Enjoying the Holidays with a Food Allergy

by jphilo | Oct 28, 2024 | Different Dream, Holidays, Special Needs Parenting

Enjoying the Holidays with a Food Allergy

Enjoying the holidays with a food allergy sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? After all, eating together is an integral component of the holiday season. I looked forward to making our traditional holiday foods until I was diagnosed with a dairy allergy in 2012. What was to enjoy about the holidays when the foods associated with it were off limits to me? I experienced a sense of separation from my family members as they enjoyed foods that were now off limits to me.

That holiday season was not enjoyable. At all.

My New Year’s resolution was to learn to make dairy-free versions of my holiday favorites so I could once again enjoy holiday baking and eating. In subsequent years, my commitment to the cause ramped up when we embarked on a multigenerational living adventure with our daughter’s family. She also has a dairy allergy, our son-in-law is lactose intolerant, and two of my grandchildren were dairy, gluten, and soy intolerant when they were young. Until they outgrew their food allergies, we were one of “those families” that made enjoying the holidays with a food allergy difficult for us and our hosts.

Slowly my daughter and I developed several strategies to make attending and eating at holiday gatherings not only doable, but also enjoyable. Here are some of our favorites.

Gather recipes. Compile allergy-free recipes all year long so you’ll have plenty of options to consider when the holidays roll around. A kid favorite at our house is Rice Krispie treats. They’re naturally gluten free. To make them dairy free, we use a butter substitute instead of butter. Many of my dairy-free recipes (which taste as good as their traditional counterparts) are housed at my website jolenephilo.com. Type “dairy-free” or “gluten-free” in the search bar to find our family favorites. Or do an internet search with those terms to get ideas from all over the world.

To read the rest of How to Enjoy the Holidays with a Food Allergy, visit Key MInistry’s blog for parents raising kids with disabilities and special needs.

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Jolene Philo is the author of several books for the caregiving community. She speaks at parenting and special needs conferences around the country. Sharing Love Abundantly with Special Needs Families: The 5 Love Languages® for Parents Raising Children with Disabilities, which she co-authored with Dr. Gary Chapman, was released in August of 2019 and is available at local bookstores, their bookstore website, and Amazon. See Jane Dig!, the fourth book in the West River cozy mystery series, which features characters affected by disability, was released in October of 2024.

Author Jolene Philo

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For the past nine days–not that I’m counting–I’ve been on an elimination diet. Nothing serious. Just trying to get to the bottom of some allergy and sinus issues. The diet consists of twigs, bark, and leaves. Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a little. But it is limited to lean meats, vegetables with low starch content, and nuts. Not fun. So every morning involves a positive self-talk. A pep rally of sorts that gives me the gumption to stick with it for another day. These daily pep talks include the constant debating of the diet’s pros and cons. Here are the top ten that get repeated again and again. 10. Pro: Doing this diet during grilling season means there are lots of delicious options for preparing lean meats and vegetables. 9. Con: Starting the grill aggravates this princess’s smoke allergies. 8. Pro: Some of my favorite foods–onions, garlic, and fresh coconut–can be eaten often. Very often. 7. Con: I am becoming rather fragrant. And I nearly injured myself cracking open a fresh coconut. 6. Con: It’s hard to get enough calories on a diet of ~~twigs, bark, and leaves~~ lean meat, green veggies, and nuts. 5. Pro: A diet of ~~twigs, bark, and leaves~~ lean meat, green veggies, and nuts promotes weight loss. 4. Pro: My sinuses feel much better. 3. Con: If my sinuses feel much better on this diet, parts of it may need to continue beyond 2 weeks. 2. Con: If parts of this diet have to continue beyond 2 weeks, my pants may get too loose and fall off. 1. Pro: Never before in my entire life has the above sentence been necessary. Are you on a diet? What are the pros and cons you debate each morning? Leave a comment.

Halloween for Kids with Special Needs

by jphilo | Oct 13, 2010 | Different Dream, How-Tos, Special Needs Parenting

How should parents do Halloween for kids with special needs? This post offers answers and resources for families.

Whether you celebrate the traditional Halloween holiday or take part in an alternative activity like a Harvest Festival, planning costumes and dressing up is a big deal for kids. But if your child has special needs–be they medical, mobility, or developmental–extra planning and creativity may be required.

Families.com Can Help

Nancy Flanders blogs about parenting kids with special needs at families.com. Recently, she posted an informative article about helping kids prepare for Halloween. She has suggestions for kids in wheelchairs, those on the autism spectrum, or those with medical conditions like cystic fibrosis, asthma or severe allergies.

Masks & Kids with Medical-Induced PTSD

Flanders article is very thorough, but one condition she doesn’t address is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children who have experienced pre-verbal invasive medical procedures. Those children may freak out at the sight of a mask.

Our son, who had numerous surgeries starting at birth, did just that on the first Halloween he celebrated at 16 months. (He spent his very first Halloween in the hospital.) When the door bell rang the first time that evening, I invited my elementary students, all decked out in costumes and masks, into our kitchen. Our son was sitting in his high chair, and started screaming, “Take off! Take off!” while pointing at the their faces. They did so, but he was inconsolable and trembled the whole evening.

When the therapists explained PTSD to me during our son’s treatment for PTSD in December of 2008, his response all those years ago made sense. The masks triggered our baby’s fear of surgical masks in the hospital, and he was justifiably terrified.

How to Do Halloween for Kids with Special Needs?

So how should parents do Halloween for kids with special needs? Start by reading Nancy Flander’s article at families.com. But if you suspect the celebration will traumatize your very young child, the best thing to do is skip the celebration this year. If your child is old enough to understand masks, choose friendly masks, not scary ones for your family members. Have everyone put them on and take them off in front of your child. Have your child do the same in the mirror until comfortable. If the child is still scared, ditch the masks and use face paint instead.

If you have other suggestions about how to prepare kids for celebrations involving masks and costumes, please jump in. Your comments are appreciated! You can read more about Nancy at www.chronicadmissions.blogspot.com and www.parentingsquad.com.

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