First 3 days

Day 1 went well. It's just a capsule. We mixed it into our daughter special winter treat - hot cocoa. She drank it up.  I thought she didn't even notice.. boy I was wrong. She asked me later in the afternoon if I added anything into her cocoa. I told her it was "baby yogurt"... It's tough to have a 3.5 year old comply with a treatment. It's an interesting age where they are much more aware of the others than we think.  It's a vicious circle as eczema doesn't like stress and how can you eliminate stress when you know you are different. When you go to a friend's birthday party, all ate cake, you don't - even though we smooth it out as much as possible by bringing a cupcake / treat she can eat... it's not easy...

Day 2 went better than expected. She asked for the powder to be mixed into her morning smoothie.. wow, it was a relief indeed. My only worry is it won't last long as we need to up the dosage every day and soon it won't taste good.

Day 3 has been more of a challenge. Smoothie didn't do the trick today. She didn't drink it all, but at least more than half. We also had to start the creams today. That went well, once again beginners luck, and it's only to the ankle today. Fingers crossed it won't be too bad.  Bath additives were supposed to start today too, but she was too itchy to try.  We'll start tomorrow, forcing it will only backfire. One step at a time. This is not a sprint but a marathon.

New Hope

The journey continues. We've been waiting for this appointment for about six months. We were quite fortunate that our allergist has connected us with Dr. Li and she took our daughter as her patient.

This link gives some background on Dr. Li and her breakthrough allergy research:

http://asthmaallergieschildren.com/traditional-chinese-medicine/

Dr. Xiu-Min Li has been named the recipient of the 2016 Future of Health Technology Award for her research and clinical work on botanical drugs for asthma, food allergies, and other diseases of the immune system, and for her vision to make them available to patients through integrative medical practice. The award will be presented on May 2, 2016, during the 20th Anniversary Future of Health Technology Summit™ at the MIT Media Laboratory in Cambridge Massachusetts, USA.” (Previous winners include Dr. Marvin Minsky and Dr. Raymond Kurzweil)

Allergies are a mixed bag, there are always good news and bad news. Good news is that there is hope to get the Ige levels down. The bad news is it will take years. They are high and getting higher every year.

Dr. Li talked about the cell memory multiplication and the worsening of Iges due to prolonged steroid cream use to keep the eczema at bay.  So here we are committing to start a new journey. A journey where we hope to achieve the first milestone of phasing out the steroids in the next six months, before we start tackling the allergies.

It's always great to meet the other parents in the waiting room. You know it's intense, when we all exchange our total Ige levels as we connect - 3k, 5k.... odd talk to those who are not in it day in and day out, but very real for all of us.

This new journey is not going to be easy, I pray that there will be no adverse reaction to the treatment and we can actually go through with it.

It's not a walk in the park. We have a set of capsules to be taken internally, we have a set of creams, bath additives and it's not a one time thing. We drafted up a treatment schedule for full clarity of administration of these elements. This is intense, the most intense routine we have yet had to do!

Fingers crossed, it'll work!

Auvi-Q Recall

If you're one of the Auvi-Q epipen holders, please get it replaced with another product and follow instructions below to get a refund for the difference in cost.

https://www.auvi-q.com/

Replacement and Reimbursement Process:

https://www.auvi-q.com/recall-return-and-reimbursement-process

We've got replacements in and requested the return package. Hope this will be a smooth process!

Easy Allergen-Free Corn Muffins

These are our family's favorite muffins. They are super simple, everyone can eat them and you can also modify the recipe to make them into corn bread (i.e. less sugar). And the best part, they are so quick you can even make them for breakfast.

Ingredients:
1 cup of cornmeal
1 cup of all-purpose flour (you can use gluten free flour if you have a gluten allergy)
1/3 cup of sugar
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 egg, beaten (that is if you tolerate cooked egg, otherwise substitute with apple sauce)
1/4 cup of oil (this could be vegetable, canola, coconut)
1 cup of liquid (this could be soy milk, rice milk, e.t.c.)

Directions:
Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Oil muffin pan or line with paper muffin liners.

In a large bowl, mix together corn meal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl mix egg, oil, and liquid. Gently stir in the liquids into the solids.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle coarse brown sugar on top.

