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Food & Nutrition

Free From Chocolate Krispie Cakes

written by admin

These free-from chocolate Krispie cakes are an absolute favourite from my childhood and perfect for kids parties.

My son and I love making these together, well he likes to lick the spoon. So easy, delicious and allergy-friendly too.

Ingredients:

2oz dairy-free butter

2 dessert spoons cocoa

3 and a half oz Rice Krispies

2 rounded tablespoons syrup

2 rounded tablespoons caster sugar

Preparation:

Melt the butter in a pan then add the cocoa, syrup, sugar, and Rice Krispies and put into paper cases. Leave to cool.

You can add raisins, coconut, mini marshmallows or any other treats your child likes!

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Travel

Tips On Travelling With Food Allergies…

written by admin

Travelling with allergies can be very scary. Here are our top tips from our experiences of travelling with food allergies. We are determined that they don’t get in the way our family seeing the world.

Although my son’s allergic reaction on holiday in 2012 was an awful experience, we made the choice to go abroad knowing the risks and have learned from it if it happens again. We did make a point of getting on and enjoying the rest of our time. We got out of the hospital the next day and went straight to the beach. Allergies won’t get in our way of living a normal life!

Here are some of our top tips for travelling with food allergies

* Communicate with the hotel before you leave for your holiday and meet as soon as you get there so they are clear about the situation and can inform the relevant staff.

* Arrange health insurance that covers your child’s condition. I was able to get adequate insurance through my own bank.

* Invest in allergy translation cards if going abroad and you don’t speak the language.

* Create an emergency treatment plan for your child in case of a reaction. It is a good idea to laminate this and have it to hand in a separate bag or compartment along with medication, allergy id card etc.

* If you carry medication or an epi-pen, make contact with the airline and ask them airline to make an announcement and request priority boarding so you can get on and wipe down your seat and table. On our flight home, there was a passenger behind us tucking into a large bag of nuts and on top of that, I found a cheddar biscuit down the side of my son’s chair. Thankfully things are changing now and some airlines are starting to put restrictions bringing or serving nuts on their planes.

* Obtain a letter from your doctor to say why you must carry the medication and EpiPen. You will most likely be asked for this when you go through security. Make sure you do this well in advance of your holiday as it can take a few days!

* Find out where your nearest hospital is and all relevant telephone numbers in case of an emergency.

Some great sites which offer advice to those travelling with children with allergies:

Allergy UK

Allergy-Friendly Hotels

Kids With Food Allergies

Delicious Baby

The Nut-Free Mom

The Epipen website has some great travel advice and downloads including FREE translation sheets which can be printed. Choose from French, German, Italian and Spanish. You can download a travel certificate for your doctor to fill in.

If you can recommend any good hotels or holidays you have been on for children with food allergies please post below or get in touch: anna@mychildsallergy.com. You might also like this article on allergy-friendly cities for family holidays.

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Travel

Allergy Translation Cards

written by admin

* Written in 2012 when my son was two*

We recently went on our first family holiday abroad to Spain. I ordered food allergy translation cards before we left and thank goodness because they were a lifesaver!

I had contacted the hotel about our allergies before we left and we spoke with the hotel, restaurant staff, and head chef as soon as we arrived. Everything seemed fine food-wise as they were making food from scratch for my son.

One evening he had an allergic reaction to a pasta dish, they gave us egg pasta instead of wheat by mistake. He developed a red rash around his mouth which quickly led to his lips swelling, bright red rash with hives all over his body, and difficulty breathing. We had to phone an ambulance and through the allergy cards, we were able to tell the hotel staff and in turn the ambulance that he was having an anaphylactic reaction. We were able to communicate with hospital staff too. He was given adrenaline and steroids and put on a drip overnight.

It was all very scary! Everything turned out fine and we got the best care but I don’t know what we would have done without the cards and insurance!

I ordered our cards from Allergy UK for £15

*Please note this service is temporarily suspended due to travel restrictions*

Here are some more resources I have come across:

Free resources:

https://allergytranslation.com/english-alert-card/

https://allergyaction.org/translations/

http://www.food-info.net/allergy.htm

https://adults.jext.co.uk/resources/travelling-abroad/

Paid for resources:

http://www.yellowcross.co.uk/ebuttonz/medicaltranslationcards/index.shtml

http://www.selectwisely.com/index.htm

If you are looking for holiday options check out these allergy-friendly cities for families

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How We Tackled Eczema With The Help Of Scratch Sleeves

Health & Wellbeing

How Scratch Sleeves Helped Us Deal With Eczema

written by admin

Scratch Sleeves for babies and children is a truly amazing product. They helped us deal with eczema and we are so grateful for them.

*Please note we bought these *

William’s eczema got infected several times as a baby and he had to be put on three courses of antibiotics. We would dread going into his room and seeing the damage he had done to his skin. Before I found these I was constantly washing blood off his clothes and sheets. I was always picking up scratch mitts and socks which just fell off as soon as they went on.

These sleeves allowed his skin to heal and stopped him from scratching and spreading any further infection. Scratchsleeves are a bolero style with cotton sleeves and silk mitts that cover the hands. They are 100% cotton. Another benefit of the silk mitts is that when my son’s skin was weeping the cotton fibers of ordinary scratch mitts or socks tended to stick to his face, irritate the skin and increase infection not to mention the fact they were so abrasive.

William seemed to find them very comfortable in fact I think they became a comfort for him at night as he felt secure with them on! He slept so much better and had full movement with them so he was able to wear throughout the day for playing. They come in lots of sizes from baby up to 12 years.

I have just discovered that ScratchSleeves have brought out a range of pyjamas. Has anyone tried these?

They have the same silk mitts as the sleeves on both the hands and feet and the feet are enclosed to reduce scratching. The scratchSleeves helped my son dramatically and I do remember thinking when my son’s eczema was at its worst is there nothing for feet? They are 100% cotton and come in blue or pink, £17.50 from 6 months to 12 years.

How amazing is this superhero cape at £3.99

Check out vwww.scratchsleeves.co.uk for useful info from dealing with cradle cap and chickenpox to useful recipes and tips on dealing with eczema in your daily life.

We also did a guest blog for them a while back which you can read here

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Community

Our Allergy And Eczema Journey

written by admin

I wanted to put this site together to try and help other parents after our allergy and eczema journey. Looking back it seems so obvious what the problem was but there was very little information and no one around us seemed to make the connection. It is a very daunting condition to deal with and can be extremely upsetting and frustrating for children and their parents.

From birth, our son was a very sick baby, even hours after being fed. As the months went on he gradually became puffy and wheezy. We had a frightening trip to A+E early on when he had a breathing apnoea episode. The hospital said it was possibly a lazy larynx which would hopefully fix itself. I was constantly being recommended baby Gaviscon by different sources for reflux which I never gave. In our particular case reflux was not the problem.

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