going to test 18 mo old for my food allergy...need advice

[muddyfeet]

any advice is appreciated. The story.

I'm allergic to strawberries. If they touch me, I get hives in a diameter of about 20 inches around the spot I was touched. If I am kissed by someone who ate them, my face swells up. If I swallow even a little bit, I stop breathing. I can usually smell them for great distances, and I avoid any pink desserts. But I can't smell if someone's been eating them. It doesn't stay on their breath, even though traces of the juice stay around the mouth and hands for a while.

Strawberries are in EVERYTHING for kids, at least here in the U.S. We're going to get an allergy test for DD because my allergy is so bad. My questions for this board are:

If my daughter is not allergic, how do I communicate to her that she can't touch me without washing thoroughly and can't kiss me if she's recently had strawberries or anything with natural strawberry flavor?

If she is allergic, how do I get her to remember that she can't have any, and she can't read yet so she can't look at the packages, and she can't talk well yet so she can't tell anyone? How do I make sure that carers don't accidentally kill her or me?

I am in a bit of panic mode because it just hit me that we're at this point that we HAVE to deal with it, since she's going to playgroups where food is consumed and traded and not always washed off. And I'm not ready to try to explain to her the concept of "mommy or you could die".

[abbysmomma]

While the tendency to HAVE an allergy is inherited, the actual food/thing you're allergic to is not. So just because you are allergic to strawberries does not mean at all that your daughter will be. I have hay fever/cat/grass etc kind of allergies, but my son is allergic to multiple foods like wheat dairy eggs sesame. I'm sure you would have noticed if your daughter was allergic to anything as bad as your strawberry allergy. I would suggest for the time being that since you are so allergic to strawberries, you should refrain from having your daughter have any strawberries as well. You can explain to her, and she will understand to a certain extent. And since she is so young, you can control what she eats. When she gets to an age that she can understand better, then she is old enough to ask if a food has a certain ingredient. Every one also gets to be really good at hand/face washing

Good luck with it all. I know how tough it can be.

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

While the tendency to HAVE an allergy is inherited, the actual food/thing you're allergic to is not. So just because you are allergic to strawberries does not mean at all that your daughter will be.

Exactly what I was going to say! I would also suggest not letting her have them until you are sure she understands how allergic you are and how to handle the precautions. Oh, and I just learned about these, which would come in handy at playgroups:

http://store.safetytat.com/store/

[muddyfeet]

Those tattoo things are perfect for playgroups! Thank you so much!

I'll explain to her about the strawberries. She's surprised me from time to time with the things she understands. I don't tend to think too clearly when I'm really worried, and talking to the BW group is helping.

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Those tattoo things are perfect for playgroups! Thank you so much!

I know! I'm thinking of getting a whole bunch for when Spencer goes to preschool that say only to feed her food from home (she's on a gluten, dairy, egg & nut free diet now) and some with our phone number on for when we go on outings for both kids.