talkhealth Blog

Christmas is a great time of year for kids.  Fact.

Christmas is a bit trickier for kids with allergies.  Fact.

Here are my top five obstacles to be tackled in the run up to Christmas for MyItchyBoy:

1. Advent calendar

Now, in my day, there was no chocolate at breakfast, only glitter on your cornflakes and a picture behind the door.   Each year, though, it gets harder to find picture-only calendars.   Luckily MyItchyBoy hasn’t yet sussed out that most kids in his class get chocolate calendars but I know my careful evasion of the subject won’t survive much longer.

2. Christmas cards

This was a way of dairy getting to him that I wasn’t expecting.  MyItchyBoy received Christmas cards with chocolates in from his classmates at school.  A few have been chocolate coins – one of the most intriguing chocolates for a child but I have been so proud of him.  He’s opened the envelope, found the chocolate, held it up and said “I’ll go and put this on Daddy’s pillow – he will really love that surprise!”.  What a guy.  I know that next year we may have tantrums because he can’t eat it.  Next year, he may be able to eat dairy.  Either way it’s now on my list to make sure I’m there to intercept them.

3. School party

Oh goody.  A room of 30 kids, sharing food.  Great!

I will be sat by the phone from 2pm in case I get a call.  I think I can trust the teaching staff – so far they have been very good.  But, if they really separate him and his plate too much, how much does that make him stand out?  I wish he didn’t have to think about it and could just have fun.

4. Family lunch at ours

It’s probably the same fear a rabid meat eater gets being invited to a vegetarian’s for dinner.  My family get scared they’ll not get fed proper food or it will all taste a bit strange.  They’re probably right.  But it could be down to my cooking more than anything!

5. Christmas lunch at my family

They’re worried about everything they are cooking that we might eat.  They’re worried that they might miss out on something good just because we can’t eat it.

We’re hoping that we won’t starve or offend anyone by taking our own stuff.

On top of that, an unpredictable routine, late nights, tiredness and different foods will all have an inevitable impact on MyItchyBoy’s eczema.

I love Christmas! 😉

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MyItchyBoy

My son has atopic eczema and he reacts badly to dairy, soya and we are slowly working towards him eating eggs again. He's had a mild anaphylactic reaction to peanuts and has regular flare-ups to random things that we rarely manage to pinpoint. I started the blog to share my experiences and frustrations of having an itchy boy.