Bake at 400 degrees F for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Back to School Tips

This is a great article published by The Allergic Living magazine.

http://allergicliving.com/2014/08/21/managing-dairy-allergy-at-school-steps-to-success/

It reminds us that our children are covered by the disability act, so that we can be armed with it to help us ensure their safety in school. Sending an allergic child, particularly a really young one who is not necessarily able to speak for themselves, is heart wrenching. I'm still dreading this in anticipation. One more year to go before my daughter starts pre-K. I know I'm not alone.

Our allergist always says, "if people don't think that you're being difficult, you're not doing your job".

Wishing all kids a healthy and emergency-room free school year!

Who is the real bully for an allergic child?

Perhaps it's the caretakers that are more potent to your allergic child than other children.  I was on the playground with my daughter the other day and we were playing in the sandbox.  I noticed an older woman in that same sandbox with us with two children. Who knows, she may have been either their grandmother or a nanny.  She took hard boiled eggs out and was feeding the younger child the eggs right in the sand pit. Him being a toddler he kept running away from her and she walked around chasing him.

First of all, you don't feed a kid in the sandpit, just a matter of courtesy to keep the sand clean. Secondly, when I saw that she was feeding him an egg, my "internal alarm" went off. Even though my daughter is allergic to egg white, she has no issues with egg white contact when it is fully cooked. She can also consume small traces of it as long as it is baked.  She is lucky in that respect, however, not all children are. Some children have issues with contact and consumption of both raw and cooked egg.

So I politely reached out to the woman and said that perhaps it is best for her to feed her child outside the sandbox, perhaps on the bench since there are children with severe egg allergies.  Her response: "children let's go, don't play with that little girl over there". She said it loud enough for my daughter to hear. How poisonous is that comment. As they say, don't exclude the child, exclude the food and I'd add out of the sandpit. Especially that my daughter has to deal with a lot of "no we can't eat this" all the time already and now she hears another adult telling her children "don't play with her".  My blood boiled hearing this, but I just rolled my eyes, I didn't think it was worth giving this woman a lecture on child psychology or dive into the fact that I was more concerned of other children in this case, not necessarily my own, e.t.c. she was probably a bully herself when she was a young kid....I'm just disturbed by the lack of sensitivity coming from a grown up and the example she's setting for the kids she raises. Of course, the older girl was completely confused why her caretaker told her not to play with my daughter. So not to make the situation more awkward I got my daughter to go with me and dig for some treasures with other kids in the sandpit.

Children imitate what they see, let us try to live up to the expectations we set for them....

The Silver Lining of Anaphylaxis

Is it fun to have allergies that are severe enough to cause anaphylaxis - no. Is it fun to read all of the food labels and lug a bag full of food that is safe to eat with you all the time and ask the waiter in the restaurant to speak to the chef and go over the food preparation procedure - no. But there is definitely a silver lining there also... and here are some perks:

1. You always know what you are eating, down to every ingredient. This makes you very conscious about your food intake and therefore leads you to eat healthier.
2. You mostly eat home-made food, the food you prepare yourself or the food your loved one prepares for you.  Hence it is made of fresh ingredients and always tastes better.
3. You don't eat food that is canned / preserved e.t.c. So you're not exposing your body to all of those toxins but mostly consume food that is made out of fresh raw and unprocessed ingredients.
4. You eat fresher ingredients even when you go out to eat.  Even if you get something less healthy such as fried fish or say chicken or another fried item, the chef starts a new batch of oil for you as the existing oil is contaminated.
5. You get creative with your food.

Basically you eat cleaner, fresher, more wholesome ingredients. Yes, it takes you longer to get to a meal and it consumes more time and effort, but it may all be worth it and lead to a healthier life.

But best of all, you are reminded of the fragility of life and what a gift it is and therefore cherish every moment and celebrate life! If you're a parent of a child with life-threatening allergies, you feel blessed having this child in your life every single moment even when they are having a meltdown.

There is always an upside!

Our Fave Chicken Soup Recipe

A friend of mine asked me for our chicken soup recipe. Our daughter loves it, and it's allergen free!

