Baked Dairy Goodness

If you've been here before, you may remember that we were encouraged by some promising allergy-related blood work a couple months ago that indicated some of our son's food allergies might not be as bad as they once were.   I could say:  phew!  But I'm more inclined to say:  whoa, really?

When we discovered the allergies, we had no idea the levels because he was too young to test.  Not only is it insanely cruel to stick a 3 month old full of needles carrying allergens, it's not effective.  Not until he's over two is his immune system sophisticated enough to produce accurate results... and even then it's still darned mean. 

Even blood work done on a child under two is often inconclusive, as his system may not have created an allergic response to many foods or environmental factors.   We did get blood work done when he was about a year old, and clearly reacting to foods and other things... but the report didn't show a single result.  Not even to dog saliva, and that's saying something: around that time, a dog licked his face and we ended up speeding crazily to the ER while his eyes began to swell shut and he was clawing at his face, having difficulty breathing.  We've carried an EpiPen ever since. 

Yet, after a very unpleasant set of visits to one allergist when he was very young, during which we were advised to go ahead and skin test (to which I said: hell, no!), we avoided allergists for a long time.  We were doing fine with our avoidance diet, thank-you-very-much, and wanted to wait until our son was old enough to properly test.  At his two-year checkup, the pediatrician suggested getting updated blood work. 

So when some results came back saying he didn't even have allergies to soy and wheat, I was incredulous.  What the... well, you know.  So we slowly, slowly started giving him wheat and he was fine.  Then soy, and he was fine.  Had we been incorrect about his allergies in the first place?  Not likely.  Our pediatrician advised that these allergies are often outgrown.  We weren't crazy - he just no longer needed to avoid these foods. 

And what a kaleidescope of foods were now available to him!    Packaged breads and cookies! "Normal" pasta! Soy sauce! Pizza! (with tapioca or rice cheese)   More wide ranging: eating OUT!    The biggest single concern we used to have with restaurants was soy.  Any vegetable oil was rife with it, and most restaurants use a veg oil blend.  Even our favorite place that usually accommodated us on everything else had at one point moved from corn oil to a vegetable blend so we couldn't go there any more.   But now, all bets were off!  The only things we needed to avoid were cow milk and nuts.  Far, far more possible.  Korean? Thai?  Chinese?  no problem!  Cuban?  Mexican?  No problem if we make sure they don't put cheese on his plate.  It was revelatory.  

Hence, I was absent from this page for a while... it felt like talking about allergens was in the past.  Like an artist who had only used black and white for years, having a couple colors to work with in my palette was overwhelming!   

So I got cocky.  Yeah, the bloodwork said we did have a little issue with milk protein.  A 3 out of 5.  Not a big deal, I thought... heck, he's a 2 out of 5 on eggs and he's never had a single reaction!   So we gave him a spoonful of yogurt every day for a week, thinking in our heady thrill that all allergens were conquerable and everything would go back to normal.   Every day, a spoonful of DAIRY from a COW! 

And he seemed fine, until we gave him a nice bowl of yummy yogurt.  He ate it "all up" as he likes to say.  And in 5 minutes he was sneezing so intensely, so often, he could barely breathe.  His neck was covered in little welts and his eyes were red and watering as if he'd been crying for hours.  He was clawing at his neck and whining and sneezing.  It was horrible.  Out came the cetirizine and thankfully the reaction calmed down after about a half hour, but he slept with great intensely that night as he always does after receiving meds for a breakout... a sure sign his little body is still fighting the invasion.

I figured, well, at least we got rid of soy and wheat.  And that ain't bad.  It's liveable.  Lots of people are vegan, so there are lots of dairy alternatives out there now.  We'll be fine living with just dairy and nut allergies. 

But then, I came across this Parents Magazine article.   And we went to an allergist again, now that he was over 2 years old.  The combination was amazing. 

The article talks about some recent studies showing that if dairy is baked over 350 degrees for over 30 minutes, many kids with milk allergies can tolerate the milk proteins they're normally allergic to.   And that's boon enough -- baked cakes?  yes!  -- but the studies also go on to say that once the child is exposed to the allergen in this way, they slowly begin tolerating dairy cooked for shorter times, until their body begins to tolerate the proteins in all forms, even uncooked!

