Pregnancy, Food Allergies

This comes from Jess, an allergic girl in Boston and new mom. Anyone have any resources for her? Thanks!

"There are tons of books out there about pregnancy, tons of books about being a parent to a child with allergies, but nothing that deals with an allergic person who is pregnant. I luckily gave birth to my first child on Christmas Day without any problems. But now I'm worried about him developing allergies and was wondering if you had covered that in the past. He was 5 weeks early on top of it all, but he is luckily doing just fine."

Comments

Rose said…
My favorite book is "Dealing with Food Allergies in Babies and Children" by Janice Vickerstaff Joneja, PhD, RD. (I also love her original "Dealing with Food Allergies". In the beginning of each book she covers the current state of what we know based on scientific studies and will even point out when things are controversial or studies point in 2 different directions. I know their is a small section on pregnancy and bigger section on preventing sensitization in the early months.

My personal advice is to watch your baby and trust your instincts. My oldest showed signs of "something wrong" starting at 3 months. For 6 months I let people treat me like I was a slightly crazy over protective new mom who was jumping at shadows. If I had a dollar for every time I was told "Babies are like that, relax!" (No, not even babies NEVER sleep... and I mean NEVER) Not until she was 9m old and projectile vomiting daily did anyone take my concerns seriously. Even then I was the one who figured out the final allergen at 15 months. (Corn)

Luckily for DD #2 the moment I saw something I had the confidence to trust myself and tackle the problem. We had her allergies figured out quickly months and she actually out grew them by 15m old.

So no matter what dr's or books say remember you are the best expert their is on your baby. :) And congratulations!
zebe912 said…
I can't offer any help, but I'm glad to see this on your blog. As someone hoping to conceive soon, and not being able to do wheat & dairy, I do worry about maintaining my own nutrition during pregnancy, as well as what I might pass on to my baby by eating or not eating many of the primary allergens.
Jess said…
This is Jess from Boston :)

Rose-Thank you so much for all of your advice and I will be sure to read that book. The whole pregnancy taught me to trust my instincts so I do appreciate that very much. I hope your family is doing well.

Zebe912-I completely understand your concerns, and luckily everything turned out ok for me. It was very frustrating at times and if you have any questions, I might be able to help. Please feel free to e-mail me at jessica.reino@ksonsolutions.com
I kept a journal throughout my pregnancy.
The only things that I'm not allergic to are wheat and dairy. I'm allergic to soy, peanuts, tree nuts, egg white, shellfish and have severe oral allergy syndrome where I need to stay away from all fruit. Luckily I did not have one allergic reaction while I was pregnant and my baby is very healthy and doing just fine. I think one of the most important things is to find a prenatal vitamin that will work for you. I had to try a bunch of different kinds so I would not be allergic and I used them 2 months prior to conceiving. I hope that helps!

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