Baked Cheese Test Anxiety

Drama has an appointment Monday for his second food challenge. This time we are doing a baked cheese challenge. For this challenge I was instructed by his allergist to buy an Amy's Cheese Pizza and bake it at 425 for 13 minutes.

 

I am not sure why, but all of the food challenges I have read involve Amy's Cheese Pizza so it must be a preferred brand by allergists.

 

FEARS

 

The last food challenge started out difficult. Elijah was afraid to eat the Milk Muffin. I am scared it is going to be the same thing this time around. He still has anxiety eating things with baked milk in it. Getting him to eat baked cheese is going to be interesting. I wonder if anyone else has done a study on the psychology of introducing foods kids were once allergic to.

 

Drama has been told his whole life he can not have anything with Milk in it or he will have a bad reaction and may end up in the hospital. He even still wears a MedicAlert bracelet due to this. Now we are telling him he can have it and he can not process the fact that it's okay now. He says, "are you sure it's okay?" and he has told me "No, I can't have that it has Milk in it". He still refuses to try some new things, such as Cheez It's.

 

PRAYERS

 

I am praying that he takes one bite of this pizza and falls in love with the melty goodness that is mozzarella cheese. I want to share with him Mac -n- Cheese, Lasagna, Pizza, Quesadillas, Taquito's and everything else I can't think of right now with baked cheese. This is just one more step to being declared Milk Allergy FREE. In a few months he will have the last food challenge where he will drink a glass of milk. When he passes that test he will be able to have ice cream, chocolate, yogurt, milk, pudding, sour cream, cream cheese, cold cheese, dressing, etc.

 

I pray that this works and we can try this with Eggs next year. I know he is unlikely to ever outgrow his Nut allergy but just adding Milk and Eggs to his diet will make life a little easier for him. Having food allergies is really hard on kids. You aren't getting all the nutrition other kids are and other kids notice when you are eating something different so you get singled out and made fun of. Some kids are bullied. It takes a toll on a childs self esteem. I am asking for prayers for Drama that he passes this food challenge. I will update everyone on Monday on how the food challenge went.

 



Food allergy food therapy day 1 no bueno

So yesterday Drama passed the first part of the baked milk challenge. He can now eat breads, cake, cookies, crackers and other baked breads that contain milk. So grocery shopping should have been a fun filled adventure, right? WRONG.

Can you say meltdown in aisle 1? As I am flitting around checking ingredients on delicious goodies, Drama is saying NO to everything I pick up. I am going around pointing out things that he will be able to eat in a few months and he just retreats further and further and finally has an outburst in front of the Ice cream.

"I don't want to eat new things, I don't want my milk allergy to go away", I stopped dead in my tracks. Had to lean on Ben and Jerry for support. Excuse me? Me no Comprende. Did I just hear this child right? I just assumed after ten years of living without these things he would be excited to pick out new things he has seen his friends eat. I didn't think about the psychological factor.

I continued on my way. Picking up some Pillsbury cinnamon rolls (surely those would speak to his soul, right?)  Amy's cheddar bunnies, and goldfish pretzels.

When we got home I had him eat 5 goldfish pretzels. You would have thought I was asking him to detonate a bomb. Then he had his milk muffin for the day. I am hoping this gets easier. Its not just about eating new things. Continuing the food therapy will boost his immunity to the milk protein to where if he gets a big dose of it it won't cause a reaction.

I covet your prayers!

“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

2 Corinthians 12:9 KJV

Have a food allergy or a child with food allergies? Join my Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/elijahshope

NIH link about Baked Food Therapy: http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/foodAllergy/research/Pages/immunotherapy-food-allergy.aspx

AAAI link about baked egg and milk immunology: http://www.aaaai.org/global/latest-research-summaries/Current-JACI-Research/ingesting-baked-egg-may-help-children-outgrow-egg.aspx