So after discussing this with our allergist, we began a baking "therapy." 

- First I made a cake, with butter and sour cream. 
   350 degrees at 45 minutes.  No reaction!

- Then I made a quick bread.
   350 degrees for 30 minutes.  No reaction!

- Then I made muffins, 350 for 20 minutes.  No reaction!

- Then I made cookies, 350 for 12 minutes. No reaction!

- Then we bought frozen waffles, likely just a few minutes plus toasting at our house for a couple min.  Fine!

- Then I made pancakes, only a couple minutes on the griddle.  Great!
- Then I made pie crust with pure butter. No problem.

- Then I scrambled eggs with milk inside.  2-3 minutes in a skillet.  NO REACTION!

This process of slowly exposing him to less and less-cooked milk, we're told by the allergist, may lead him to drinking a glass of milk! in about 6 months.  It's been slow and steady for the last couple months.  (We started this process around August '12 and I'm writing in October.)    The allergist advised the more we continue to expose him, gradually, the better.  Never retreat, he said.  Just keep going. 

So we're ever so close to adding a little hard cheese to some pasta some day soon.  Then maybe a grilled cheese.  Then maybe a little more regular yogurt.  Some day soon, God willing, a glass of milk. 

So in celebration, here's the recipe for the Blueberry Muffins.  They're filled with stuff I never ever thought I'd use while baking for our son, and just that is a celebration. 

Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins
(These remind me of New York so much; I remember smelling these in Jordan Marsh... heavenly!)

1/2 cup butter
2 cups unsifted flour
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups large fresh blueberries
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons sugar (for top of muffins)

Preheat oven to 375°F. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy; add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. In a second bowl, combine all dry ingredients. (You can use an electric mixer to combine the dry ingredients thoroughly at this point so that you won't need to overmix once the wet and dry ingredients are combined. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the creamed butter and sugar mixture along with the milk and vanilla. Optionally, mash 1/2 cup of the blueberries, and stir in by hand (this will turn batter a light shade of blue and add a touch of blueberry flavor, but this step may be skipped, if you wish). Add the remaining whole berries and stir in gently by hand. Grease muffin cups with non-stick spray or oil. 
Fill greased muffin cups.
Sprinkle sugar on top of unbaked muffins (we like to use Turbinado sugar for sprinkling the tops). Bake at 375°F for 25-30 minutes. Cool in pan. Run a knife around the edge of each muffin after several minutes to free it from the pan and cool on wire racks. Muffins may be brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with sugar, if desired. At our test kitchen, we sometimes sprinkle blueberry muffin tops with cinnamon sugar or ground hazelnuts or spread with lemon or vanilla icing and top with thinly sliced almonds. Tip: If you have trouble with blueberries settling to the bottom try tossing them in flour before adding to the batter. It may just be that your batter is too thin. Another trick is to fill muffin cups 1/4 full with batter which hasn't had blueberries added to it yet; then stir the blueberries in and continue to fill the muffin cups. This way you won't start out with blueberries at the bottom!

Pre. School.

We’re going through the preschool selection process right now.  It's a complex, daunting task filled with equal levels of opportunity for joy and challenge.  

Of course, it can't be just any old preschool  ~ we want to find the right sense of home away from home.  We want it to be an amazing experience for him, opening up the world in ways that we can't do just by ourselves as parents:  playing with other children, touching soft and prickly things, hearing sounds that we don't make at home, looking at books and shapes and toys we would never think to offer him.  Shauna of Gluten-Free Girl recently posted a beautiful entry about children's play at preschool.  It really resonated with me. Play, compassion, joy ~ all so important. vital.

What an adventure it will be!  I bristle with excitement for him. 

But at the same time, I shudder with concern over his food allergies.  What if he's nowhere near us and suddenly has a major reaction to something left out, or given to him accidentally? What if the staff are not as diligent as we are?  What if a well-meaning kid doesn't understand he can't share his cheese stick with our son?  What if he needs an epi-pen administered to him ~ do we trust the school to know what to do, and trust their judgement in doing so?  

