Last week Mr B had a few days off so on Friday we decided to take the kids swimming. Due to the age restrictions I can’t take all 3 on my own, so with Mr B being off I thought it would be a good idea.
I feel really guilty that this is the first time that Little D has been swimming. It’s really awful how time slips away and before you know it months or years have gone by and you haven’t done things you’ve wanted to.
Anyway, at first D was hanging on to his Daddy for dear life, his little chin wobbling with fear and generally just unsure of what the hell was going on. I had Miss C for the first wee while then we swapped and I took him deeper in the water and bobbed him about a bit and he was soon splashing, sticking his face in the water, playing with his sisters and constantly kicking me in the stomach.
Miss C was actually buzzing out of her tights! It’s been over 18 months since she’s been (bad Mummy) and she loved it. The kid has no fear. It’s brill but scary.I’m glad she’s like that though, and I’m going to enrol her in swimming lessons as soon as she is old enough. Being able to swim is such a life skill that I think it’s really important that kids learn as soon as they can. I was also told by the Physiotherapist that swimming could help to strengthen her muscles and help her hypermobility so I really want to try and take her more often and help those wee bendy ankles, knees and hips.
Miss B started swimming lessons in 2012 and she is amazing. She is almost finished all the levels and her couch was talking to her about starting the junior lifeguard programme which she is quite keen to do. She has a lot of activities so we will need to have a look and see what it involves and where she can fit it in.
I can tell you though that taking 3 kids swimming was so tiring. Just getting the 2 wee ones out of the pool, showered, dried and dressed was mental. We went at 9am and it was quiet, so no lack of family changing room or showers and everyone was shattered afterwards that we had a really chilled afternoon.
When Miss C last saw the dietitian in December I asked if she could be referred for allergy testing. I wanted the tests done so that if any other allergies showed up we could be prepared, especially with her going to nursery in a few months. I’m feeling a little apprehensive if I’m totally honest. I’ve been able to control all the environments she’s been in up until now and even though it has been drilled into her about not picking up anyone elses food or drink, she is still really young, plus one of us has always where ever she is to oversee what’s going on.
She had her appointment with the Specialist last Friday so I thought I would cover off what happened and let anyone else about to go through the process know what to expect. We are in South Lanarkshire so we went to Wishaw General Dietetics Department where she was first seen as a baby.
To date, we are aware of 7 allergies/intolerances and the reactions they cause:
Cows Milk Protein – tummy trouble, diarrhoea, blood in her stool
Soya – vomit
Tomatoes – rash around the mouth and sore stomach
Peppers – rash around the mouth and sore stomach
Strawberries – rash around the mouth and sore stomach
Bananas – rash around the mouth and sore stomach
Oranges – rash around the mouth and sore stomach
Beef – sore stomach
We went to the shop and I let her pick a magazine, this is the best treat in the world for Miss C, she spent ages choosing one and then managed to drop the entire shelf of magazines all over the floor. The man working there was not a happy bunny and when I tried to pick them up he nipped the face off me! Anyway, we paid and walked to the Outpatient clinic and were taken pretty quickly. A lovely nurse took her height and weight and was chatting to her about her magazine and who was in it. While she was being distracted, I filled in a questionnaire about allergies and what to do in case of reaction including anaphylaxis. We waited for 5 minutes and went in to see the Consultant. He was lovely and I’m fairly certain that I have seen him before about her allergies. We talked through what she was allergic to and what kind of reactions she had and if I had any other concerns. I told him that I had a good handle on her allergies but that with her going to nursery, I wanted to make sure we were 100% on everything. He sent us back outside to wait and then would be sent to the nurse for the test to be applied.
After a few minutes we went next door to see Angela who had laid out all the things that Miss C was to be tested for. She explained it would be a sick prick test and then itemised everything that would be administered. I told Miss C that Angela was going to put some medicine on her arm and she had to sit nice and still until she was finished, then I sat and chatted random nonsense to try and distract her.
