make sure to make a facial expression of disgust and say something like “I can’t eat that. I’m allergic.”

2. Find ways to make it fun so that they don’t feel like they are missing out.

3. Always have snacks on hand. Even if you have to order them

4. Check out Amazon’s amazing access to replacements you probably never thought about. (Read each label)

5. Include more veggies and fresh fruit instead of frozen and canned when possible. 

6. Eat healthier around them. Try to limit your intake of things they cannot eat.

7. Make sure they are taking their vitamins (and allergy medicine if needed) daily!

Pro tip:

Get your kiddo involved in learning how to make their own food as they will need to eat for the rest of their lives. 

All in all, get your baby tested for allergies as soon as their first birthday. Retest as often as necessary. Even if you don’t think they’d have allergies. We were only expecting the fish to be the issue. Do your research and read EVERY label. Be the healthy role model for them. Make sure they are aware of their allergies and teach them how to feed themselves. 

Check out our first morning in the life videos.

https://youtu.be/wC5-m9deapg?si=TyCMu5d62A29zzrW