So often it seems to come down to the see-saw of safety vs. playfulness. I ache to imagine that we have to permanently shield him from the world. But then again, we don’t let him play in traffic. We teach him to look both ways and prepare him for the time when we can't cross the street with him.  It's called parenting.  Yet, he's still so little. 

We’ve been deciding between a wonderful warm school that is play-based and child-centered vs. a school that is nice, but mainly considered good preparation for kindergarten. A no-brainer it seems… until we consider his food allergies: soy, gluten, dairy and nuts.

The warm, inviting place has a wide open snack area with pretzels, milk, muffins, fruit, cheese and crackers ~ all great, but not for him. And when we asked the director about accommodating allergies, we were met with a vague “well, when we have those, we just ask the parents not to bring peanuts into the school.” A subsequent conversation with them resulted in the same level of vague willingness to help out. 

The other school has a fantastic attitude toward re-framing allergies in non-disparaging ways… calling one child’s rice milk “Sophies special milk” for example and ensuring safe eating practices.  But it's a competitive school to get into (I heard tell that one child was accepted after their parents providing nine letters of recommendation!)  We are currently on the waiting list for next Fall. 

So what to do?

Stepping out into the world

Well, I should be honest that this blog post sat in the hopper for a while.  I was so conflicted about the balance between the safety issues vs. the learning experience that I couldn't finish this post for a couple months.   However, after additional conversations about dietary restrictions with the director of the "warm, inviting place" ... and the thrilling developments that our son is now able to eat wheat ... and dairy if it's baked (!!!), we decided to go with our gut on the best educational experience we could help him have.  Heavy sigh of relief.  

The happy epilogue to this process came when we got a chance to take him to the school for an hour while it was in session.  He was more than excited, choosing several play areas in succession.  One in particular that he loved was the music table.  He not only jumped right in, but the other children welcomed him by sharing their instruments ... and letting him get in on a parade they were having all through the classroom!  Watching his little legs fly to catch up - and the sheer joy on his face - was the best confirmation for me that we'd done the right thing!

This could have gone so differently.  If anyone out there would like to share their experience, I'd love to hear it!  How did you choose your child's school, and how much did their food allergies play into the decision making process?

A week of wheat.

Lack of focus due to misted up mommy eyes

"Could it be?"

I've been saying this all week.  Is it possible?  Is he OK? 
Yes, he is. 

Several months ago, we went through a painstaking process trying to introduce milk to our son, which seemed so promising at first: one spoonful of yogurt a day for a week with no reaction, but when we gave him a little bowl of it, he erupted into a red-eyed sneezing fit that went on for a half hour until the ceterizine kicked in. So now, we're a little gun shy.

But based on some promising blood work, the allergist is encouraging us to try wheat, then soy, re-try milk in baked goods after that, and then do skin testing for nuts later.

So... this whole week I've been giving him little tiny bits of wheat. And (deep breath) he's ... uh, fine.  I can hardly believe it.

Friday, I made some wheat-based zucchini muffins of which he ate a few bites and moved along in his day as if nothing catasprophic was going on. 

There were blueberry pancakes on the weekend that he gobbled up ~ and the sky did not fall.  Whole wheat elbow noodles with tomato sauce and ground turkey: the world didn't come to an end. 

We went over to a friend's house for dinner this weekend, and he could actually eat what everyone else was eating, including pasta! (the host was amazing about letting me see the ingredients of everything)

And this morning, I gave him not one, but two little slices of baguette bought from a BAKERY (mind racing, worrying about nut and sesame and dairy and soy cross contamination, I mean who can tell with these things ... etc ad nauseum)

and he's: fine.  

After so much worry, planning, paranoia, fear, it's ingrained in my gut to avoid certain foods. Changing that feels so dangerously strange. I'm checking for spots on his torso, sores on his legs, welts on his face, watching for sneezing and red eyes and, and, and... nothing.

When you've been protecting your child for so long from something, it's hard to let that fear go. 

I suppose that's what we all have to do as parents, for everything.   Just like letting them go down the corkscrew slide at the playground for the first time all by themselves, it's something of a leap of faith that we've prepared them well enough to tackle the world.  

