Allergies

Anna is often asked “how did you know about Isla’s allergies?” You of course dread having anything but a healthy baby, but allergies aren’t something you might pick up on in a scan or even have on your radar unless you’re already in that world yourself. So, when Anna was flung into this very tricky and scary place that is being an allergy mum, it shook her, but also made her the most confident she’s ever been. 

I’m still waiting to hear of someone's sleep that was worse than Isla’s – It’s a common last resort, flinging the car seat in the car and driving for 30 minutes to try and get your baby to sleep. But Islas sleep issues were on a whole other level. I was following just about every sleep consultant out there, following wake windows to the absolute T and clutching to every sleep association known to man; breastfeeding, rocking, white noise, dark room, room temperature on point, you name it I did it. But whatever I tried, nothing worked. At our lowest, Isla was waking up either every 20 minutes every single night or only sleeping on me whilst I was upright all night – to say I was a zombie was an understatement.

It wasn’t until I was introduced to our resident sleep consultant, Courtney Coast, that things changed – I was on my knees at this point. The only way I could get my baby to sleep was on me and, of course those baby cuddles are literally the most precious thing, but when you cannot even go for a wee or make some food without holding your baby, the relentlessness is enough to shove even the most grateful of mothers over the edge. Hand on heart I didn’t have dinner with my husband for 10 months. I was in the dark, breastfeeding for hours on end trying to get my baby to sleep, while one hand was shoveling pasta into my mouth. Thankfully Courtney, aka my angel, saved us and I swear will have saved Isla’s life too had we not found out about her allergies before weaning. It was her that actually listened to Isla’s symptoms and what was going on that put the pieces of the puzzle together. It was her that told me she didn’t think it was a sleep issue, this was most likely allergies. Ha, I knew it had to be something else. I might be crap at maths but my time keeping skills for wake windows couldn’t be that bad I thought – and I was right.

Isla poo’d 27 times a day – I wish I was joking but honestly there were times we didn’t even bother with a nappy. We let her lay on the play mat with a towel underneath because poo was just leaking out of her. The GP told me “anything is normal for a breastfed baby”. But it’s true what they say, you cannot beat a mother's instinct, so this is your sign to never ignore yours! As well as the endless poo’s, Isla had awful nappy rash, eczema and was very ‘rashy’ but still I was told time and time again that I was just another ‘nervous first-time mum’, a saying that still makes my blood boil. Yes, you may be nervous, you’re a human with feelings, but you also know YOUR baby.

Enough was enough – After yet another rash, another poonami x 100000, and another night of zero sleep, I made yet another Doctor's appointment. “Here she is again” was the energy this particular Doctor gave off. A sidenote that I’m not bad-mouthing Doctors here one bit, they are incredible and I’m in awe, but there's always one bad apple in any organisation and this one, I didn’t love. I pointed out Isla’s rash on her tummy and showed him multiple pictures of her skin over the past few months and with some hesitation on his part, we finally got referred.    

Even though I knew something was wrong, there was a part of me that hoped my Dr was right, maybe my mother's instinct was wrong – Yes the ‘first time nervous mum’ comment was enough for any sleep deprived mum to accidently head-butt someone, but if you’re anything like me there is a naivety to these kind of things that you never think things will happen to you, it will just be something you read or hear about. But today, we were that person. Sitting nervously at the hospital, a place I’d been in too many times over the past few years, I found myself with familiar feelings of ‘why me?, why am I here and everyone else is cuddling their baby or going for nice walks?’. Much like the thoughts you get when you’re going through IVF; why can’t we just have sex and ‘get it done’. But again, this was just another story I had to embrace. 

I’ve heard people say they are scared of their baby getting the skin prick test, but I can hand on heart say Isla did not even flinch and if anything, the nurse made her think it was a game, so she thought it was wild! All the while I'm sitting there with my fingers crossed that I’m wrong. "We’ll just wait 10 minutes” the nurse said, “so no need to look until then”. She left the room. Sod it I’m holding her arm out, obviously I’m going to stare at her arm the whole 10 minutes. Isla had cashew, peanuts and egg put on her arm with a tiny skin prick to allow it to enter her skin. Shit. Peanut positive. Egg positive. Now what? 