Ingredients:
1. whole chicken
2. 1 onion
3. 2 celery sticks
4. 1 carrot (pealed)
5. broccoli (optional)
6. 2 garlic cloves (optional)
7. 2-3 bay leaves
8. pinch of peppercorns
9. salt to taste
10. fresh / dry herbs options: thyme, herbs de provence, or fresh parsley or cilantro all go well (pick one herb of choice)
11. grain options: noodles, quinoa, rice

Preparation:

Wash the chicken and place it in the water and bring to boil. The trick here is to bring it to boil slowly and when you see foam float to the top you have to skim it. This is how you get a really clear broth.  Another option is to quickly bring the chicken to boil and pour that first water out, wash the chicken and put a new batch of water in this way you will avoid the skimming procedure and still have a clear broth. The downfall of the latter option however, is that you may end up with a very watery broth. So I personally prefer the first option especially if you're getting a good chicken.

Once the chicken is simmering and the water is now fully clear from the continuous skimming of the floaty gray matter, add in the onion (whole), the carrot (whole) and celery stalks (whole). Add a bay leaves, whole peppercorns. Let it cook on slow boil until the chicken is fully done. Once the chicken is done, add in chopped broccoli, the grain of choice (i.e. this is either noodles or quinoa or rice) squeezed garlic, herbs and salt to taste. Let it cook a little longer until everything is fully cooked. Turn off and enjoy!

In search for allergy-free sweets

Having severe allergies to items commonly used in baking is a challenge when you crave a treat or when you throw a party for your kid. Of course the surest way is to make your own desert.  For example, in an earlier blog I shared an amazing chocolate cake that we did for our daughter's third birthday.

Another go-to healthy desert is this luxurious chocolate mouse that only takes a few minutes to make.

Ingredients (makes 2-4 servings):
1 avocado
2 tablespoons of cocoa powder (make sure to read the package that it's dairy free)
2 tablespoons of honey

Instructions:
Place cleaned avocado and the other above mentioned ingredients in a blender (I love our Vitamix) and let it blend into a rich mouse.

Optionally you can spice it up with cinnamon or chili powder.

Serve:
You can serve it as is or you can put fresh berries (raspberries is my favorite choice) on top.

It's healthy and absolutely delicious.

But I've also been researching places to buy an allergy-free candy when on the go or when time is of the essence or when you want to change things up a bit.

I've come across these links below:
http://www.premiumchocolatiers.com/

• caution: look out for legumes (like Guar gum, e.t.c. if you / your child has a legume allergy)

http://nocownohow.com/
http://www.etherealconfections.com/
http://www.divvies.com/
https://sjaaks.com/
http://www.lakechamplainchocolates.com/
http://www.chocolatedecadence.com/
http://www.amandasown.com/
http://www.mama-ganache.com/
http://www.grocersdaughter.com/
http://www.rescuechocolate.com/
http://www.chocolateinspirations.com/
http://www.lagustasluscious.com/shop/
http://www.rosecitychocolates.com/

For M&M replacement - check out Whizzers Chocolate Beans (I'm still tracking down how one can buy these in the US, they are UK-native)

Can Food Really Kill?

I haven't been writing for a while..... I needed that space and time to live through, digest, and come to terms with the new reality. The reality that ironically has always been there - just in the shadows.

Can food really kill? It is a paradox that is hard to grasp. When I think of food, I think of nourishment, I think of different tastes and flavors and textures.

But here I am sitting in the doctor’s office, reviewing the blood work results from my daughter’s most recent test.  Her doctor is patiently walking us through each item. He lovingly shares the stories of his other patients. And he hands us the practice epi-pen, so we can have the pen talk us through the application procedure.

It all seems strangely normal somehow. There seems to be no surprises. We know our daughter is allergic to certain proteins. The results at first glance really didn’t uncover anything we didn’t already know. But it is not until the next few days that the results of the test really hit me.  Yes, why should I be surprised? The test didn’t reveal a new allergen. What hits me though is the severity. Yes, I know she can’t have dairy or nuts of any kind or legumes e.t.c. Yes, we haven’t even been cooking with these ingredients for the last three years. I know she can’t even touch these food items, let alone consume. But I never really thought that her reactions to these foods would be off the charts. I never thought that her sensitivity is the highest that it could be.

I’ve read many blogs and stories of other parents and wept reading them. I sympathized with the severity of their children’s allergies.  I felt what they were going through as I thought I was going through the same thing, but only on a non-life threatening level.  I thought that in our case a little Benadryl will do. 

I’ve been convinced that her allergies will go away one day. Yes, I am still totally convinced. I know she will lead a really full, beautiful, happy and long life. I know she will make her mark on this world. She will touch a lot of people with her radiance, kindness, compassion, and intelligence.

