I know that allergic reactions to certain foods are awful and sometimes deadly so I am not in any way making light on the situation. This is something I have noticed in my day to day dealings of hanging out with a toddler and wanted to blog about it.
I bring this up why?...This Tuesday was LDG's Birthday so I decided to bake {from scratch - no mix which means there is no way it hell it came in contact with any peanut product the most dangerous/common of deadly allergies}cupcakes for her baby gym class on Wednesday morning. I thought it would be a nice thing to do for all her little romping friends. I made 24 {hubby ate 2} I came home with 12 and that is because I gave a few away to some workers that were doing some street work nearby. Let me tell you something when I bake I never have that much left to spare. Yep....might sound full of myself but I know what I am good at baking and I will make no apologies for that*. I did not bring my bad ass cupcake carrier into the class I waited until the class was over and then proceeded to ask some moms, quietly {so the kids do not go ape shit if mommy says no} if they could have a cupcake. And for the next 10 minutes I hear:
So and so is allergic to ________ fill in blank. One child's list was so long I glazed over. I stood there cupcakes in hands looking like a complete a**hole. As I was driving home I wondered where in the hell did all these food allergies come from? Why is it that 1 in 12 kids is allergic not to just one food but a list of many foods? I know the 90's were kind of blur, but shit I know this was not the case a few years ago? What has changed? When I started solid food with LDG my pediatrician suggested I try everything with her because it has been said that the more you expose your little ones to certain food the better it is. So far *knock on wood* LDG has been able to eat everything..shit some of her favorites foods is scallops and salmon...yep my little one loves fish and veggies...I know sick right......And in some cases I also know of some mothers who have fibbed on the allergy thing so their kids would not be exposed to sugar...Yep it is true. I do not feed allot of sugar to LDG and she does not have a huge sweet tooth but shit once in awhile on a special occasion is not going to friggin hurt them.
I am just at a loss does anyone have the answer to why this is happening? Can someone shed some light...Am I just living in a bubble? Are parents being over protective about foods causing these allergies?
I love to bake fun stuff for the kiddies but it looks like once LDG starts preschool it will be a bake free zone.....Damn....I suck at paper mache!
*except for the unfortunate Red Velvet Cake incident but that's what I get for trying to do a low fat/calorie version...shame on me and what the f*ck was I thinking?
13 comments:
I'll be a bitch and say it- parents are fucking nutty and over-protective. I live in a hippy dippy little college town and let me tell you, everyone here swears they are allergic to gluten!
Dude. I feel you. We are lucky because we have no history of food allergies. But I do have to wait until E is 2 years to give straight penicillan b/c I am like super alllergic to it. I will be super careful if there are kids in E's class with allergies, but I'm not making freaking gluten free cupcakes, no milk yadayadayada just because little Billy's mom doesn't WANT her kid to eat {insert whatever here}. Guess Billy doesn't get an effing cupcake.
I hear you, although a lot of the time it isn't the parents overreacting. My mom teaches grade 1 and witnesses somewhere around 20 serious reactions every year.... Unheard of 30+ years ago when she began teaching. It's frustrating for everyone. I baked for a birthday party, made strawberry icing and they barely got touched when I said there were real berries in it. I was sad.
They say it's environmental, genetic changes, so on and so forth. My mom would know, I'm curious enough to ask now. It drives her crazy but at the same time, you obviously don't want to be the one that hurts someone else's kid.
And I'm totally with you on exposure. There's been studies that say this method is untrue, but from experience, I was very allergic to cantaloupe until a few years ago when I slowly started introducing it to myself. There was some scary moments (so I don't recommend doing this to anyone else haha) but now I eat it regularly.
