Our Story

Our son Mason has severe food allergies to dairy, eggs, peanuts, and tree nuts. We discovered the dairy and peanut allergies when he was about 4 months old. Mason is our second child, and we don’t have any family history of food allergies so this diagnosis came as a complete shock to us. As a newborn, Mason constantly scratched at his skin which was always very dry, red and splotchy. The pediatrician believed it was an environmental irritation from our detergent, so we changed detergents several times. The doctor also thought it was eczema, so we began trying different lotions and ointments but nothing improved. I was breastfeeding him, so we tried to modify my diet but it didn’t seem to help. Finally at 4 months old the pediatrician sent us to an allergist. The allergist performed a skin test, and Mason scored off the charts for dairy and peanut allergies. The allergist immediately armed us with epi-pens and literature on food allergies. I made the decision to stop breastfeeding because his allergy was so severe, and I couldn’t imagine being able to cut all dairy and peanut products out of my diet. Mason began soy formula and we saw an improvement immediately.

We were doing great until we took a trip to a theme park with some friends. Our older son and his friend shared our double stroller at the park. The next day we put Mason in the stroller at the store, and he started breaking out in hives, having difficulty breathing, and swelling. We rushed him to the hospital. It was very scary. Our older and son and his friend had shared goldfish in the stroller the day before, and the residue on the stroller straps had caused Mason to go into shock. It wasn’t until that moment that we realized how serious his food allergies were.

Our life changed again when Mason began eating solid foods. We had been able to continue eating what we wanted because he was still on formula and baby food. I knew we had to change our food habits when Mason began eating with us. I cleaned out our house of all dairy and peanut products. It was a sad day for me as a cheese lover, but I knew we would all have to make this lifestyle change to protect Mason. We adjusted. I learned how to substitute eggs and dairy in recipes. No more frozen lasagna and quick dinners. We cooked from scratch every night. As a working mom, oh how I missed store-bought frozen meals!

Everything was fine until Mason was 11 months old and he tried egg for the first time while we were on vacation. He went into shock again. We rushed him to the emergency room, and we came home early from our vacation to visit the allergist. He tested off the charts for an egg allergy which had been non-existent at 4 months of age. We went home and eliminated all egg products from our house. My husband and older son would make omelets every morning, so this was another big change for us. I cleaned out the cabinets again - more foods that our family could no longer eat.

We armed all of our family members and caregivers with epi-pens, and I began lots of research to find foods that my child could eat. I made his 1st birthday cake from scratch so that he could eat it. It is impossible to find a store bought cake without eggs and dairy ingredients. We tried dozens of Christmas cut-out cookie recipes. You have no idea how difficult it is to make cut-out cookies without eggs and butter – they really do make a difference! So many dough recipes turned out too sticky to cut-out, or the taste was off.

We ate our first meal in a restaurant after his first birthday. I held my breath until after he took his first bite of food. Restaurants are difficult to navigate. People working there often don’t know what they are serving you, or they don’t understand the importance of careful food preparation for someone with food allergies. We have found our “safe” restaurants and stick to them like glue. We go to the same places all the time, but we know they have options for our son. Oh how we wish all restaurants would provide options for people with the most common food allergies and provide the allergen information on their menus. Thank you Red Robin!

Quick trips to the grocery store turned into 3 hour events because we have to read every label. Even if we have bought the product before, we still have to read the label because ingredients change. It’s an exhausting task. Labels are not easy to read. They are small print. The most allergenic food ingredients are not always highlighted or listed in bold at the bottom. We began emailing food companies to inquire about “natural flavors” and manufacturing processes. I emailed restaurants to find out about foods that our child could eat. More than half of them didn’t respond or didn’t have anything he could eat. It is so frustrating to be at the mall food court and not be able to feed your child lunch with everyone else. It is so frustrating to hear that a restaurant only cooks with peanut oil when peanuts are one of the top food allergens.

Mason is 18 months old, and he has also developed an allergy to tree nuts in the past several months. He continues to suffer from eczema, but he is a very cheerful little guy. We do everything we can to make him feel just like the rest of us. We all eat the same foods; we make all of our own birthday cakes; we eat popsicles instead of ice cream; we share a bag of potato chips. Life is different than 18 months ago, but we make it work.

We wanted to develop a place for people with food allergies to bring information together about products, stores, and restaurants. A place where we can share experiences. A place where we can share knowledge. A place to make living with food allergies a little easier for all of us. Welcome to fAllergy.com!