No one prepares you to hear the news that Benadryl and nebulizer may not be enough… no one prepares you for a blood test result that states that your daughter’s numbers in terms of severity of allergies  are off the charts for food groups that are present in so many products.

It’s something I’ve read about. My heart has wept for the children whose life was in real danger. How can food kill?

I felt like I’ve been mourning to a certain extent as the test results are sinking in. Yes, nothing changed. But internally, I have an eruption of emotions. The thought of how it will all work when she needs to start school, the thought of her teenage years, the thoughts that all need to be banished. And I can’t help but feel that she understands everything….

Talking about it doesn’t make it better, unless you’re talking about it with a purpose. The purpose of changing something to help a child like her. I know that unless one lives through the same thing themselves, they won’t understand. Yes they’ll sympathize, perhaps they’ll even offer up advice or site an article they read…but you know they’ll never truly relate. It’s like losing a close loved one – if you haven’t lived through it, you just can’t live through it through someone else. Writing is my panacea. Spilling my thoughts and my fillings on paper, seem to absorb the impact.

Eating Out Can Be More Complicated Than You Think

Even though eating out may be a more convenient and easier option for someone without any dietary restrictions, having allergies makes things a bit more complicated.

When you eliminate the obvious ingredients such as for example creamed sauces for someone with a dairy allergy and check that desert doesn't have nuts for someone with nut allergy you think you're done.... think again!

A great example of some really deceitful items that can give you a reaction are things like steamed vegetables, steaks, and even things like vegetable spring roll. How could this be? Well, in many restaurants, after they steam the veggies they sprinkle them with melted butter.  Similarly, butter on steak is very common during preparation.  And for the spring roll case - what if it was fried in sesame oil.  Now you see how seemingly benign dishes can become a hazard.

Furthermore, what is most interesting is the lack of familiarity and awareness of the severity of allergens from most restaurant staff.  I do have to admit, that I'm very lucky to live in NYC and I find that the staff in NYC tend to be more informed than some other places around the country.

As an example, we had a little ski get-away and we stayed in a very nice resort near Camelback. When we were at dinner, we asked the waiter to just boil some plain pasta with tomato sauce asking them to check with the kitchen to make sure that there is no butter during the preparation of the pasta or the sauce due to our daughter's dairy allergy. We've also offered them an alternative of just plain boiled pasta and olive oil on the side in case the tomato sauce is prepared with butter.  The waiter seemed to understand the situation.  Minutes later they brought the pasta, with tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.  This is just one example....

And in case you're wondering, yes, we bring a thermos along with our daughter's meals everywhere we go and when we go on family vacations, we stay in places with a kitchen.  We find that to be the most stress-free way to go.

But in case we are going out, we stick to Japanese restaurants, genuine Italian / Spanish, or seafood places.  In a Japanese restaurant at least you know you're most likely good on the dairy side. Similarly in genuine Italian / Spanish places olive oil is the oil of choice, and seafood - well our daughter just loves it so you can't go wrong with say some grilled octopus or fish. Lucky for us, she's not allergic to shellfish.

I hope that one day, the wait staff and importantly the chefs will be fully trained and aware of the ingredients that go into the food that is prepared in the kitchen.  There are a number of initiatives that are being worked on to improve the awareness factor, please see below:
http://www.foodallergy.org/advocacy/restaurants

Also, I found the results of the study done in 2010 that concluded that 90% of managers, wait staff and chefs expressed varying degrees of "comfort" in providing a safe meal for customers with food allergies:
http://allergicliving.com/2010/07/02/restaurants-and-allergies-study-reveals-dangers/

Shout out to Sean Parker

I couldn't resist but share this!
http://allergicliving.com/2014/12/17/tech-mogul-sean-parker-pledges-24-million-to-find-allergy-cure/

I'm so happy that this money is going to Dr. Kari Nadeau (http://nadeaulab.stanford.edu/). I've mentioned her as my inspiration on this journey of allergic living.  She is self-less, persistent, and passionate!

I'm looking forward to coming publications out of the studies that will be sponsored with this donation!

Shaking off the old beliefs on safety of eating

Talking to my own parents and in-laws it takes some convincing to remind them that "no she can't have yogurt" she has a dairy allergy and "no, tzatziki sauce" still does not qualify as an item their grand-daughter can eat. And "no, even if you did't use butter in the recipe" for that yummy dinner role, but you put some on top to brown it in the oven, "she can't have it"....

