Allergy Rant

Realpolitik baby has an egg allergy. I know I am not the only mother dealing with allergies, and I knock on wood that it isn't anything worse like gluten or anything like that, but please allow me a few moments to vent about the difficulties of an egg allergy. Specifically breakfast.

Realpolitik husband and I enjoy breakfast and on occasion enjoy going to a restaurant to partake in breakfast. For the past 22 months, this has included bringing baby with us. So, this is where I being to get frustrated. Here are my top 5 frustrations with food allergies and restaurants.

1. Unless you only want to feed your child french fries, grilled cheese and macaroni and cheese each and every time, there are very little eggless options on the children's menu.

2. Not only do you have to be careful what you choose for your child, but you also need to be conscience of what you order, because 9 times out of 10, your child will want what you are having.

3. Decoding a menu to figure out what ingredients are used usually takes up the first 10 minutes of your dining experience. This usually includes several questions to the server who doesn't have a clue.

4. A simple yogurt, that is all I would like, a simple yogurt. And I don't want to pay more than $4.00 for it!

5. The constant fear that there will be a hint of egg, peanut, etc in something my child has eaten which might entail digging through the diaper bag looking for the benadryl, or better yet a mad rush out of the restaurant leaving a table full of food untouched to insure child lives through an allergy attack without whipping out the EpiPen.

Going out to eat is supposed to an enjoyable experience, while I don't begrudge my child, or my husband and I for our genes that may have contributed to the allergy, I wouldn't say going to eat is as relaxing as it was or should be.