Food Allergies - Birthday Party

I haven't written much if anything about Makayla's food allergies since starting this blog, but have been thinking about it a lot lately. She has severe allergies to dairy, egg, peanuts and tree nuts. She was diagnosed with dairy and egg allergies when she was 9 months old and with the peanut and tree nut allergies when she was a year. It has become part of our life and we have tried not to make a huge deal out of it, but at times it can be very hard to deal with. She learned at a very young age that there were certain foods that she cannot have because they will make her "itchy" or sick. She has had a few moderate allergic reactions to dairy and remembers how she felt during the reactions so she understands why she can't have certain foods.

When we are home, living with the food allergies has just become a natural thing for us. Makayla knows what she can and can't eat and it really doesn't come up very often. Going out to eat can be a little tricky, but we can usually find at least one thing that is safe for her to eat. I was worried when she started school, but they have been awesome about keeping her safe while there and always ask about everthing they will have during parties.

The hardest thing at this point is attending birthday parties. Makayla usually cannot eat the meal or the cake and we have to bring food from home. She is usually really good about it, but it is heartbreaking at times. All of the kids are sitting there eating pizza, and we pull out a ham sandwich. Then comes the cake and ice cream and we give her some oreos. Like I said, Makayla has never once complained, but it really does break my heart that she is never included at a birthday party. When we have family parties (or ones with really close friends), someone always makes sure that there are some things that Makayla can have such as soy ice cream sandwiches or candy, but it is still usually something different from all the other kids.

We went to a birthday party this weekend for a friend of Makayla and she was able to eat just about everything there!  Makayla's friend has a younger sister with the same allergies and the mother made sure that most of the food there was allergy friendly. Makayla was sooo excited to be included and able to eat the cake with all of the other kids. It made me realize how excluded she musT feel all the other times, and I am going to try to do a better job of making sure she feels included. There was even a dairy free fruit dip that she could eat =)

I do not expect other parents to make allergy friendly meals/cakes because honestly it would be impossible to remove all of the most common allergens. But I am going to make sure I ask what will be served at the party and try to bring something as close as possible for Makayla to eat. Maybe make some cupcakes and freeze them so we can always bring a cupcake instead of the oreos.

Like I said, we have tried not to make a big deal out of it, and in the big picture it is minor considering everything else that has been thrown at us, but I think maybe we should make a bigger deal about it to be sure that Makayla does not feel left out or excluded!!!