I feel like after three years of consistent reminders and education of my own family members, we can leave her with one of her grandmothers only and even so, I wouldn't be too comfortable with this being more than perhaps a day (this is besides myself, my husband, and her nanny - all of use live and breath this every day).

I think it comes from two main underlying reasons:

(1) the older generation hasn't really experienced it, so they can't comprehend it as real and the fact that it could be life-threatening is just a tough concept to grasp,

(2) there isn't enough awareness and education, so it is still very much a concept limited to those suffering from allergies or interacting with the sufferers closely.

As crazy as it sounds, but the first instance of a peanut allergy has been recorded in 1920 (according the the Peanut Allergy Answer Book). First case of sesame allergy was recorded in 1950 (http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org/resourcespre.php?id=107&title=sesame_allergy). It was only in 2008 that the CDC has released it's first federal study focused on childhood allergies (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db10.pdf).

Therefore, literally a generation ago, allergies have been virtually unheard of....

Now, fast forward to today:
http://www.foodallergy.org/facts-and-stats

How Many People Have Food Allergies?

• Researchers estimate that up to 15 million Americans have food allergies.
• This potentially deadly disease affects 1 in every 13 children (under 18 years of age) in the U.S. That’s roughly two in every classroom.
• The economic cost of children’s food allergies is nearly $25 billion per year.

Food Allergies on the Rise

• According to a study released in 2013 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, food allergies among children increased approximately 50% between 1997 and 2011.
• The number of people who have a food allergy is growing, but there is no clear answer as to why.
• Researchers are trying to discover why food allergies are on the rise in developed countries worldwide, and to learn more about the impact of the disease in developing nations. More than 17 million Europeans have a food allergy, and hospital admissions for severe reactions in children have risen seven-fold over the past decade, according to the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI).

This is quite scary, since we don't have a full understanding of the cause or cure.  We are making hypothesis. Some tie it GMO, some tie to to environmental pollution, some tie to to us becoming too clean, some tie it to vaccinations but we're still searching for answers.

Two things we do know, that if your parents had it you're more likely to have it. That means that we will continue to multiply our allergy statistics on a catastrophic scale. And the second thing we know is that there is no cure... yet.

Are we our own worst enemy? Are we on a path to self-destruction by messing with nature? Will we ever find out? And if so, will we find out when it's too late to reverse the process?

Beware of the Headlines

The recent news explosion in the allergy world titled:

Landmark Study May Change How We Feed Peanut Butter To Infants

High-Risk Infants Fed Peanuts Developed Allergy At Lower Rate Than Other 

Babies - Study May Pave Way for New Prevention Strategies

http://community.kidswithfoodallergies.org/blog/landmark-study-may-change-how-we-feed-peanut-butter-to-infants-to-prevent-peanut-allergy

Reading these headlines, one may think that the allergy problems have been solved. But when we read the article further we come across the following sentence.

“First, every child in this study underwent skin prick testing and physician -supervised oral challenge towards peanut before eating it at home for the first time. About 10% of possible study participants were deemed too risky to enroll due to the large size (greater than 4 millimeter) of their skin test,” he noted.

So yes, the results are great and very encouraging for the children who are either negative (i.e. were not allergic to peanuts in the first place, but had eczema and perhaps another dietary allergy) or those who were moderately positive and hence at risk of developing a full on peanut allergy. However, for the children who already had an allergy this is not the right way to go.

There is current research work underway by certain exceptional people to try to solve the allergy problem for the children who have an allergy from the time they are born. Something myself as well as many other parents unfortunately have seen since birth. When my daughter was born, she was exclusively breastfed, but she started having reactions and I started noting what I eat. So by the time she was eligible for an allergy test at 6-months, I already knew what her allergies were and the test results were just a confirmation. By then, I've already eliminated all of those triggers from my own diet. This is not a unique story, this is a story that I've heard from a number of other moms.  This really points to the fact that we need to re-write all of our books when it comes to feeding.

