Now that summer has officially begun and the 4th of July is quickly approaching, you’re probably beginning to worry about upcoming picnics, cookouts, and days at the beach. Can your child with a severe allergy safely join in on the fun? Of course! With some careful planning and the right attitude, you and your child can enjoy the summer. Here are some tips to keep in mind:

Develop a list of your little one’s medications – including those taken only in an emergency

When preparing for an outing, it’s often easy to forget some of the smaller items that you keep stocked at home. To ensure you have everything you need, make a list in advance of the medications your little one uses – on a daily basis and in case of an emergency.

Prepare allergy safe food for your child in advance

If you’re picnicking with friends or family, make sure to bring some meals and snacks that your little one can enjoy. Not everyone shares your caution in handling certain ingredients, so go ahead and prepare the food yourself before leaving. And remember, to label all food carefully – it’s easy for someone to grab the wrong item, possibly leaving your child with allergies without a meal.

Make sure whoever is hosting the summer activity knows about your child’s allergies

Many times people are so busy preparing to host a group of people, that your child’s specific allergies might slip their mind. Play it safe — even if the host knows you and your child well, it never hurts to provide a friendly reminder about what your child can and cannot eat.

Keep it clean

Avoid eating directly on park picnic tables – you don’t know who was there prior to your visit and what food residue might be leftover. Instead bring a table cloth and some plates that everyone can eat on. Disinfectant wipes are also great for quickly wiping down areas.

Have an emergency plan

No matter how much you plan, it’s still possible that your child will accidentally come into contact with a food that causes an allergic reaction. If and when this happens, it’s easy to panic and forget what you need to do to help your child. Prior to your outing, write down what needs to be done in case of emergency – this will not only help you but can also serve as a guideline for any other adults onsite who can offer a hand.

HAVE FUN!
While it’s important to plan for your outing to ensure your child’s safety, summer is about having fun! Remember to bring activities such as coloring books and games so that food is not the primary focus of the outing.

What summer plans do you and your little ones have?

- Mallory

Neocate is now on Facebook!

Over the last year I’ve received several phone calls from parents asking whether or not they need to sterilize the water for their child’s infant formula. And the confusion is completely understandable…depending on who you are talking to, you’ll most likely get a different answer.

I always recommend that parents take the extra precaution and boil the water for all preparations of the formula – In my mind, better to play it safe when it comes to your child’s health. (And as a side note, purified water, bottled water and nursery water, are not sterile, so make sure you boil them as well).

However, I’ve seen other manufacturers of infant formula state on their cans to “Ask your baby’s doctor if you need to boil (sterilize) water for formula and bottle preparations.”

Since this seems to be a topic of confusion, I thought I’d share some recommendations from the World Health Organization that I typically provide parents:

Sterilizing

Cleaned equipment can be sterilized using a commercial sterilizer (follow manufacturer’s instructions), or a pan and boiling water:

Step 1: Fill a large pan with water

Step 2: Place the cleaned feeding and preparation equipment into the water. Make sure that the equipment is completely covered with water and that no air bubbles are trapped.

Step 3: Cover the pan with a lid and bring to a rolling boil, making sure the pan does not boil dry.
Step 4: Keep the pan covered until the feeding equipment is needed.

If you are interested in checking out the World Health Organization’s pamphlet with these steps and other guidelines for preparing formula for bottle feeding at home, click here.

If you have any questions about proper sterilization techniques for your child’s infant formula let us know. I encourage you to post a comment so others can see your question as well.

- Christine
Neocate is now on Facebook!

Great news for Texans! This weekend Governor Rick Perry signed into law a bill that will require private insurance companies to cover amino acid-based elemental formulas like Neocate, regardless of whether the formula is taken orally or via a feeding tube.

Insurance reimbursement is required for the following conditions:

• IgE and non IgE-mediated allergies to multiple food proteins (i.e. milk protein allergy);
• Severe food protein-induced entercolitis;
• Eosinophilic disorders; and
• Impaired absorption of nutrients caused by disorders affecting the absorptive surface, functional length, and motility of the gastrointestinal tract.

The law applies to health plans that are delivered or renewed after January 1, 2010. To read the entire bill click here.

Other states with reimbursement legislation include Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey and New York. However, each states laws are slightly different – To view a copy of a specific state’s legislation click here.

This is great news for families in Texas and I expect it will provide some much-needed economic relief. I encourage you to share the news with others.

