Relatives not taking food allergy seriously

I just need to vent for a second...

James has a very severe egg allergy. It's to the point where he can't even have anything that was made in a facility where they manufacture things with eggs. I accidentally ( ) gave him a fruit snack the other night - totally not containing eggs, but processed in a facility (which was in EXTREMELY small print on the packaging) and within 3 bites of eating it, his eyes swelled shut and he broke out in hives all over. THAT'S how bad his allergy is. I had the epi-pen at the ready and was all set to call the ambulance. Luckily the Benadryl kicked in and he was ok.

In general, MOST of our family is pretty good with it, but there are certain members that, for one reason or another, don't take it seriously. I get "yeah yeah yeah'd" a lot from MIL and it makes me nuts. I think she thinks that I over-exaggerate. I have the pics of his swollen, broken out back from the allergist's office from his scratch-test and have shown her, but I think that she still doesn't get it. When she tells other people about it, I can hear the eye-rolling in her voice, KWIM?

Anyway, no real point to this, just wanted to blow off some steam. It's hard enough having a child with a severe food allergy, I obsess over everything that goes into his mouth and that he comes into contact with - I shouldn't have to worry about my MIL poo-pooing it.

Re: Relatives not taking food allergy seriously

That must be so frustrating!! It must be hard enough having to worry about your DS, hopefully your MIL come to her senses soon!

Re: Relatives not taking food allergy seriously

that's for your MIL.

this is for you.

Re: Relatives not taking food allergy seriously

I'm so sorry your dealing w/ this crap! Your MIL needs a good kick in the ***! How can she be so careless?

Re: Relatives not taking food allergy seriously

arggh I hate the 'yeah yeah yeah' crap from people. I'm sorry An allergy is so stressful, and when people don't take it seriously it makes it that much more scary.

This might be a stupid question but - will he be able to grow out of this?

Re: Relatives not taking food allergy seriously

That is terrible!!! My dd had her first allergic reaction this week, and we think it was to berries... she LOVES berries... they are her absolute favorite.. and my ILs think it was something else.. I told them.. no.. its the berries most likely because she had some saturday night and immediately broke out again..

Im nervous my ILs will be just like the way you are explaining your MIL... and if I ever find out that they gave her anything with berries... I will find someone else to watch my kid 2 days a week.. it can be very serious!!! And your sons allergy is much harder to deal with.. eggs are in EVERYTHING!! Im sure you are stressed enough.. shame on her for acting like its nothing...

Re: Relatives not taking food allergy seriously

Posted by TaraGotHutched

arggh I hate the 'yeah yeah yeah' crap from people. I'm sorry An allergy is so stressful, and when people don't take it seriously it makes it that much more scary.

This might be a stupid question but - will he be able to grow out of this?

Re: Relatives not taking food allergy seriously

Posted by scarletbegonia


Thanks girls

Tara - "they" say that children usually grow out of the egg allergy by age 5.

How karma-ish is this, though.... many years ago, I had a student who was allergic to eggs (she was in 8th grade at the time). I'm a foreign language teacher, so I often bring in Spanish/French food for my students to sample. I vividly remember her telling me that she was allergic to eggs and *I* yeah yeah yeah'd her. I was like "Who is allergic to EGGS? " Yeahhhhhh..... that came back to bite me, didn't it? I often think about finding her on FB and apologizing to her.