I am continually astounded by how few people know what dairy products are. Dieticians and lunchroom managers are often not exceptions! If you have a child who needs to avoid all dairy products, then you will need to give a list of dairy products to anyone who might be preparing or offering food to your child.
I do not allow my son to eat school food because they have proven to me several times that they have no clue. This summer he went to a science camp held at his school and the Principal assured me that during this camp, with a smaller group of children, the lunchroom manager could accomodate my sons allergies. The school sent out letters to all those attending the camp that the camp would be PEANUT FREE. This was a very good thing. I was extremely grateful for that!
On the first day of the camp, I went in with my children and talked to the camp leadership about the food situation. I wanted to remind them and make sure they knew that my son is highly allergic to peanut and egg products as well as peanuts. The Principal was on hand and he assured me again that they would take care of things. I left feeling glad that my son would be able to eat with the other kids in a safe, peanut-free environment and that his other dietary restrictions would be accomodated.
I found out that I was wrong about the situation when I picked him up that afternoon. He told me that for breakfast he was handed some juice and a breakfast bar. I don't know for certain that this bar had any dairy or egg, but I do know that I have yet to find a breakfast bar that is readily available in stores that is nut, dairy and egg free. Thankfully, my son is cautious and did not try to eat the breakfast bar. He also informed me that at lunch he was given a white burger bun with one piece of ham in it, Sun Chips, and dried apricots. He didn't eat the apricots because, well - they're gross. He didn't eat the Sun Chips because usually they have some type of dairy in them. He was disappointed that he didn't get something more substantial than one piece of meat on a white bun. I was a little disappointed too, but I encouraged him to eat the fruit next time.
The next day's food was about the same and then on Wednesday he was given a bologna sandwich. In my experience, bologna usually contains milk ingredients and I never serve it at home. He did eat it without any noticeable ill effects so I can only assume that either it was safe or his reactions to dairy products are getting better. However, his allergist has recommended complete avoidance of dairy and egg until he is more physically mature - around age 15 or so.
At this point I don't trust the school nutrition staff to get it right. Here is a list of dairy products and dairy ingredients, if you don't know them already. You can get cards and guides from the food allergy network.
Yogurt, Sherbert, Gelatto usually contain dairy
Most margarines still contain some butter or milk
Most convenience foods will contain some egg or dairy - like batter-coated chicken nuggets, baked goods, hot dogs, lunch meat - and you should always read & re-read the label.
Most non-dairy creamers still contain some dairy - also Cool Whip
Other ingredients:
artificial butter flavor
butter fat, butter oil, buttermilk
casein and caseinates
curds
custard
whey
lactose (and similar words)
Egg ingredients sometimes appear in unexpected places too.
Some candies and pastries are glazed with egg.
Pancake and cake mixes sometimes have some egg or milk ingredients already in them even if they call for adding more.
Mayonnaise is made from eggs - surprising that many people don't seem to know this.
Egg substitutes may contain some egg.
Egg noodles contain egg and sometimes other pastas do also. Always ask the kitchen or chef to check the pasta ingredients in a restaurant.
BE SAFE!
Showing posts with label ingredients. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ingredients. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Nursery/ daycare and allergy ignorance
I was fortunate not to have to put my baby in daycare. I quit my job after he was born and a few months later starting working part-time with my husband and was able to take the baby with me. So I didn't have to fight with a daycare center about his diet. I'm thankful for that because it was hard enough dealing with the nursery on Sunday at church. For about a year I was even afraid to let them have him for an hour. He was a good baby, so I took him in to services with me. I was so paranoid that I didn't even let his grandmother keep him at her house until he was several months old.
Once Dal started to walk, he was a little too squirmy to hold in my lap for an hour during a church service, so I finally decided to give the nursery a chance. They had great safety and security procedures, it seemed. I was asked to complete an information sheet that would be keep in a notebook in the room he was to be in. They would give me a pager so they could contact me if there were any concerns. I talked to the lady who was in charge of the nursery for that year. She agreed that they would be very careful and not feed him anything that I did not provide for him. Everything was fine. I was shoulder-patted and reassured.
After he was officially diagnosed with dairy, egg, and peanut allergies; I informed the nursery volunteers and our church's Minister to Children. They were attentive and concerned and promised that peanut products especially would be kept out of Dal's presence. I was told that on Sunday morning, the little ones were only given soda crackers and water if they wanted a little snack. I was happy that they were so caring and open to protecting my son.
A couple of weeks later though, there was trouble. We picked Dal up from the nursery and he looked a little red in the face. Later he broke out with little hives and spit up some. The next day he had eczema. At that time, we were quickly learning that he was very sensitive to his allergens and would break out with even a tiny amount of exposure. I guessed that he was getting some sort of incidental exposure to something in the nursery; probably from another child or from something in another child's diaper bag. I spoke to the nursery people about it and they assured me they would be more careful. But we continued to have problems and then one day, Dal vomited several times after church.
To make a long post shorter, we finally figured out that a volunteer in the room was bringing and giving the kids goldfish crackers. And even though this person had been told about Dal's food allergies, the volunteer somehow didn't realize that goldfish crackers meant dairy product!
