We had a really great weekend celebrating our precious Olivia and Ethan with our family and friends. What a joy it is to be their mom and watch these babies grow. I love seeing their personalities develop and seeing more of that little person come out. 🙂 My sister shared something so sweet this week on her Instagram. As she was watching my niece open her birthday gifts (because, yes, her birthday is this week too!), she heard God whisper into her ear that He loves to see us receive sweet gifts too. How precious, friends. May we joyfully accept every blessing, including these sweet little angels, that we have been given.
This year was the first birthday party for O after her tree nut allergy diagnosis that I finally felt comfortable enough to have some outside food present at the party. This mainly was a result of O asking for a unicorn birthday cake for her party. There are many things that I can do. A unicorn birthday cake is not one of them…or not well at least. So, I searched to find a bakery that could make my girl’s birthday dreams come true AND keep her safe from any accidental exposures.
What’s the risk? Well, remember that for an IgE mediated food allergy, any exposure, even cross contamination, can potentially result in a life threatening reaction. So, a cake that was baked with the same uncleaned bowl, spatula, or pan as a cake using tree nuts could potentially be bad news for our girl. What were the questions I asked the bakery?
- Do you use any tree nuts in your cakes? If so, which ones? If the bakery used pistachio or cashew, I did not use it as those are her highest allergens.
- How can you ensure that there will not be any cross contamination of any other cakes with my cakes? The bakery I chose said that they would make the cake the very first thing that day with completely clean baking equipment and surfaces and then separate that cake from the others once completed.
I was very happy to find a bakery that accommodated my requests. O certainly loved her cake. But you better believe that I still watched her like a hawk the whole time, making sure that she did not have any adverse reactions, because you can truly never be too sure. And yes, that Auvi-Q was close by. Thankfully, the weekend celebrations proceeded without any food allergy reactions and all had a great time!
When planning a party for your little one with a food allergy, remember these helpful tips. It is possible to have a wonderful celebration but it just takes a little planning and checking.
Well tomorrow is O’s actual birthday. Four year old. Wow. We are headed to San Antonio for the weekend to celebrate. Fingers crossed that the weather stays good so we can enjoy the river walk and have fun celebrating our little girl!
-Dr. G
allergistmama 