Because allergies run rampant in our family, this topic has been on my radar well before I became a parent. Once I became a mom, introducing food to the kid with the possibility of food allergies became an even bigger reality. Aside from real-life experience by helping my younger brother cope with being “allergic to the world,” my husband and I researched to educate ourselves for the uncertainty of having a child with food sensitivities.
Amidst all the gatherings this time of year, it’s the parties and family events that can be a cause of concern for allergic reactions. After being so cautious with anything new that the three year old has eaten, over Christmas, he had an allergic reaction after having some cashews. Of course, the reaction happened the evening of the post-Christmas blizzard and weather conditions would have complicated everything. Thankfully, the kid is at an age where he can verbally communicate with us now, and immediately told us that his tongue was itchy—a telltale sign of an allergic reaction, and something that I always remember my brother describing after eating various things he was allergic to, when we were kids.
Always reluctant to let the kid have nuts in anything, for some reason, I thought he would have been ok trying cashews for the first time that night. I thought he was in the clear with any nut allergies, but I was wrong.
The kid’s hives, swollen lips and an itchy tongue was enough to remind us that not all foods are safe for our allergy-prone kid. Thankfully, we had Children’s Benadryl onhand to remedy the situation and that it didn’t require a trip to the ER. We learned from this terrifying situation and are grateful it didn’t transpire differently.
Because of our family’s allergies and my interest in sharing this sort of information to other parents, I will be logging into a video webinar on the topic tomorrow.
Super Bowl Sunday is the second biggest eating day of the year after Thanksgiving. Since severe allergic reactions to food send 90,000 people to the emergency room annually, TV personality Holly Robinson Peete of CBS’s The Talk (who is married to former NFL quarterback Rodney Peete) will be hosting an online video webinar about handling food allergy dangers at gatherings like Super Bowl parties. Nine out of 10 people say they will be attending one this year, according to a recent Nielsen survey. Since Holly’s four children all have some kind of food allergy, she has plenty of expertise in this topic.
After the webinar, I’ll be one of a few bloggers who will ask Holly questions pertaining to allergies and her experience. It’s always interesting to hear other parents shed light on issues that hit so close to home. I’ll of course share Holly’s insight after the interview, but I’d also like to invite you to watch the online webinar.
Allergy Friendly Superbowl Webinar with Holly Robinson Peete
When: Tuesday, Feb. 1, at 5 p.m. ET (2 p.m. PT)
Where: Click this link
to get to the webinar, where you will be able to watch Holly via live video feed: http://agencyroad.na4.acrobat.com/allergyfriendlysuperbowl/
Full disclosure: I am being compensated for my participation in this webinar and Q&A via TheMotherhood. The webinar is being sponsored by Dey Pharma L.P. As always all opinions on NKT are my own.
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