'Tis the season for HAY FEVER! AGHHH!

I love the Spring, I really do! All the sunshine and flowers... BUT, the only problem is that the hay fever season is upon us once again. The Hub was sneezing a fair bit on Sunday. I'm blaming it on the forsythia near the back door - so that'll be one plant that won't be making it into our garden when we move to our new house!! It's a bit if a shame though, as it has such a lovely brightening effect in the springtime... however, needs must!! For the same reason, although I love it, there won't be any wisteria either.

Forsythia can add such a lovely cheerful colour to the garden.

I was affected yesterday - I could feel my nasal passages getting sore. I must say, I was a bit annoyed - I was enjoying the fact that we were getting some sun, at last!!  I had been capitalising on this, by making a real effort to catch up with all my washing. I had also been getting into chillin' with 'Baby'  in the garden - whilst she happily pottered around watering the plants... grass... and weeds! 

'Baby' loves 'watering' the garden.

I have to say, I was also a bit surprised, as I'm not normally affected this early in the year - I'm more of a May/June girl myself - affected by grass, daisies and lime trees. Right now, the most common culprit is Silver Birch, which doesn't usually affect me. However, what with the cold, wet weather we've had, the reckoning is that the pollen is going to be particularly bad for us hay fever sufferers, this Spring, so maybe that's why I'm being affected.

So, if we are affected, what can we do? Well, as yet, there's no cure. I expect you might do something similar, but here's what I do:

1. Don't go out and keep the windows closed. This really goes against the grain when the weather is lovely, but it works... if you can stick to it!! When I was pregnant and unable to take anti-histamine, it was the best bet. That year we invested in an air-conditioning unit and a couple of decent fans. 

If I DO have to open any windows (sometimes you just HAVE to) I close the blinds/curtains as a barrier, to try and minimise pollens entering and use an air filter. I was skeptical about these, but ours (endorsed by Allergy UK) really does seem to help.

2. Hang washing inside the house, rather than out in the garden (we have a de-humidifier to help with this). That way the washing doesn't bring the pollen into the house. Of course if you have a tumble drier, then you can use that instead.

3. If I do go out, I try to do the following:

• Wear sunglasses to protect my eyes. If my eyes do get affected, I have to really avoid rubbing them. Instead I wash them with water, or something like Optrex. 

• Tie back long hair to stop pollen getting caught in it and... get ahead - wear a hat!

• If I'm out without a hat, I might wash my hair when I get home (make sure you cover the heads of your kiddies too).

• Shop in air-conditioned malls or supermarkets.

• Change outer clothing (carefully, to avoid shaking the pollen everywhere) as soon as I get home.

• Avoid routes, when walking, (if possible) that take me past plants which I know are likely to affect me.

• Avoid going out in the evening (not really much of an option with 'Baby' around anyway), when the pollen, which has risen during the day, drops back to earth with the cooler temperature.

• If I want to go for a walk, or enjoy being outside (and I'm near enough), I head for a beach - especially when the wind is blowing in off the sea (this was a whole lot easier when I lived near one). Apparently, going out very early in the morning (before 6.00am) or going to the mountains also helps.

• When driving, I use air-conditioning to cool down the temperature in the car, rather than open the windows.

Other tactics:

• Take 'Baby' to an indoor play area, rather than the park - pretty soon, our local garden center might see an awful  lot of me, as they have one near their cafe! The great thing about going to indoor play areas in the summer, is that they're practically empty!

• Visit museums/galleries with air conditioning.

• If you can (i.e. you're not pregnant/breastfeeding) take a good anti-histamine. I usually opt for Clarityn, as Piriton makes me wheeze. There may be other medication that you can take, but I tend to take as little as possible, if I can possibly help it.

• It has been said that eating local honey helps, several studies seem to indicate otherwise, as pollens can blow many miles on the winds, but I love honey anyway, so have nothing to lose by eating it anyway!

• Another tip is to smear Vaseline inside your nose, but I haven't ever done this, as I think the sensation of Vaseline in my nose would drive me to distraction!

• You can also use eye drops, to help soothe those itchy eyes.

• Apparently, there are some natural chemicals (found in food) that can also help you to fight the histamines. Read more about it here. Although avoid Butterbar - not that safe at all! (My thanks goes to Hannah for letting me know about that one!)