Angela then drew on her arm, a letter for each item that was going to be tested for and a little smiley face 🙂 Angela was great, she told Miss C that she had a to put special bubbles on her arm and then C had to guess if she could pop the bubbles or not. She worked quickly and Miss C was brilliant until there were about 4 to go and then she started to get a bit upset. Once we were finished we were sent to the waiting room for 15 minutes when we would be called back in to see what reactions we had.
So we toddled off to the waiting room and had a drink and a snack and before we knew it we were being called back in. The Consultant had a look at her arm and confirmed that everything we thought she had issues with had shown up. Soya was the most red and inflamed and milk didn’t show, but since her reactions are all tummy related we wouldn’t have expected to see anything show up on her arm for milk.
The good news is that there are no new reactions, especially to nuts or sesame seeds so we talked through the next steps. I am going to gradually reintroduce everything that is on the list. I started a few months ago with tomatoes and after a few tries and a couple of reactions, she can now eat them cooked. This week we are going to tackle them raw and see how we get on!
So I can relax a bit about her starting nursery in a few months although we will always need to be on the look out and keep drilling into her that she can’t lift other peoples food or drinks. The Consultant was very reassuring that I have been doing well to manage the allergies and was happy with my plan for reintroduction. While I was there I also mentioned to him about Little D and his reactions to egg and he is going to get him seen as soon as he can.
All in all, it was a great experience. The staff were all lovely and everything was done quickly and Miss C was absolutely brilliant through it.
Just destroyed the magazine shelf and off to the ward
I’ve posted about Miss Cs food allergies before and a few of them snuck up and gave us a surprise. When I started weaning her brother I was particularly vigilant to make sure there were no reactions. All allergies react differently, it could be a rash, hives, vomiting, gas, the trots and some cases even anaphylaxis.
When I was weaning I would give the same food at least 2 days in a row to see if there was any reaction. The first food that caused a reaction was lentils. I had made a lentil and vegetable puree and after he ate it he had a rash around his mouth which looked a bit like prickly heat. I gave him more the next day and he instantly got the rash again.
A few weeks later I had made his sister some dairy free scrambled egg made with almond milk and within 5 minutes he was refusing to eat, his skin was all red and blotchy and he was scratching like crazy. I stopped giving him the egg and watched him for 5 mins to see if that was the only reaction. He seemed to be getting itchier and all of a sudden his breathing seemed laboured. I decided to give him some antihistamine and phoned Mr B who was working locally just incase I had to take him to the hospital. As soon as I gave him the Piriton he was sick but thankfully it seemed to do it’s job and his breathing went back to normal after 10 mins and the rash started to fade.
I wasn’t sure what it was that he had reacted to, it could have been the eggs or the almond milk and I knew from experience that I would have to give him eggs again without the almond milk to rule it out. I left it a few weeks and gave him scrambled egg with cows milk and he had the same reaction. I treated it with Piriton again and he was fine.
We have been avoiding egg and to be honest, we haven’t really had that much of an issue. Most of his food is made from scratch by me and if I do need to buy anything then I just need to check the ingredients.
Yesterday I made his sister scrambled egg for lunch and as always, I made sure that everything I used was kept away from his plate and utensils. All was well, she ate her egg, he ate his sandwich and his peach. Miss C decided to help her brother and gave him a few bits then started dancing round about him. I was clearing up when I noticed he was scratching his chest so I went to have a look and saw that he was red and covered in hives. I couldn’t figure out what had happened then realised that Miss C must have had remnants of egg on her hands when she touched the fruit. Again, within a few minutes his breathing started to become laboured and he was clawing at himself. I gave him some Piriton and cleared everything away and cleaned his chair and tray just incase there was anymore there.
When you are dealing with your kids allergies you usually know what to look out for and what kind of reaction to expect. Certainly with Miss C we know what happens when she reacts to different foods but we have never had any kind of reaction like this. I need to make sure I always have a bottle of Piriton in my bag at all times and I am going to speak to the allergy specialist who we are going to see on Friday for Miss C and enquire if we can get him tested to make sure we are managing his needs properly.