It's a mystery to me why an allergy would disappear, though I'm sure there's medical literature that might help explain it to me one day.  And there's no guarantee any or all of his other ones will.  But for right now, wheat (simple, wheat) is a bit of a miracle to me.   

 

Mac and Cheese. Please!

So my husband and I were standing in the pasta aisle, actually buying regular old noodles for ourselves ... Not the rice kind, just cheap semolina wheat stuff.  We don't do it very often, but there you go. 

Now, our son hasn't really been down this aisle before, for obvious reasons... but he does eat rice noodles a lot and loves them: with pasta sauce, with olive oil and basil, or chopped up hot dogs, what have you.  And if you've ever read this blog before, you know he loves cheese too.  Not the dairy kind, but rather its simulacrum, Daiya (which is primarily tapioca starch... darned yummy tapioca starch!). 

So back to the pasta aisle.  We are deciding on farfalle vs. campanelle... and suddenly our son walks up to us with a box of good old mac and cheese.  Somehow he knows what this is.  I don't know how, or maybe he's psychic, but he says PASTA and CHEESE!  and continues to grab several boxes, taking them back to the cool car-shaped toy the supermarket has kindly strapped to the front of our shopping cart.  He loads them on the seat, then hops in.  He's ready to go. 



This completely slays me.   On so many levels. 

First, it's pretty funny to see a two-year-old with such determination and whimsy grabbing boxes of macaroni and cheese with the intent to abscond with them in a shopping cart  "car".

Second, it's heartbreaking because I want so badly to share with him the simple pleasure of boxed macaroni and cheese -- the stuff childhood is made of.  

Why can't it be this easy? Why can't I just say OK, looks like you want to try this new thing - let's get it!

Why can't I just buy him a damn box of macaroni and cheese?

Well, I can't.    But I can try to get a little bit of of that joy on his plate. I need to respond to his requests for new foods by getting creative. And maybe this is a good thing -- he is telling me what he wants and I don't have to make it up out of thin air any more! 

 
So what follows is my attempt at Macaroni and Cheese:

1/2 cup rice milk (trust me, don't use the vanilla kind)

1 cup cheddar-style Daiya cheese

1 cup cooked rice noodles, macaroni style of your choice. 
   (we had curly elbows already made)

1. Put cheese and rice milk into a microwave safe bowl. 
2. Microwave on high for 30 seconds at a time.  Each time, bring it out and stir a little, checking for when the cheese is thoroughly melted into the milk. Stir until the cheese is melted and get a creamy consistency overall. 
3. Add the pre-cooked noodles.  e voila!
   

   

   Add shredded cheese and start stirring. 

   

   

   Not quite ready.  Keep stirring!



I can't say they're perfect.  But it's pretty close...  you might adjust the amount of cheese, add some spices (there was already basil on our leftover pasta, for example) salt or pepper to your taste. 

Was it worth trying?  Heck yeah.  The last thing I want to do is squelch my son's desire to explore ~ climbing, running, new foods, life.   Maybe it was just me trying to make myself feel like it's possible (just maybe) for him to be as spontaneous with food as he is everything else. 

Dare we Dairy?

It's been a long time coming, but it's possible we're coming close to knocking an allergen off the list.  Knock wood, pardon the pun. 

We did a new RAST test recently... the first one since the flurry of testing we did upon realizing little one was having issues.  He's just about to hit the 2 year mark, and testing is getting closer to being more valid, more accurate. 

This one came back with some interesting results that I barely dare to believe.  One in particular shocked me:  he's a scale of 1 out of 5 for dairy!  That's the same value he received for eggs... and G*d bless him, he eats eggs nearly every day with no issue. 

So. 

We are starting to give him some easy to digest dairy in the form of yogurt.  Sunday.  Just a little baby spoon each day.  Non-flavored, high fat Greek style yogurt.  And he (drum roll...)

- Has not broken out
- Has not exhibited any itching
- Has not had diarrhea or constipation
- Has no bubbles, spots, or hives on his face, backside, or elsewhere. 

