I've come to the conclusion that food allergies suck!

When my son was around 8 months old, we gave him a little itty bitty spoon of Nutella. Within minutes we noticed a reaction happening. He tongue started to swell, he started to wheeze, and he broke out in hives. At that time, we only lived a few blocks from the hospital so we rushed over and was seen immediately. That's when we found out he had a tree nut allergy. From that moment on, I began to read anything and everything on on food allergies, or so I had thought. We read the labels on everything we bought and we still do to make sure that it is safe for him to eat. So if it says, "THIS PRODUCT MAY CONTAIN TREE NUTS", we will not buy it.

For years he was able to eat peanut butter but for the last few months we started to notice that when he ate anything with peanut butter, he would get some stomach cramps and diarrhea. It didn't occur to us at the moment that the stomach cramps and diarrhea were connected to the peanut butter until this past Thursday when he was covered in hives. He ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich after school and within an hour and a half, he had hives all over. I called his doctor and she stated to take him over to the ER. That is when the doctor there told me that it was the peanut butter that caused his hives. He was having an allergic reaction to the peanut butter.

I couldn't believe that he is now allergic to peanut butter. The scariest feeling in the world is when you see your child in pain and there's nothing you can do to help. We have an EpiPen which I carry in my purse and I also have one in the car. Now comes the hard part, where I relearn everything about food allergies that pertain to not only tree nuts but peanuts. I must admit that I'm a bit overwhelmed because my son is a picky eater and has a routine. As I mentioned before, my son has Asperger's so he has a routine when he eats, how he eats, and what he eats. All I can say is that I am up for the challenge. A parent's job is never done and it will never be done; that's the fun part about parenting.

Does your child have a food allergy? If so, I'd love for you to share some helpful advice for me in the comments below or share some awesome recipes with me!