Over the last few weeks, Miss C has been a classic example of a toddler. One minute she is sweetness personified, all hugs and kisses and playing nicely with her brother and sister. Then in the blink of an eye she turns into a tantruming monster.
Tonight after her bath she was reading books and playing with her toys while I sorted her brother and then it began. Tantrums, screaming, screeching, exorcist style shrieking. I honestly feel like I’ve gone 10 rounds and been knocked out by a 2.5ft tornado!!!
I keep trying to remind myself that it’s just a phase and it won’t last forever but it’s bloody hard! Miss Bs terrible twos lasted for about 3 weeks so I think the universe is making sure we get our fair share of them. It also doesn’t help that I only had 3 hours sleep last night, my insomnia is back with a vengeance just now and I really need some sleep because my patience has been ground down until it’s gone!!!
So for now I will try and keep calm, count to 10 over and over and keep telling myself that it’s just a phase.
I was reading this article over the weekend about a parent who was so over protective she made her little boy wear a helmet.
WARNING – below is a sensitive subject and some people may find it upsetting.
We have ongoing teasing in our house because Mr B is pretty protective of Miss B and I give her more free reign. Last week we were having dinner with my Mum and we were talking about our childhood antics and the some of the stories he was telling her were making her toes curl. He was free and crazy and your typical 80’s child that would go out and play for hours on end, build things, jump off them and spent most of his time out on his BMX.
I can understand where this parent is coming from. She suffered 2 miscarriages so when her little boy finally arrived she wanted to protect him from everything. It was around this time 7 years ago that I fell pregnant for the first time. Mr B and I were really excited and couldn’t wait to tell everyone the good news. My Mum was very cautious and told me I should wait until my 12 week scan before telling anyone but I was too excited and we told everyone we cared about. When I was about 9 weeks pregnant I started bleeding. It was a Sunday night so I called the out of hours number and was told I would need to wait until the morning to call back and get an appointment to go up and get a scan. That night was the longest of my life, as much as I tried I couldn’t sleep and deep down inside I knew that the baby was gone. I got the scan the next morning and the midwife confirmed that I had miscarried. I was devastated, Mr B was devastated. A few months later when I fell pregnant with Miss B I was understandably scared of it happening again but thankfully I was well looked after and reassured by Mr B, family and the midwives I dealt with. The more I read the article, the more I realised that once Miss B arrived I was more relaxed, it was during my pregnancy that I was a nervous wreck. I suppose once she was here and safe I could relax. I love that she tries new experiences and is fearless, that’s how I think kids should be.
So what about you? What is your philosophy with your little ones? Are you overprotective or give them free reign?
I think you just need to do what makes you feel comfortable for your own littles and try not to care what other people think, as hard as it may be at times.
When my Grandpa passed away Miss B was a few months off turning 2 so she didn’t really understand what had happened. She adored him and would ask about him all the time. I’m of the mindset of not lying to her but I also believe my responses need to be age appropriate, she doesn’t need to know ALL the details. She knows that he was old and sick, too sick for the doctors to help him any more and that he went to heaven. He was buried and she has been to the grave yard to visit him, she calls this his “Special Stone”.
She talks to him all time, I find her looking above her and chatting to him about things going on in her life. A few days ago she was at a party and brought a balloon home with her, I found her using it like a crystal ball and she told me that she could see him in heaven and he was talking to her other Great-Grandpa. She knows that everyone dies at some point and we don’t know when or how it will happen and it’s just part of life. We talk about death and life and heaven and I find having open and honest conversations is a healthy way to deal with it.
Last weekend she asked me what will happen to her when I die and I told her that hopefully it won’t happen for a long time but if it did she would have her Daddy. She laughed at me and said “Don’t be silly Mummy, Dad will die before you, he’s older”. Just when you think she’s got it figured out, you realise that she is only 5 🙂
It's Ups and Downs 