After a positive skin prick test not much changed – I was still breastfeeding and it seemed after every meal I ate, Isla flared up. It was time to take things into my own hands. I was advised not to cut out food groups as of course I needed to look after me too. But I'd say sleep is arguably the most important pillar when it comes to overall wellbeing and the score at the current time was sleep 1 – Anna – 0. I started to notice a pattern between me eating a sandwich and Isla flaring up and my unhealthy obsession with hummus. So out those went, and I saw an improvement, so back to the GP I went. This time I lucked out with an incredible GP that referred us. No ‘nervous mum’ Dr to be seen. We finally had someone that listened, and she referred us to the best allergy doctor in the biz – Adam Fox.  

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw how many foods Isla was allergic to. We entered Adam’s office only knowing of two confirmed foods she was allergic to and only having an inkling to go by that there were more foods to go. This time it felt like a whole buffet was placed on Isla’s forearm. Quick science lesson, these are the liquid proteins of foods being put on Isla’s arm not an actual loaf of bread or eggs – no brunch here guys. One by one each drop was placed on Isla’s arm next to a letter that stood for the type of food e.g. E = egg, P = peanuts and so on. It looked like a crossword. Another 10-minute wait and this time there lay all our answers. No wonder we had a very unhappy baby. That day we found out Isla was allergic to Wheat, Sesame, Egg, Nuts, Peanuts, Kiwi and Avocado. FML.

I still managed to breastfeed for 11 months until I realised I was on the verge of passing out every day. It got to the point where I couldn’t really eat anything while out and about. Most shop bought wheat free bread contains egg and most cakes have everything she is allergic to and seeing as everything you eat gets passed through your breastmilk, it was a hard task to ever buy anything on the move. So, after trying so hard, it was time for our breastfeeding journey to come to an end and honestly, I was so proud of how far I had come. But it was time to put my health at the forefront as well - aka I wanted a baguette.

Anaphylaxis is a daily worry of mine. If we’re out and about, at a restaurant, at a café or at a friend’s house or the worst thing; children's parties, I cannot ever properly relax or switch off. I’m constantly ‘on!’ Islas allergies are IgE mediated allergies which cause your child's immune system to react abnormally, which means they are fast reacting and can send her into anaphylaxis. Having that load on your shoulders is tough to say the least.  

I'm dreading her starting nursery and allowing someone else to be in charge of being ‘on it’. I keep thinking the room for error is so huge with 7 allergies, so somehow, I’m going to have to trust it at some point, but it does keep me awake at night. Right now, I’m in a place where I have no fear in asking people not to bring a certain food or make sure their child hasn’t eaten an ‘allergy food’ before we see them, as well as asking restaurant staff and cafes to really wipe down a highchair again. I know advocating for your child is part of motherhood, but being an allergy mum, you have to put aside any thoughts of someone thinking you’re being difficult. Your child's life depends on them not being around a certain food, whilst another child/human can deal without having peanuts for an hour of their life. That’s my mentality.  

My long-term goal Is to do something to help the lives of parents with allergy children. I’m big into reading the back of packaging and most wheat free or ‘free from’ items are full of either E numbers, emulsifiers and ingredients I couldn’t even pronounce. Not to mention the lack of what is on offer in restaurants, at children's attractions or convenience foods when you’re on the go. I think you’d be shocked by the amount of food prep I have to do before we leave the house or go away anywhere. It really does add a whole other level of stress, organisation and time to the agenda.  One thing I’ve done is try and make Isla’s life as normal as possible without the fear I have getting in the way. We still go to the park (I just have to fend off the sea of biscuits attached to most kids' hands) we go on holiday, and we go to cafes, I just always have to be prepared. A hack I've found works if you’re an allergy parent yourself is muffins are your best friend. You can shove a lot of ingredients and veg in those, and they transport really well. I always have a couple up my sleeve if we’re out and about. The actress Julianne Moore said, “It's not difficult to take care of a child; it's difficult to do anything else while taking care of a child” and I'd add it’s doubly difficult to do anything quickly whilst taking care of an allergy child, everything has to be planned and thought out. That’s why I’d love to help other allergy parents with easier ways to get out of the house and enjoy themselves without having to prep a ton of food or be left with the not-so-great choices on the shelf.

By Anna Johnson