I have to say, I'm really hoping the 'experts' will be wrong on this year - that the season will not be as bad as we expect, but I hoped that last year and got it wrong. My worst day, last year, was on holiday, when I spent an afternoon near a wildflower meadow, with the wind blowing the pollen straight at me. As I was still breastfeeding, I was unable to take a single anti-histamine and just had to wait for the effects to wear off. 

The good news is that pollen particles are quite heavy. So apparently they fall to the floor within minutes of getting inside. Then it's just a case of keeping on top of vacuuming and wet dusting, to avoid stirring up the pollen again.

What about you? What do you do, to minimise the effects of pollen, when hay fever season is in full swing??

Zero Zebra Dairy Free Chocolate

'Baby' is just beginning to realise that money is not just fun to play with (The Hub has been known to give her the odd coin to play with) but has POWER. She was rather pleased, the other day, when I gave her the money to pay for something and prompted her to accept the proffered change. The change soon made its way into her pocket! Hmm! Not the outcome I was expecting!!

She was also pleased, although a little confused, when Grandma gave her a ten pound not the other day - in lieu of an Easter egg. She caught the excitement of her slightly older cousin, who was patently delighted with her ten pound note. Her cousin was obviously already spending it - in her head!

Baby sometimes gets gifts of money from relatives, which I am beginning to encourage her to spend on concrete things. Money that came her way at Christmas was spent on her ballet dress and shoes etc. when she began baby ballet lessons.  It was money well spent, as she took to wearing her ballet shes around the house and would have done the same with her ballet dress, if I'd let her!

The Easter money seemed to arrive at just the right time, as Baby, suddenly remembering the chocolate she'd been given at Christmas, had started asking for what she calls 'Zebra Zoo'. And here they are: 

Cute, cheeky chocolate characters

I came across these chocolates some months ago and mentioned them in another post (Sweets for my Sweet), but I decided to give them a mention all of their own, as although expensive, they taste sooo good. There's not much chance of me getting in on the act, though, as, having cottoned on to the fact that Mummy also likes these chocolates, Baby has given me strict instructions not to eat any!

They cost £3.99 from Ocado or online at sites like Free From for Kids and Shop Vegan. For your money you get a box of ten chocolate animals. As The Hub pointed out to me - that means that each animal costs nearly 40p. GULP! It seems that Baby and I have some expensive tastes. But we're not the only ones, as it has recently been much harder to get hold of from our normal source - Ocado!

So, as far as we're concerned, these really are just treats. We have bought a few boxes - one to try initially, one for Baby's birthday and one for Christmas and now this one. The chocolate, however, is amazing and not just because the chocolate characters cute. To me, it tastes just like the 'normal' milk chocolate, which, I have to admit, I've really missed. 

One of the amazing things about this chocolate, is that it declares that it is free of a number of major allergens, including the following: dairy, gluten, soya, nuts and eggs. Wow! It's also fair trade and organic, both of which to me, are a definite plus!

The ingredients are as follows:

Raw cane sugar 

Cocoa butter

Rice syrup

Cocoa mass

Vanilla

Please note: the package states that this chocolate is made in a factory that handles milk, but also that each batch is tested for allergens. See here!

If these are a bit pricey for you, there is plenty more dairy free choice out there - just check out the posts listed below :)  However, they're definitely worth a try!

Similar Posts:

Sweets for my Sweet

Oo! Ah! Chocolat!

Koko strawberry drink

To be honest, I've never been a HUGE fan of milkshake. It may have something to do with the fact that many of them, despite the pictures of yummy looking bubbles and fruit taste so... well... artificial.

Mind you, most of the milk shakes I've tasted have been those that my Mum made me, when I was a whole lot younger - before the age of Mac Donald's. They were made with that powdered Nesquik stuff, that you can mix up with ordinary milk.

I don't know if my mum was a leetle bit lax about making them up, but they were always very sugary and never quite mixed-in enough. There was always a bit of what can only be described as 'sediment' at the bottom of the glass!

Anyway, as soon as I heard about Kara, (now Koko) making strawberry milkshake, I was desperate to try one. My problem? Although I knew that some Tesco Extras stocked them, mine didn't and still doesn't. Bah!!