... this is day 3! 

It's incredible to think that we might be able to add other dairy like milk or cheese to the mix.  I mean, I've gotten used to keeping our son in a silo of known foods, a list so clearly defined by painstaking label reading and research.  I'm almost agoraphobic about it.  Almost.  The rest of me is beside myself bated breath thrilled about this prospects.  But it is scary.  It has come to be that I sometimes measure my worth as a mother through ensuring he is well fed and free of allergens. 

If it's true, it takes one level of complexity away from our lives.  But then again, add another... We have to memorize the package contents again, but maybe a REAL grilled cheese might be worth all that.  Maybe butter in mashed potatoes.  Maybe a tall glass of chocolate milk. 

Fingers crossed.  Anyone out there have some tips?  Anyone out there transitioning to a wider diet based on RAST testing a child?

Musings on a Pumpkin Bread epic fail

Things I learned this morning:

Who knew bread could fall like a souffle?

1. Even if you have an extra hour to kill, do not assume a quick bread recipe will be quick.
2. Tack on an extra half hour (at least) when baking in the presence of a toddler.
3. Never, ever, make any creative guesses about liquid qty when baking.
4. This is doubly so when gluten free baking.
5. Even if it's a glutinous mass instead of bread, anything made with pumpkin is still yummy.

Potential food allergens in preschool and school activities

So we're looking into pre-schools. I can't believe this is happening already!

Our son's on the cusp between school year ages... he's a December baby, so if he goes into school next September, he'll still be a two year old, going on three. Should we wait a year? Not? Will he be the littlest one, or the older kid in class?  Considering the difference we've seen in the past year, and the fact it's accelerating, how can we estimate where he'll be in a year?  So many decisions. 

Not least of all, though, is how we will address his allergies.  One of the pre-schools we visited, while wonderful in so many ways, had a snack zone wide open for the children.  What a great thought normally... let children self-select snacks and the times when they're hungry.  But when I looked at that area, they included crackers and other foods I know to be harmful for our son.  And when I asked the director about their allergy policy, it was met with a thoughtful "well, when we've had peanut allergic children, we just make sure the kids didn't bring them to share." 

I asked whether the staff had any experience with other allergies, they admitted they didn't but were willing to work with us.  While we appreciated that, it made me worry... if they haven't addressed this issue in the past, they don't know the breadth of what they're dealing with here. 

So many nuances to consider... and would all the other children understand why they can't have cheese sticks? crackers? pretzels? tuna? chocolate chip cookies?  We can keep him healthy at home, but what will we do when kids start sharing things with him?  And what if he has free access to food that he is too young to understand he can't have?

Around the time we were having these conversations, I came across this interesting article on the Food Allergy Education Network's facebook feed.   And it became clear to me there's a lot more we have to consider beyond just food when it comes to his pre-school.  This is a list I will be sure to share with any place our son goes! 

Sigh - maybe we need an additional year's preparation just to get ready for pre-school!
But forewarned is forearmed, and I'm so glad to have this information.



Note!  This is a cut-and-paste from Kids with Food Allergies (http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org/) ... a wonderful site with great information for all families, educators, or child care providers who need information about living with food allergies.  I've attributed below as their site does as well.  My hope is that others can benefit from their efforts as I have.   
Read on..... 

_______________________________________________________________

Potential food allergens in preschool and school activities

Unexpected sources of allergens in school
Food used in lesson plans may need to be substituted depending on student food allergies

According to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, "food used in lesson plans for math or science, crafts, and cooking classes may need to be substituted depending on the allergies of the students". ¹

Below is a list of some unexpected places you can encounter common food allergens, along with alternatives and precautions that can be used. Please note that this is not an exhaustive list; it is a general guide only and is not inclusive of every potential food allergen. Please verify all ingredients yourself by contacting the manufacturers as ingredients may change.

