Easter Egg Hunt

Are people with food allergies satisfied with the way they celebrate their holidays, festivities, traditions, etc?

As more of our food allergies come to light, I’m forced to re-think our traditions. First, it was out with the biscuits and pies on Thanksgiving and Christmas because we went gluten-free. Then we nixed all Halloween candy, due to corn, dairy and nuts. And as we approach Easter, I’m rethinking our festivities and the meaning behind them.

Now that Fussy Buns is walking, I’ve been thinking about how much fun it will be to dress her like a doll, hide Easter eggs around the house and give her an Easter basket. I’ve had high hopes of being really creative this year and dying our eggs naturally using foods such as blueberries, beets, and yellow onions. Then it dawned on me. We probably shouldn’t have a traditional egg hunt because she’s allergic to eggs. Duh! And a traditional Easter basket filled with candy is out. So, what to do?

My mind is racing with ideas. We could just use plastic eggs. But, then I won’t be able to dye anything and I’m a little disappointed about that. I don’t want to buy plastic anything. I want to use sustainable materials and avoid chemicals. That led me to wonder why we even celebrate the Easter Bunny. Is it wrong to set our children up for disappointment by leading them to believe in things that aren’t real, like the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, and Santa? Wait, that sounds a little too philosophical for a blog about food allergies…

Back to the food – what treat will we enjoy? I have no idea. I’m not sure we can take her to the local Easter egg hunt and I’m feeling overwhelmed. I don’t want her to miss out on the fun, but I’m sure we’ll find something we can enjoy.

As far as an Easter basket goes, I really like these handmade felted bunnies in eggs on Etsy. It seems strange to me that a bunny is hatching from an egg, but they’re still cute. At least this egg won’t cause an allergic reaction. Unless she’s allergic to the material… Good grief. I hope this gets easier!

Goat’s Milk Allergy

The child has yet another allergy. Sigh.

I’ve been considering weaning since I’m losing so much weight from nursing and Fussy Buns is nearly 1 year old. Since she’s allergic to cow’s milk, our doctor suggested we give her goat’s milk because many milk allergic people can tolerate it. I wasn’t sure this was a good idea given our family history with dairy. My husband can’t tolerate cow’s or goat’s milk and although I had never had goat’s milk before, my IgG/IgA allergy test showed I was highly allergic to both. However, I decided to give it a try.

Within minutes of drinking a tiny bit, Fussy Buns developed hives all over her face, predominately around her lips and chin. The hives cleared up after a few hours. I tried giving her a small amount of goat’s milk three separate times and each time she developed hives immediately. This seemed to make her quite uncomfortable, and she also developed a diaper rash. A day later, she seems to have recovered.

I feel bad for putting her through all that, but I’m glad to know about it. If a tiny bit affected her that quickly, I wonder what an entire glass of goat’s milk would do. She doesn’t really need milk anyway, but I thought it might be nice to have it as option.

I guess we’ll be leaving rice milk and some sort of allergen free “cookies” for Santa.