I contacted Koko and they offered to send me a freebie, which I turned down. Why? Because I don't like the idea of feeling obliged to write something that the people at Kara would like to read and I don't like the idea that I have an unfair advantage over others, who, like me, are trying to make the most of living on a restricted diet.

So anyway, I had almost given up looking, when a trip to my health food shop finally resulted in success!! Huzzah!!

Voila!

If you're okay with soya or rice milk, you may well be wondering what all the fuss is about - dairy free shakes made with these 'milks' have been around for ages. However, if like me, you can't have either of those, then you will understand exactly what all the excitement is about! 

Not having tried the rice or soya versions, I would be interested to hear from somebody who has, to find out how they compare. Baby has, but can't yet tell me in detail what she thought. All I know is that she didn't take to either, which was a bit disappointing as I was hoping to get her accepting some sort of dairy substitute, to up her calcium intake.

Alpro's shake has been around for a while

Now, down to business, what it is like?

To my mind, it's pretty much like milk mixed with Nesquik powder!! Though perhaps with a little extra sediment thrown in!! That said, I enjoyed it enough to want to buy some again, for when I fancy a bit of a change. However, it may not be all that often, as the drink comes with a fair few ingredients, which I personally find a bit alarming. If you want to see what else (besides coconut and strawberries) is contained in the drink, see here:

Ingredients:

Filtered water, Coconut milk 6.8%, Sugar, Maltodextrin, Calcium phosphate, Emulsifier: Sucrose ester, Strawberry juice concentrate, Natural flavourings, Thickener: Xanthum gum, Sea salt, Sandalwood extract, Vitamin D2, Vitamin B12

I've heard of most of those ingredients before, but I must admit, I was a bit surprised by the sandalwood! Just in case you too were wondering what on earth sandalwood is doing in a strawberry drink, well it's basically there to add colour to your drink. Well I never! I thought Sandalwood was an ingredient in perfume!

Now, if (like me) you are keeping a eye on your calcium intake, you may well also be interested in the following extra nutritional info:

Calcium 120mg 

Vitamin D2 0.75ug

All 15% of RDA (adult)

Children 1-3 require 350mg of calcium a day and 7.5 - 8.5 mg of Vitamin D a day (UK guidelines). So if Baby would drink a carton of this drink, each day, she would get around a third of her calcium and all of her Vitamin D for each day that she did so. That said, her teeth might suffer, so maybe it's for the best, for now, but should she change her mind, a carton as a treat, now and again should be fine.

Previous posts about dairy substitutes can be found by following the link below:
Dairy Substitutes

Further reading about Calcium and Vitamin D:

Are you getting enough... calcium?

Getting enough Vitamin D for you and me

Vegan Devonshire Klotted Kream (or 'Mimilicious' as it's now known)

Hmm! It's a dilemma! Now, do you call a scone 'scone' as in 'gone' or 'scone' as in 'cone'? I never know which it's supposed to be, but I'm pretty sure that the correct accompaniment, along with some jam (preferably homemade) is cream as in clotted!

Gluten and dairy free cream tea, anyone?

I have to admit, I've felt rather glum, at times, when coeliacs have drooled over a gluten free something or other that they've found - it's often been accompanied by some long last product from the land of dairy. One such has been cream teas. 

Now, I can manage to source a dairy and gluten free scone - they sell them in the Free From section of places like Waitrose, Sainsbury's and Tesco and I've even made my own! I have also found dairy free creams that I can use and like, which I have posted about previously. you can read about them here. But! Dairy free clotted cream?? However, thanks to a link posted by Hannah Banana Bakery (a vegan bakery) on Face Book. It seems that it might be entirely possible.

The other month, up popped a link to Klotted Kream - a vegan version of clotted cream. At that point, it was yet to be, but has since been released. I inquired by email to find out how 'gluten free' it was. Update May 2013: At that time, I was informed that it was below 20ppm and so I sampled this product based on information. It now looks as though this information has been changed. Unfortunately for coeliacs, it's now below 100ppm, and is now classed as 'low-gluten'. If you're OK with oats being tested as below 100ppm, then you should be alright. Should you wish to contact them and ask your own questions, they were very good at getting back to me very promptly. 