Activity/Materials	Allergen(s)	Potentially Safe Alternatives and Appropriate Precautions
Play-Doh® (commercial or wheat-based homemade)	Wheat	Crayola® Model Magic® Modeling clay (NOT modeling dough) Moon Sand Wheat-free, gluten-free dough from http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/ Homemade rice- or buckwheat-based play dough Other sensory materials such as goop, slime, and ooblick Use a safe homemade playdough or ooblick: - Rice playdough (free recipe) - Cornstarch playdough (requires membership) - Edible playdough (requires membership) - Ooblick recipe: 1 1/2 cups corn starch, 1 cup water, food color (optional). Mix the ingredients together; as children play with the mixture it will be solid when they squeeze it and liquid when they release it.
Macaroni art (wheat)	Wheat, egg	Rice macaroni Quinoa macaroni
Counting/sorting beans, grains, pasta, M&Ms® or other small foods	Potentially all	Counting/sorting foam, wood or plastic beads, or other small non-food items. Read ingredient labels to choose food items with safe ingredients.
Sensory tables that use grains, pasta, candies or other small foods	Potentially all	Use non-food items or read ingredients to choose food items with safe ingredients
Tempera paint (homemade and some very high-end commercial)	Egg	Commercial finger paint Crayola® Kids Paint Most commercial paints suitable for children
Finger paint	Pudding finger paint may contain milk. Laundry soap or laundry starch mixed in with finger paints to make them thicker. Laundry starch may contain corn, laundry soap may contain allergens.	Read ingredients to find milk-free finger paints. Laundry starch or soap can be omitted if avoiding corn. Read ingredients to find a safe laundry soap.
Crayons	May contain soy	Read ingredients to find soy-free crayons
Crayola® Wonder	Soy	Use a non-soy based ink
Craft paste	May contain wheat starch	Elmer's® Glue sticks Read labels to determine if wheat starch is present.
Shaving cream	May contain milk	Read ingredients to find a milk free shaving cream
Ooblick, oobleck, goop, slime	May contain corn	Create mixture using tapioca starch instead of corn starch, or read ingredients to find a safe version
Bird feeders	Peanut butter Wheat in birdseed mix Nut oils in seed mix	Consider making a hummingbird or butterfly feeder instead, using sugar, water and food coloring. Use soy nut butter or sunflower butter Regular Crisco ® (contains soy oil) or other safe hard shortening Honey Seeds or seed mix without wheat seeds or nut oils
Planting seeds	Legume seeds (such as beans, peas or peanut) Corn kernels Egg shells or egg containers that are sometimes used as "pots" to germinate seeds	Any other seeds Use other safe pots to grow seeds
Baking projects	Potentially all	You can share lots of safe recipes and request to participate in any baking activities.
Paper mache (Papier-mâché)	Wheat	Elmer's ® glue solution Buckwheat flour solution
Birthday and holiday celebrations	Potentially all	Non-food celebration (songs, goodie bags, stickers) You can provide safe cake or cupcakes for the class.
Making butter	Dairy	None
Making maracas or shakers	Some legumes	Fill maracas or shakers with rice, popcorn, or sand.
Projects using empty egg cartons, milk cartons, yogurt containers, etc.	Egg Dairy	You can provide safe empty containers for the class. One place to purchase new egg cartons is http://www.eggcartons.com/
Hand-washing (teachers and children)	Soaps, liquid soaps, hand wipes, diaper wipes and hand lotion may contain many allergens including wheat, dairy, soy and/or nut extracts including shea nut. Cloth towels may contain food residue.	Read soap, liquid soap, wipe and lotion labels to determine if allergens are present and choose a safe brand. Use paper towels to dry hands. Use safe wipes to clean hands.
Musical instruments	Allergens will be present on mouth-blown musical instruments.	Remove mouth-blown musical instruments from classroom. Provide a designated set of mouth-blown instruments for your child's use only.
Play kitchen	Empty "real" egg cartons, cereal boxes, etc. will contain allergens.	If used, you can provide safe "real" containers to replace allergenic ones.

References:

1. American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (1998). Anaphylaxis in schools and other child-care settings . Accessed August 2007, http://www.aaaai.org/media/resources/academy_statements/position_statements/ps34.asp

Download a copy of this article here:
Potential food allergens in preschool and school activities

Thanks to KFA member Lara A. for providing her assistance in developing this document.

Originally published August 2007. Updated August 2008.