However, something that we did was when my daughter got a bit older, I can't recall the exact age, but would guess about 11-12 months. What I started doing is introducing one food item at a time to my diet for a week. If all goes well, I would give it to her directly the following week. She did outgrow a number of her former allergies, but there are still certain ones that had given her the most severe reaction, which are still an issue.  The next step is trying them in cooked form. But of course, this is all under supervision both my own and her allergist.  There are also more tests available today that can help break down the components further.  I think slowly but surely, we'll tackle them one by one. But it is not a simple process and nothing is guaranteed.

Some truly inspirational work that I've come across has been done by Dr. Kari Nadeau, a must-read NY Times article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/10/magazine/can-a-radical-new-treatment-save-children-with-severe-allergies.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Link to her Research Page:

http://nadeaulab.stanford.edu/research.html

She truly is my hero. And has been my inspiration in the whole process. She is very open about the difficulty of Immunotherapy to foods both on the medical as well as financial / political side.  Dr. Nadeau went without salary for 3 years to conduct her studies, because funding for research was minimal compared to the typical drug company-sponsored research. 

Just to give you a sense of the magnitude of her undertaking and the precision of the allergen doses required for immunotherapy, I'm posting this excerpt:

Nadeau experimented with blood samples of allergic patients and was encouraged to see that the allergens seemed not to interact with one another. She consulted with senior colleagues in the field to see if anyone would collaborate on a multiallergen study, but no one was interested. Scientifically the results would be harder to interpret than single-allergen trials. Moreover, each allergen would require getting separate F.D.A. approval, and it was difficult to get even one application approved. When she found herself home sick in bed with a virus for a few days in 2011, she decided she would “knock them all out” and wrote 13 Investigational New Drug Applications, each 90 or so pages long, and soon received F.D.A. approval for each one.

Even more daunting was the question of how to finance the study. Each child would cost between $20,000 and $30,000 to treat annually, and treatment could take several years. Flour would have to be manufactured from the proteins of each allergen to prepare precisely measured, minute doses, and it would have to meet the high purity standard for drugs.

Simple Joys of Life

It is amazing how when you're faced with feeding an allergic child and you yourself have no dietary restrictions, you're initially in a panic of "what am I going to feed them so that they'll actually enjoy the food?!" I have to note that I am a foodie. But then as you educate yourself, you realize that one can have just as much variety of tasty meals and treats as a person without allergies. And it comes with a bonus - they are much healthier!

Recently our daughter turned three and for her third birthday, I decided to surprise her with a very special treat. A rich Chocolate Cake.  She currently has the following food allergies: dairy, egg white, nuts and seeds, and legumes. So initially one might wonder, how you make a rich chocolate cake without things like cream and butter e.t.c. and especially the frosting?!

I have to say a huge thank you to the minimalist baker for giving me pretty much the whole recipe that I just had to slightly modify:

http://minimalistbaker.com/one-bowl-vegan-chocolate-cake/

The only thing I swapped out was Soy milk (next time I'll do Coconut milk) for the Almond Breeze that they have in their original recipe.  It was absolutely one of the best chocolate cakes I've had and all of the family and friends that tried it at the party were simply shocked that it was allergen free!

Finding the Trigger

Any parent of an allergic child or a child with eczema will agree that life is always an adventure. You never know what the next trigger is and where it will come from.  You've done the skin tests, you've done the blood work, but even it all of those tests they still don't capture every possibility. As an example, there are hundreds of varieties of mold, so even though your test may have come in negative for the common three, you still have plenty more potential triggers to discover.  The food tests are getting more finite, where you can do Component testing for a number of common food allergens. But when it comes to environmental exposures (i.e. where I'm defining the environment as the conditions that surround someone or something : the conditions and influences that affect the growth, health, progress, etc., of someone or something). Therefore, the environment is both inside your home and outside.

As you've learned, our previous adventure has been linked to our mattress selection. So now that we're back to peaceful sleep with our daughter resting on the all-natural organic Berkeley mattress that is cozily resting on an all-wooden bed, we introduce the wardrobe.... the STUVA system from IKEA. What we loved about it is how modular it is! It's basically a custom closet / toy storage / play area all in one and you can build it out to be 100 inches high to take advantage of the high ceilings of a charming pre-war apartment - all at an affordable price.

