Hi Mama,
Childhood food allergies are on the rise. If you’re like me and have a young baby, you’re probably worried about what that might mean for your little one. Luckily there are ways to test for and manage food allergies, but it still doesn’t make it any less scary.
Today we will be hearing from Everyday Mom, Keisha, who shares her experience keeping a brave face while helping her daughter Haven navigate toddlerhood with food allergies.
If this if your first time reading my blog, Everyday Moms is a weekly interview series where I will be sharing experiences from moms all around the world! This series allows moms to express themselves and their feelings, and to also help you feel like you’re not alone as you navigate the ups and downs of motherhood.
If you wish to be featured on the blog, click here to submit responses to the Everyday Moms interview questions. I look forward to sharing your story with the world!
Keisha’s Story: Managing Childhood Food Allergies
Watching her experience full body reactions while trying to stay calm and not scare her, was definitely the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
Tell us about your family
Hi, my name is Keisha. I live in the Lakes Region of Maine, surrounded by all of the beauty and adventure that Maine has to offer. My husband and I have a 1.5 year old daughter (Haven), a German Shorthaired Pointer (Sally), and our second baby is due between late November and Early December of 2020! I want a boy, but I would also really love for Haven to have a sister. We can often be found visiting Haven’s favorite playground or at the nearby shopping outlet mall!
When did you become a mom?
My daughter was born 11/25/18; but my personal opinion is that pregnant women endure so many life changes right out of the gate, you’re a mom as soon as you have a positive test!
What have been your favorite memories/moments from motherhood?
This is a harder question than I anticipated! Some days I feel like a pro, but for the most part everything is still so new. Haven learns new things every single day and it makes my heart swell every time I see the lightbulb flicker in her eyes, like “oooh how cool, I can do THIS now”. If I had to pick just one moment though, it would be when I went to pick her up from daycare after a very hard day at work, and she looked at me and said “Mama!,” clear as day!
What has been your biggest struggle as a mom?
Haven has FOUR food allergies, two of which she is prone to anaphylaxis. Watching her experience full body reactions while trying to stay calm and not scare her, was definitely the hardest thing I’ve ever done. She’s only a year and a half old now, and there have already been moments where she’s missed out on things because of allergies, or been treated differently for it – she’s too young to really know the difference right now, but the realization that she’ll have to face that for possibly the rest of her life was heartbreaking. Imagining her not being able to sit with friends at school lunch, or have cake at birthday parties. It seems small in the grand scheme of life, but for a kid those things are major events! A lot of my “mom worries” and “mom guilt” and “things that keep mom up at night” stem from her allergies.
What advice do you have for other moms out there, such as something you wish you knew before you became a mom?
Trust yourself! No one knows your baby better than you do. When Haven first started eating solid food, I had a nagging little hunch that she had an egg allergy, but her reactions never looked like what we expected. She had very subtle symptoms at first that most parents don’t even know to look out for. I constantly wish now that I had trusted myself and pushed for testing sooner. Maybe we could have prevented some of her bigger and scarier reactions if we knew sooner.
Anything else you wish to share about your motherhood experience?
In addition to trusting yourself with your baby, trust yourself with YOU too. Advocate for yourself during your pregnancy, labor and postpartum. Hindsight is 20/20, and there are so many things that could have been handled way better by my providers if I had advocated more strongly for myself. Your concerns are valid and I learned that doctors have a way of brushing off valid concerns with “You’re just a first time mom, this is normal”. I had hyperemesis gravidarum, symphysis pubis dysfunction, and a miserable and traumatic labor due to a provider who wasn’t hearing my concerns. Trust yourself, advocate for yourself, and don’t let them invalidate you because you’re “just a first timer”.
I hope that you enjoyed reading Keisha’s story. It can’t be easy to stay calm when your baby is suffering from an allergic reaction. Her story gives us yet another example of a mom who is strong and brave for her baby! Moms are amazing!
Congratulations on baby number two, Keisha! I can’t wait to follow your journey!
Do you have experience with childhood food allergies? If yes, please leave your insights in the comments to help other fellow moms who may be facing the same issues.
I’ll be sharing more stories each week as I receive them so be sure to join my email list if you want to be notified of new posts. You can also follow me on Instagram where I share my motherhood journey every day. I absolutely love connecting with moms through IG so feel free to leave a comment here or send me a DM if you have questions or just want to chat and become friends!
Thanks for reading! xxx
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xo
Mother of Fawn