Naturally, I wasted no time in ordering some to try. And here it is:

Gotta love the cow on the label!!

If I'm completely honest, although on first inspection it certainly bore a resemblance - minus that honey crusted coating that you can find on a fully dairy pot of clotted cream, my first impression was that although not bad, it could still perhaps do with a little bit of tweaking in the taste department. For one thing, I thought it tasted a bit salty. I say that, though, thoroughly aware that to develop this concoction, the people behind it have spent hours and hours lovingly toiling over it, just to get it to this point. And although the taste might need tweaking, the texture seemed just right - with those little creamy lumps of resistance that you find when you eat 'real' clotted cream.

The texture certainly feels right

Now, you don't usually eat clotted cream, just by itself, do you? Although I must admit, given half a chance, I probably could! So I blobbed some on to a scone, together with some raspberry jam, made by my Dad. And actually, I have to say, it improved the experience an awful lot! In fact, I thought it worked rather well.  

So I think I would order some again, come the summer, for that clotted cream tea experience  but for a treat, as does work out quite pricey. A 4 oz. pot like mine costs £1.99 plus £2.95 post and packing. There is a special offer on delivery at the moment, but I'm unlikely to be needing six pots of cream, right now, although they can be frozen!!

If you're interested in the ingredients, they're here:

Water, Pure Oats, coconut Oil, Rapeseed Lecithin, Sunflower Spread (sunflower oil, vegetable oils,* emulsifier (mono and diglycerides of fatty acids), Vitamin E, Vitamin A, Colour (natural carotenes), Vitamin D2, Vitamin B12), Vanilla Extract, Sea Salt

* 'vegetable oils' were not soya, when I first enquired. 


Important Update May 2013:
Due to unexpected influx of orders, Klotted Kream were restructuring, to keep up with demand. This meant Klotted Kream was temporarily unavailable. However, rebranded as 'Mimlicious' it now appears to be available to order once again.

Similar post:

The Creme de la dairy free Creme

Other posts about dairy alternatives can be found by following the links on this page of the blog:

Dairy Substitutes

Labelling Baby

We go out with Baby several times in the week. 

Baby having a problem with milk, doesn't stop us going out and mixing socially, but it does mean we need to go prepared. I tend to take a small selection of suitable snacks, depending on where we are going and the length of time we are going to be out. I may stick a label on her, to warn people, but if it is just a small group, which we attend regularly and I am there too, I probably won't bother. If it's a new situation, with people we don't know, especially where there's food involved, then I definitely will!

Baby's label

Not everybody might like it, but I had the idea a while back, when Baby was first being weaned. It struck me that leaving her with others, had the potential to be tricky if she didn't have the ability to comprehend her situation and communicate with others. 

The problem particularly came home to me, one day, when she reached the age of one and became old enough to be left in Sunday School - where they thoughtfully provide a drink and a biscuit. Even though, the group has a proper registration system, which includes allergies, even though I had just handed over the biscuit to the helper and told her about Baby's intolerance, it happened! The leader, distracted at the point of giving out biscuits, forgot and offered her the wrong ones!

Fortunately, as Baby was still new in the group, and protested when I tried to leave, I was there. Now, although she wouldn't have gone into anaphylactic shock, or anything life threatening like that, there would have been unpleasant consequences for Baby, if she had taken the biscuit.

Casting around for a solution, at the time, I found websites which sold t-shirts and wristbands. I even designed her a little T-shirt. However who wants to keep wearing the same old T-shirt all the time, and, even if the wristband stayed on, would anyone actually notice and read it? 

Remembering my previous role, in school, I recalled that when children bumped their heads we put a sticker on them, so that even if we missed speaking to their parents about it, at the end of the school day, their parents could see it and would be able to keep an extra eye on them. 'Ah ha!' I thought, 'that's what we'll do with Baby!'

So The Hub and I found a free cow picture online and tried to word the sticker carefully, so that people would stop and think! Originally, we were told that 'Baby' was cow's milk protein intolerant. Thinking that, strictly speaking, she was not allergic, but rather intolerant, we wrote 'Dairy Allergy' on the sticker, as it was somewhat less of a mouthful than 'Cow's Milk Intolerant,' easier to read (in a hurry) and perhaps more easily not so much understood, but recognised as a problem. It turns out we were right - she has an Non Ige Milk Allergy. And the great thing about the sticker? It works!

