Dietary Restrictions Support

[lincap]

I stumbled upon 2 moms in another thread who have dietary restrictions due to nurslings having food allergies. DS1 has food allergies too, so we are restricted in our diet. So I figured I would start a support thread for pregnant moms who have dietary restrictions, such as:

Food Allergies
Celiac
Gestational Diabetes (last preg)
Diabetes
Any other special diet at all!

Maybe we can come up with some healthy snacks, meals, suggestions, etc!

My DS1 is allergic to dairy, eggs and peanuts, so we have none of those in our home. He is contact allergic as well, so we cannot eat these at all... if we are not with him and eat butter by accident when we see DS1 he gets hives. If by accident DH eats something at work, he has to wash up his hands and face to remove all food residue.

While pregnant with DS2 I never ate dairy, eggs or nuts and luckily DS2 has no allergies at all.

What is your story?

[ishyfishie]

Originally Posted by lincap

My DS1 is allergic to dairy, eggs and peanuts, so we have none of those in our home. He is contact allergic as well, so we cannot eat these at all... if we are not with him and eat butter by accident when we see DS1 he gets hives. If by accident DH eats something at work, he has to wash up his hands and face to remove all food residue.

This is us, too! My dd is 22 months and allergic to the same things, gets hives on skin contact, etc. We don't keep any of her allergens (or any other nuts) in the house. Dh does eat some egg/dairy products for lunch at work or if we go out, but since I'm nursing, I don't ingest any of it. Fortunately, she's only had one "bad" reaction (hives all over her face after she got her hands into a cereal bowl and touched her face, I dried them off but didn't think to wash her with soap!). Since then, we've managed to avoid things completely apart from one peanut-butter kiss from my cousin that left a single scaly patch on her cheek.

I was eating a lot of cheese and a lot of nuts during my last pregnancy because of a gestational diabetes diagnosis (which I found questionable anyway). This time, I'll be monitoring my blood sugar myself all the way through and certainly NOT doing the GTT. I'm a little worried about increasing my protein intake if I need to alter my diet for blood sugar purposes, because while we do eat meat and a lot of beans, etc, I can't stand anything but carbs and/or fruit at breakfast! Maybe I could get used to making myself ham steaks or something.

I'm looking into trying stevia and/or xylitol as a sweetener in my coffee...anyone have any experience with those?

[mamacatsbaby]

We are healing ourselves of multiple food allergies and intolerances here. When DS started presenting with hives, swelling, and red spots when coming into contact with certain food items at about 7 or so months, it put us on the road to figuring out that we had issues as well.

DS weaned 2 weeks after his 3rd birthday so nothing to worry about nursing wise but we've completely, permanently modified our diets and are so much happier for it. We don't even bring DS's allergens into the house.

I started with an elimination diet when DS was just shy of 2 and haven't looked back. Between the 3 of us we don't eat dairy, eggs, peanuts and many other legumes, coconut, no nuts or seeds of any kind, soy, or shellfish. Sometimes I might have a bite of brioche from the farmer's market or something if they have samples out but nothing more than that really.

DS is/has been that allergic to dairy and peanuts where if someone just lightly touched these items and then didn't wash their hands well and touched him, the hives are coming. DH used to do the same thing with the washing of the face and such if he touched any of the allergens.

Sodium ascorbate and probiotics have been a major staple in our diets as well now.

During PG I had dairy but had maybe one PB&J.

Ya know, this is really disjointed. Sorry 'bout that. It's time for the bed and bath routine and DH is looking pretty worn out over there so I better go rescue him!

[lincap]

I find it amazing to "meet" people with kids who have the contact allergy too... I have never met anyone before and everyone thinks I am crazy when I tell them. I have some white marching band gloves tthat DS1 wears when we go to very public-food prone places (day out with thomas the train, Storyland etc).

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...d&id=819558813

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...8&id=819558813

(I *think* those links will work, if not I will try again).


So what are you all doing about protein? Especially for breakfast and lunch? with my 2nd pregnancy I ate lots of sausage... not the healthiest, but needed protein and I could not choke down chicken or roast beef in the morning.

Normally at lunch I eat deli meats, but now that I am pregnant will be stopping that, so I need to think of more protein sources.. sigh.

I was boarderline Gestational Diabetes with DS2, so I know I need more protein.. I know I will. What is on your menus?

[ishyfishie]

Originally Posted by lincap

I find it amazing to "meet" people with kids who have the contact allergy too... I have never met anyone before and everyone thinks I am crazy when I tell them. I have some white marching band gloves tthat DS1 wears when we go to very public-food prone places (day out with thomas the train, Storyland etc).

That's a great idea! Fortunately, Lucy doesn't seem to be quite as sensitive as that, though we've avoided the "scariest" places we could think of (Chuck E Cheese, etc).

Protein at breakfast...um....none. If it starts impacting my blood sugar, I'll have to do something, but for right now I generally just have carbs at breakfast. I could probably tolerate sausage or maybe ham steaks or something, but I'm not a big meat-eater anyway so that might be pushing it! We do a lot of beans at lunch and chicken at dinner. I know I need to up my protein intake but haven't gotten there just yet.

[lincap]

Stevia

I forgot to mention that i have tried stevia and still have some in my cabinet. I don't think it is a sweet as sugar. Some people say it is very sweet, but to me (and I have many sweet teeth) it was not very sweet. It has an aftertaste too. BUT since I was boarderline GD I plan on having stevia in my tea in the morning to help with blood glucose levels.

[mamacatsbaby]

Like many other things in parenting it's become second nature for us to watch for allergens when we're out. DS does too even at 3 for certain dairy and peanut forms. He will tell people he can't have peanuts or milk and if they try to offer him something he's not sure about he will ask me if it will give him hives.

We were at the playground once, it was maybe a day or two after a rain I think? Anyway, he was on one of those tilted twirly things and we were playing. He gets off and his face and arms are covered in hives. I inspected it top to bottom and couldn't find immediate evidence of the allergen. Craziness.

We carry cream Benadryl and the tongue strips. We'll get an epi as a JIK but thank God he's not ana.

Protein. What about light pork sausages, turkey dogs, turkey bacon? Spare ribs, chicken salad, beans, certain whole grains? The industrialized meat industry is crazy as hell so we read labels and do the best we can.

Came across this link.

[Eco_Ma]

Hi Mama's

okay heres what i'm eating - bone broth lots of vitamins and calcium, usually chicken or lamb.
avocado salad with romainie lettuce - calcium, spinach - calcium. cucumber, red /green peppers.squash,sweet potato
Quiona packed full of protein I usually put a cupful in with my soup to bulk it up or quiona with little burgers and lettuce
Fruit - lots of blackberrys, blueberrys, cranberrys ,coconut,cocunut juice sometimes pears,rhubarb

[Eco_Ma]

So glad we can all support each other. I dont feel so alone any more :