Some ideas for spreading the word:

Tweet the news:
New Texas law requires insurance reimbursement for Neocate! http://bit.ly/dy2ei

Blog about the news and include the link to the legislation

Post a note on Facebook:
New Texas law requires insurance reimbursement for Neocate! http://bit.ly/dy2ei

Other ideas? Please let us know.

- Nita
Neocate is now on Facebook!

The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced that Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., a Texas firm, is recalling 608,188 pounds of frozen poultry products that may contain undeclared milk, soy, and wheat allergens. The products were shipped to Kroger® establishments across the country. The undeclared allergens were discovered by the company, and although the USDA has not received reports of health problems due to the products, it advises those concerned about allergic reactions to consult with a doctor.

The recalled poultry products’ plastic bags are embossed with establishment numbers “P7091A,” “P13477″ or “P13485A” near the zip seal on the packages as well as the USDA mark of inspection. Each bag also bears the “Best By” date of “JUL 25, 2009″ through “JUN 8, 2010″, a UPC code “0 11110 97158 6,” and Julian dates of “8207″ to “9159.”

The USDA has classified this a “Class I Recall,” indicating a high risk factor, and that it is “a health hazard situation where there is a reasonable probability that the use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death.”

For the entire story, click here.

And for questions and concerns call the USDA’s toll-free Meat and Poultry Hotline at 1-888-MPHotline (1-888-674-6854), between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. E.T., Monday-Friday.

- Mallory

Neocate is now on Facebook!

Our post today is a Q&A Gina Clowes, founder of AllergyMoms.com, provided us about her children’s book One of the Gang: Nurturing the Souls of Children with Food Allergies. We would like to thank her for sharing information about her book with us. The book is available from Amazon and also Barnes and Noble.

One of the Gang: Question and Answer
 
Why did you write this book? My passion has always been to enlighten others about the emotional toll of food allergies. There is the obvious need to care for our allergic children’s health but their emotional well being is equally important and often overlooked.

Who are you targeting? My target audience is young children 3-8 years old but I have many moms who have told me that they’ve purchased this for teachers, school nurses or relatives who really had no idea how our kids see the world, which was really my secret agenda.

Do you really have a secret agenda? My hope is that in seeing the world though our children’s eyes, other adults will realize how hard it is to be excluded and how good it feels to kids when they’re included. We socialize so often with food. It’s how we connect; we break bread. That birthday cake is the focal point of the celebration. It’s hard to be the one left out of that.

What do you hope to accomplish? Several things really. I want to validate the feelings these children have. Some people tend to deny their children’s feelings of sadness or anger or fear yet these are the same moms who come to our local support group meetings to share their frustrations. Kids need help with their feelings too and finding ways to cope is healthy.

I also like to help kids to put their food allergies in perspective. It’s just one part of them and they need to know that food allergies won’t stop them from having a great life and being everything they were meant to be. I’m hoping the adults in the book will help to make this point.

What is special about the adults in the book? The adults at the end of the book all have food allergies yet they’re thriving and living terrific lives. Since food allergies are invisible, kids don’t get to see that there are people all around them with food allergies. So I included photographs of food allergic adults such as Superbowl champ Jermone Bettis, an NHL Hockey star Tom Poti, Television News Anchors Lori Stokes , Dr Robert Wood, Mrs Maine USA, and more.

Why did you decide to use photographs instead of having it illustrated? There are a lot of terrific children’s books on allergies but most of them feature a talking animal character playing the part of a child with food allergies. My kids are very literal and my son actually asked me “Do elephants really have peanut allergy?” So I knew early on that I’d want to use pictures to make it real for kids like mine.

Why was it important to you to use children who have food allergies? When we set up different scenes in the book, such as the birthday party where one girl is eating a safe cupcake while all of the other kids are eating the birthday cake, I wanted the expression on her face to be authentic. I’m not sure a typical kid would “get” what this is like for children who have food allergies. Often we (allergy parents) can’t even get adults to understand.

What is the reaction to the book? Adults love that the pictures can express what words cannot say. Kids love the pictures of the adults and are thrilled to know that Super bowl champs, hockey stars, television news anchors and even beauty queens can all have food allergies and still be out there having fun. I had one teacher say that when she read it in class, it sparked a long conversation about differences and all of the kids were yelling out things that are different about them. It was as though they recognized that everybody is dealing with something and that is okay. That was music to my ears!

Neocate is now on Facebook!