The good thing is, Baby likes wearing her 'cow sticker'. People don't always see it, but I draw their attention to it, just to make sure. It has opened up conversation with people, thus raising awareness - her Tuesday group, started providing dairy free treats at the end of term, without me even having to say a word. And the best thing about the sticker situation is that (apart from the ink and the labels) like many of the other so-called 'best things in life,' they are free!


NB Please note. This label is all our own work (apart from the image). I am more than happy for people to copy this idea, but would ask that you use it just for personal use and not for profit.

Challenging Baby - the adventure continues??

Whoever, first compared life to a roller-coaster was quite right, weren't they? Give that person a gold star, I say! After all my nervous excitement, the other day, it seems like we're back to Numero Uno, Square One!

Not daring to trust that Baby had truly passed Stage One - the biscuit-containing-milk-as-an-ingredient challenge, I decided to try Baby out with the biscuit that's always been her stumbling block before. Why? I don't know. I just had an inkling that until she conquered this one, she wouldn't be ready. Perhaps one of the tastiest biscuits EVER invented, it's the good old Malted Milk, or 'Cow Biscuit,' as it's otherwise known.

Instead of opting for the traditional shape, though, I bought a packet containing several small bags, as, this way, if the challenge failed, I hadn't wasted a whole pack of biscuits and could keep the rest of the sealed bags for next time.

You can get them in little bags, these days!

I discovered, on opening the first pack, that there six of these inside:

They look fun, huh?

Six seemed a bit excessive for a first go, so we gave Baby three - which we judged to be about the same as one normal Malted Milk biscuit. In hindsight, maybe one would have been better, for a first go! I would have loved to have eaten the other three, but, being gluten free now, I couldn't, so The Hub had the rest. She, (quite predictably) loved them and was most upset with Daddy for eating the other half of her pack!

Once she'd eaten them, all we could do was sit and wait, to see what happened next. Baby seemed fine, so we tried again the next day. That night she didn't sleep that well. But Baby's often disturbed in her sleep and had a cold, which was more likely to make her restless, so I pushed that to one side. She passed wind, quite a bit this morning (and quite loudly, too), but I put that to one side. After breakfast she complained of tummy ache, but she was overdue a poo, so I put that to one side too.

When she did her poo, though, (avert your eyes if this is too much information for you) it was quite soft, not hard (as it would be if she was constipated) and it was more yellowy than normal. It was the familiar mustardy yellow colour caused by milk. It stank to high heaven too. As I cleared it away, I could see that her skin was beginning to look irritated. That's when I knew that the game was up!!

When Baby has a nappy like this, it's important to clean off all traces of poo really thoroughly, preferably with cotton wool and water. Any poo left on the skin will continue to irritate, as it contains acid. In fact the best thing to do, is really to dunk Baby in the bath. Usually, this leaves the skin nice and clear. Once the skin is clean, it needs a barrier to protect it - in the event of any further episodes. Vaseline is undoubtedly the best. A thick layer of that really does the trick.

I'm so glad I didn't go straight to Stage Two. She obviously wasn't ready, yet. It would have probably have left her very discomforted. It leaves me wondering though - whether we need a list of biscuits, ranking them in order of those least likely to affect one to those most likely. That way we could work our way up the scale, until Baby's ready for the next stage. If you know of one, do let me know, won't you??

So, we're back to the drawing board again - at least for now, anyway. Although, not quite! She's never got this far with a Malted Milk before, so she's improving - albeit maddeningly slowly!!

Related Posts:

Challenging Baby!

Challenging Baby!

Well, there's no doubt that 'Baby' has become more challenging recently. Three full-length toddler tantrums thrown today. However, this post's not so much about challenging behaviour as about Baby's response to cow's milk protein.

Diagnosed as cow's milk protein intolerant (we've since found out that this is an out-dated term - she is allergic to cow's milk) at the grand age of one month, we were assured by the pediatrician we saw at the time, that most children grow out of it by the age of two. That milestone passed, the dietitian shrugged and revised the age to four. 