I was just thinking about this the other day. Irelyn will start kindergarten in the fall and *I think* you're not allowed to give your kids peanut butter sandwiches for lunch because of all the kids with allergies...they don't want the kids trading food and someone having a reaction. When I told her that she would be in school for her sixth birthday she asked if she could bring cupcakes and I had to tell her I didn't know if she would be able to. My brother is allergic to peanuts...he is 13 now and I don't remember how my mom found out about his allergy but the rest of us kids (there are six of us total) are not allergic to anything. I always ask my mom if we can feed him peanut butter to see what happens. I'm such a good sister, right?
I've been wondering the same thing. I dont remember this many allergies when I was in school.
That and the gluten thing like Annie said... up until like 2007 no one was like "oh yeah we are gluten free because x is allergic" but now like every other family i meet is gluten free. (more bread for me).
So my niece went to pre-school with this sweet little boy - who had lost all of his hair - eye brows and all. It took the doctors about 2 years to figure out he had Celiac disease (severe allergy to gluten) now he's living a gluten free life, has all his hair back and is a normal kid. On the flip side, there is this thing called intolerance - gives you gas, stomach ache and so on. I think there's a lot to be said about being "allergic" and being "intolerant" and people in general - not just moms - go overboard. I've realized in the last 2 years that I'm not processing gluten the same way so I've just cut back - but i'm not allergic by any means. The gluten thing is a diet fad - if you ask me.
i have this convo ALL the time -- obviously it's environmental -- because growing up i never knew one kid with a peanut allergy & who the heck even knew what glutten was until a few years ago.
who knows? could be all the processed food we ate as kids/teenagers/whatever -- some say it's immunizations -- some say it's a lack of essential minerals that we have totally depleted out of our soil. (can you tell i watch a lot of documentaries?)
these same environmental things that are often blamed for the increase in autistic children. there again something i never heard of as a kid -- and absolutely nothing personal or offensive meant by saying that.
just stating things i have seen, read & heard.
i am thankfully blessed with healthy children who could eat dirt & be okay!
Ladies great comments!
I'm glad you wrote this blog, I would get in trouble writting on this. I keep holding off. I have several theories:
1. Mandatory vacines - I know this has been disproven many times, and the fucking world is flat Chris.
2. Food additives, steroids, and other shit.
3. Some mom's just have to have something to make them feel special. If there is a kid issue ADD, hyperactive, food allergies, their kid will have it.
4. These allergies always existed, but doctors never figured it out and kids died from them before they ever got to school age.
Great post Cranky Old Man
Its crazy...my kids can't bring any snacks to school with nuts or dairy bc of the risk of cross contaimanation with all the allergies! Glad to be a new follower. You can follow me back at http://thelittlelilypad.blogspot.com
Haha I actually agree with you and my daughter did grow out of her peanut allergy...it was pretty terrible to have to be so careful about everything she ate, but I agree, where did all these allergies come from?? I was shocked when the doc told me she had a peanut allergy...if she hadn't turned blue and started convulsing I'm not sure if I would have believed him, but it's still a mystery as to why this has cropped up so much with this generation!! I actually did a post about this too at the end of last year http://mommywithselectivememory.blogspot.com/2011/12/growing-out-of-peanut-allergy-is.html
It's all the processed crud that is in our foods Darling... GMOs are a BIG culprit as well as the proteins are rearranged and our bodies are reacting.. damn greedy manufacturers that don't care about our kids!! xoxo
Caffeinated OC Mommy has it down. It's the processed foods, the GMO foods, and the steroids/antibiotics used in the meat. We've absolutely slaughtered nutrition in this country and we wonder why we are so unhealthy. My friend has a very allergic child. Like to air itself it seems like. She used to get abdominal migraines which would cause her to turn stark white and pass out. Scary stuff! 99% of what we all eat now (she eats over here a lot so we just transitioned with them) is from scratch and organic or grown at my friends house (spring, summer, and early fall of course!). Two years later and she has gone from one or two a week to less than three a year! All right, I'll jump off my hippie soapbox :D <3
Susan
http://75percenthippie.blogspot.com
http://happyhippieheart.blogspot.com
Post a Comment