So this is when I learned that I needed to get together a list of dairy ingredients and give all caregivers a short lesson on what dairy, egg and peanut products were. At first I made a list with no-no ingredients in each category and had it laminated. Later, I ordered cards from the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN). I had a set of three little yellow cards: one with dairy ingredients listed, one with egg, and one with peanut.
You know, it is surprising how many people don't know what dairy or egg is in. I can understand that they may not realize some candies have egg; like the Wonka candy version of Skittles, or taffy; but it surprises me that so many people don't know that yogurt is a dairy product, and sherbert, and goldfish crackers!
So educate and advocate - that's what I say.
Once Dal started to walk, he was a little too squirmy to hold in my lap for an hour during a church service, so I finally decided to give the nursery a chance. They had great safety and security procedures, it seemed. I was asked to complete an information sheet that would be keep in a notebook in the room he was to be in. They would give me a pager so they could contact me if there were any concerns. I talked to the lady who was in charge of the nursery for that year. She agreed that they would be very careful and not feed him anything that I did not provide for him. Everything was fine. I was shoulder-patted and reassured.
After he was officially diagnosed with dairy, egg, and peanut allergies; I informed the nursery volunteers and our church's Minister to Children. They were attentive and concerned and promised that peanut products especially would be kept out of Dal's presence. I was told that on Sunday morning, the little ones were only given soda crackers and water if they wanted a little snack. I was happy that they were so caring and open to protecting my son.
A couple of weeks later though, there was trouble. We picked Dal up from the nursery and he looked a little red in the face. Later he broke out with little hives and spit up some. The next day he had eczema. At that time, we were quickly learning that he was very sensitive to his allergens and would break out with even a tiny amount of exposure. I guessed that he was getting some sort of incidental exposure to something in the nursery; probably from another child or from something in another child's diaper bag. I spoke to the nursery people about it and they assured me they would be more careful. But we continued to have problems and then one day, Dal vomited several times after church.
To make a long post shorter, we finally figured out that a volunteer in the room was bringing and giving the kids goldfish crackers. And even though this person had been told about Dal's food allergies, the volunteer somehow didn't realize that goldfish crackers meant dairy product!
So this is when I learned that I needed to get together a list of dairy ingredients and give all caregivers a short lesson on what dairy, egg and peanut products were. At first I made a list with no-no ingredients in each category and had it laminated. Later, I ordered cards from the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN). I had a set of three little yellow cards: one with dairy ingredients listed, one with egg, and one with peanut.
You know, it is surprising how many people don't know what dairy or egg is in. I can understand that they may not realize some candies have egg; like the Wonka candy version of Skittles, or taffy; but it surprises me that so many people don't know that yogurt is a dairy product, and sherbert, and goldfish crackers!
So educate and advocate - that's what I say.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Safe baby food
At first, it really wasn't too difficult to accommodate Dal's food allergies. He was a baby and had a rather under-developed sense of taste, so I gave him milk (soy or breast) and vegetables, fruits, and iron fortified rice cereal. Of course, I also had to avoid his allergenic foods myself.
Then I discovered that Gerber baby food had more dairy-free options than Hunt's baby food the hard way. I bought a jar of a vegetable that I usually bought in the Gerber brand in Hunt's brand and fed it to baby Dal, only to discover, after he got sick, that it had dairy in the ingredients. But I quickly learned to read labels, as did my baby boy. At sixteen months, he would refuse to eat any baby food until he saw the jar and determined that it had the Gerber baby on it. Somehow he made the connection and decided that the baby on the jar meant it was safe for him. Like a wine steward, I would present the jar to the Little Sir while he sat enthroned in his high chair. He would look seriously at the label and nod his approval. If I tried to present something other than Gerber he would turn his head away and make a small sound of disapproval.
Eventually, I resorted to carefully removing the Gerber labels, washing the jars, refilling them with homemade food, and re-taping the labels on. He may have known his labels, but he wasn't such a connoisseur that he could tell the real Gerber from Mom's.
But the allergy moral here is: learn to read labels and always read them.
(disclaimer: I have no idea at present which baby food brand has the most foods with dairy in them.)
Then I discovered that Gerber baby food had more dairy-free options than Hunt's baby food the hard way. I bought a jar of a vegetable that I usually bought in the Gerber brand in Hunt's brand and fed it to baby Dal, only to discover, after he got sick, that it had dairy in the ingredients. But I quickly learned to read labels, as did my baby boy. At sixteen months, he would refuse to eat any baby food until he saw the jar and determined that it had the Gerber baby on it. Somehow he made the connection and decided that the baby on the jar meant it was safe for him. Like a wine steward, I would present the jar to the Little Sir while he sat enthroned in his high chair. He would look seriously at the label and nod his approval. If I tried to present something other than Gerber he would turn his head away and make a small sound of disapproval.
Eventually, I resorted to carefully removing the Gerber labels, washing the jars, refilling them with homemade food, and re-taping the labels on. He may have known his labels, but he wasn't such a connoisseur that he could tell the real Gerber from Mom's.
But the allergy moral here is: learn to read labels and always read them.
(disclaimer: I have no idea at present which baby food brand has the most foods with dairy in them.)
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