I think I don't like food anymore.

I just finished this incredibly long and boring Email to my daughter's teacher that basically sums up my life for the past year or so. I've read a statistic that families dealing with dietary restrictions are more stressed out than families who are not. Personally, I couldn't agree more! I think a good deal of my stress comes from not even knowing if all this will help her, but I feel like we should at least try.

Hi Mrs. R,

I hope you had a nice and relaxing break. Kate said the baby had to have stitches recently. Poor guy! I hope he's feeling better!

I just want to let you know we had some new blood work done for Kate that shows she is having a strong immune reaction when she eats foods containing wheat, gluten, peanuts, almonds, and dairy casein (including cheese, yogurt, and cow milk). Also, we should be limiting her sugar intake.

So far she has never had any serious anaphylactic-type reactions (thankfully), so if she accidentally eats one of these foods we don't expect anything crazy to happen. Mainly she just gets itchy hives, eczema and digestive problems. Even so, we are trying to keep her on a diet strictly restricting these problem foods so that we can see if her symptoms improve when she avoids them.

She's been on the diet for about 2-3 weeks now and it has been very hard on all of us. To make matters worse, Kate sneaks foods she knows she shouldn't have whenever she finds the chance. I've caught her sneaking rolls under the table at Easter, an old Cheeto she found on her cousin's bookshelf, a piece of candy off the tennis court...It's sad, but I think she is desperate to eat something "normal". At school she'll often trade her "safe" foods for her friends' brownie or crackers. I have asked her repeatedly not to trade, but she still does. She eats birthday treats at school when she knows she should bring it to me first to be sure. I'm sure she's worried that I'll say no, so she eats it while I'm not there to say it. I can't say that I blame her, either. It has been very hard for her not to be able to eat what everyone else is eating, and I feel terrible telling her "no" all day long.

Anyway, I wanted you to be aware of this so you can be mindful of it during the school day. Since I'm not there to keep an eye on what she eats, I'm asking for your help with watching her in the classroom. I told her I was writing this letter and that you would be watching her at school. Hopefully she won't be so sneaky if she knows you are aware of her diet, too. ;-)

If you could get me a copy of the birthday list, that would be great. That way I can plan with the other parents so I can send a safe treat for Kate on birthdays so she won't feel so left out. Also, if there will be any type of school or classroom celebration involving food, I would like to know about it ahead of time so I can plan to have an alternative treat for Kate (she should not have any pizza or ice cream, for instance). If you offer candy as a reward to the class, please don't let Kate have more than a small lollypop or a few Skittles worth...and she shouldn't have anything containing milk, like chocolate. Many licorices even contain gluten, which she should not have. I think Skittles and Starbursts are safe for her. The DumDum lollypops you have are probably safe. Let me know if you want me to bring in a bag of candy for that purpose.

As far as the lunch table goes, I'm at a loss. I would rather not have her sit at the allergy table. And I doubt there are any supervisors there who will be watching what she eats. Do you have any suggestions on how to keep kids from trading with her?

I feel terrible putting all this on you, but in order to know if this diet is working I need to know what she's eating at school. Ultimately, I don't want anyone to give her food at school without me giving the okay. And whenever possible, I would like to be notified of social food situations ahead of time so I can provide a safe substitute for her to feel more included.

If you have any questions please ask.

Thank you!!!
Dana 

For the record, the title of this post was an exaggeration. I still like food...just maybe not as much.