Well, we've not reached that stage yet, but, now that we've moved, I've requested a referral to a specialist, to which surprisingly, the Doctor very swiftly agreed. No sooner had I made the request, than she was scribbling madly on her pad and informing me that the letter would be in the post. 

All prepared for the third degree, and what-not, I was quite taken aback. I mean I was expecting to have to push a little bit to persuade someone or another, but before I knew it, we were back outside the door. And now, we have the letter! 

Well, sort of. The letter informs us that we have a telephone appointment to assess our needs. 'Hmm! Right! Well,' I thought, 'what on earth will that entail??'

So, in order to prepare myself, I've decided to carry out a kind of audit - height, weight and a milk challenge!

Challenges are something that the Dietitian has asked us to do some time prior to each appointment. We can carry them out at home, because Baby's allergy is Non-Ige and so her condition is not life threatening. Therefore if the milk doesn't agree with her, it will make her temporarily uncomfortable, until it has passed out of her system. In the early days, this meant pretty much immediate excruciating tummy pain, much writhing and wailing, followed by watery, explosive diarrhea and a very sore bum (the soreness comes from acid, produced by the stomach) - all within the hour. It's not something we do lightly - no one wants to see their child in pain. It's only on the advice of our medical professionals.*

It's been quite a while since I've properly challenged Baby. This is because we've had some form of accidental challenge (such a another child 'kindly' giving her a biscuit), around about the time a real challenge was due. This has resulted in bad nappies, wakeful nights, tummy aches, very sore botty etc. The symptoms do seem to have got lessened a bit, over time, in that they take longer to appear, and have been a bit less severe, but, as you need to wait four months for the stomach to properly heal, before trying again, progress has been frustratingly slow!

Usually, a challenge might involve Baby eating a 'normal' biscuit. In the past, I've always gone for Malted Milk - mainly because I assume that they must be quite milky, and I've wanted a definite yes or no! The idea is, that if she's okay with it, we try again - at the same time the next day. And then again, for four days in a row. After that, we would go to the next stage...

So far, we've never gone beyond the first biscuit. Tummy pains, combined with a wakeful night and a 'dodgy' nappy next day have shown that things have improved , but (so far) have not resolved.

However, now we're trying again - starting with Jaffa Cake.  

Spot the difference!

There's various reasons for this choice of biscuit:

1. Grandma slipped her one, the other month, thinking they were okay. Actually, my Mum had seen me give Baby one of my gluten free Kelkin jaffa cakes, (which also happen to be dairy free) but she hadn't realised that they were different. Funnily enough, Baby seemed okay with it, I think. So I've been looking for an opportunity to repeat the experience, as a proper challenge.

2. If Baby loves the jaffa cake, but it disagrees with her, we have our own equivalent - so it's not like giving her something and then taking it away from her again. This is quite important at the moment, as, with growing awareness of the World around her, she's feeling the fact that she's different to others, more and more.

3. It's one of Daddy's favourite nibbles, so if she can't have the rest, then the packet won't go completely to waste!!

4. This time, I'm seeing the challenge as an opportunity to add one more thing to the list of things she can eat, rather than see if she's 'better'.

I have to admit I'm feeling kind of anxious about this. The thing is, it seems to be working!!  She's had four whole days of jaffa cakes!! There have been a few tummy pains, in places, but 'Baby' often has tummy pain of some kind. She often says her tummy hurts when she's hungry, or constipated (she doesn't like eating fruit and veg - it's an ongoing battle). I don't think these particular 'pains' have been of the intolerant kind. She's also had some sore patches, but she can get these from having too much fruit juices. I've been slapping on the Vaseline, though, just to make sure.

As exciting as all this is, though, success at this stage means going on to the next stage. That worries me because after all this excitement, it could mean that at some stage we'll come to a stop. I don't want to put Baby through the pain that this could cause. If it doesn't work, there's nothing I can do about it, I just have to wait for the symptoms to pass. BUT if it does, and she's 'better'... Of course I want her to be well (so I won't have to worry about her eating something by mistake) but now I'm beginning to wonder: what if I, having been dairy free for so long, have lost my ability to digest lactose?? I guess we'll just have to wait and see!

* Food challenges should only be carried out under medical advice/supervision. Your doctor/dietitian is the best person to advise you about your particular situation.