Doing my job

Chocolate ice cream = safe :)

I found this blog post through Pinterest today. I was so touched while reading it. I feel a
lot of the same emotions - worry about hidden ingredients in foods, frustration at being forced into the Bad Cop role when it comes to cake, ice creams, cupcakes, drinks, and countless foods and treats. I feel the stress over party invitations and holidays like Halloween and Easter.

But then I feel incredibly guilty. Sophie's allergy to food coloring isn't as severe as the author's son. Eating an unsafe food (or using the fun soaps and bubble baths) cause a rash, not anaphylaxis. I don't have to worry about someone who ate a Snickers bar holding her hand and causing her to have a life-threatening reaction. We are very lucky that way.

However, I still don't know that it won't happen someday. Everything I've been told by professionals, everything I've found in my own research, tells me that since she does have the reaction she does it's
very possible that "the next time" could be that dangerous. And we never know which time is that "next time." It could be literally the next time she is given a lollipop by a bank teller when I'm distracted, or it could be a year from now, or it could be never (my ideal, obviously). There just is no way to know so we have to act like it is literally the very next time. Read every label. Be prepared with a stash of safe candy. Carry dye-free Benadryl. Pack all of her dye-free  medications in case she gets sick while we're away and I can't easily find dye-free versions of what she needs.

And like the mother who wrote that post, I feel so much like I'm judged for being "That Mom" when I say no she can't have just one piece of candy. She can't have a cupcake at the party. She can't drink the fruit punch. She can't have any macaroni and cheese. I'm not being a Sanctimommy, I'm keeping her safe. That's my job.