Mistake

Once again another allergy documenting experience:

Last night Kyle and I went to eat at a restaurant that caters to people with allergies.  I really debated going out, but we had a babysitter and I really just wanted to go out and relax and not worry about what to fix for dinner. I called ahead and talked to the chef and he said they could cater things for me.   I made sure to let my waitress know of what I couldn't eat.  I ordered a hamburger off their gluten free menu and asked for no cheese, no french fries, etc and that if they used oil to make sure to use olive oil.  Well I totally spaced asking about the bun (which is my fault).  I definitely should have ordered something like fish and rice, but I had just made that at home, and thought a burger sounded so good....even if it was gluten/dairy free.

Brooks has the really bad cough that is going around, and last night he also had a fever in the middle of the night.  He seemed to be extra gassy and upset, and it made for a long night.  The poor baby was in rough shape. This morning I noticed his eczema was really bad on his head again (it had pretty much cleared up), and he had scratches all over his head and forehead from when he came un-swaddled and had scratched his head.  He also was messing his diaper all the time.  I immediately knew that the hamburger bun must have had something in it.  I called the restaurant and sure enough the bun has cornstarch, egg whites, and a little bit of powder milk.  Isn't that amazing that a small piece of bread can have that much effect on a baby who's allergic?  I am so mad at myself because I have been completely allergen food free for almost a week (going on over a month with dairy/soy, and two weeks with wheat, eggs, nuts)!  At least it was only one item, so hopefully it won't take too long to get it out of my system.  No more eating out for me that's for sure.

Did you know that less than 2% of babies are allergic to their mother's breast milk (or at least the food that is passed through the milk)?  What are the odds that 2 of my children have this problem! There are many sites online that say a baby can't be allergic to their mother's breast milk.  These sites obviously haven't done their research properly.

Thanks for all of the word's of encouragement.  It's getting easier for me.  The first couple of weeks are always the most miserable.  Now I just need to start seeing some improvements in Brooks.  At least after last night, I KNOW he has allergies.  I'm going to schedule some blood tests next week to see if we can pinpoint what they are without going to the allergist.  To answer a question about formula, our insurance will not cover the formula.  We spent 2 years appealing our last insurance companies decision to not cover Michael's after they said they would, and we got nowhere.