After bringing it home, we decided to only assemble one section of it to start.  As we began the assembly a sneaky thought passed - will our daughter be ok living with it in the same room?  From my online research that I've done, IKEA adheres quite high standards for their particle board / fiberboard furniture as they manufacture the same inventory for all of the markets they operate in, so it doesn't vary from market to market. This means that this wardrobe has passed higher EU standards for emissions from material / glues / coatings e.t.c. They are also amazingly transparent when it comes to product information on the materials used (quoting the product description verbatim):

Product description

Frame:
Board on frame: Honeycomb structure recycled paper filling, Particleboard, Fiberboard, Foil, ABS plastic, Foil
Side panel: Particleboard, Honeycomb structure recycled paper filling, Fiberboard, Foil, ABS plastic, Foil
Back panel: Fiberboard, Foil

Door/ drawer front:
Fiberboard, Acrylic paint

Drawer without front:
Main parts: Particleboard, Foil
Drawer bottom: Fiberboard, Acrylic paint

Shelf:
Particleboard, Honeycomb structure recycled paper filling, Foil, ABS plastic

Clothes rail:
Clothes rail: Steel, Pigmented epoxy/polyester powder coating
Support: Polypropylene

Wire basket:
Steel, Pigmented epoxy/polyester powder coating

The only question remaining is - will we be sleeping tonight?  Well, it turned out we didn't.... But at least we know the drill by now - i.e. remove the item in question.  Our daughter's room returned back to it's original "steady state". A wooden bed with the Berkeley mattress. A wooden toy organizer (by the way it is from IKEA - but it's all solid wood), a wooden doll crib, a wooden chair, and a wooden book stand with books. Back to the minimalist state to see if sleep can now resume again and windows open for a couple of hours to air-out any remnant odors, bed sheets changed just in case moving the wardrobe resulted in any fiber dust on her sheets, and floors and surfaces wiped with a damp cloth.  Sure enough - sound sleep returned the following night.

We're back to the drawing board on the solution for the wardrobe.  We know we need to stick to solid wood at this point, we know we need to pay close attention to the stains that were applied to that wood and the recency of application.... Let the search begin!

Sweet Dreams: is the secret in your mattress?

If you're a parent of an allergic child you know that sleep is the most valuable commodity in your life! Sleepless nights don't ever seem to end. Even when your child is a toddler, there are numerous nights that you spend scratching and comforting your little one so that they can sleep in peace. Sometimes you know the triggers, some times you don't..... which brings me to the topic of mattresses.

When our daughter was a few months shy of being three, she was growing out of her toddler-bed-from-crib conversion and ready for a big-girl bed. She was thrilled to upgrade and so were we.  We picked out a Maxtrix bed (http://www.maxtrixkids.com/), which is awesome of city living. They are made out of  wood and super adjustable. We totally love it! 

Of course we also needed to get a mattress to go with it. So after looking at the mattresses available at the store and explaining to the shop attendant that our daughter has allergies, he recommended we go for the EverTrue Grand (http://evertruemattress.com/). It comes with an impressive resume, an adorable picture of a happy baby on the front page and a line up of certification, including international recognition, which means higher bar and stricter testing criteria than if it was US alone.

Quoting the EverTrue Collection description followed by a sweet adorable and happy baby:

"Introducing the EverTrue Collection, a beautiful and modern line of crib mattresses, handcrafted from the highest-quality materials. The new line consists of five innovative foam mattresses, with exceptional features and designs. Each EverTrue model uses our exclusive SecureCore Technology™, a sleep system engineered to enhance air circulation for sound sleep, proper development and safety. EverTrue products not only meet, but exceed the industry’s highest safety standards, each earning the coveted Greenguard® Gold seal of approval giving expecting parents the peace of mind to sleep like a baby."

That's the mattress we purchased. We were excited to get the delivery, but then unexpected events followed. Week one, we were loosing sleep, our daughter took forever to fall asleep and started waking in the night and not just to use the potty and took longer and longer to fall back asleep. We initially explained it as an adjustment period for the new bed, even though she totally loved it. Week two, we were exhausted and I couldn't stop questioning the somewhat sweet smell of the mattress (note: I've got a very sensitive nose). We re-read the labels and re-confirmed that VOCs should technically be minor if any as it claims "exceed the industry's highest safety standards". By week three, I grew more and more determined that it was the mattress. I started reading about the mattresses and polyurethane and visco elastic foam and became convinced that we need to consider alternatives. We've done an experiment and moved our daughter to our bed once she fell asleep and she slept better. Not perfect but better. As typical for children her age, they tend to think of their bed as sleep time but their parent's bed as play time, so having her fall asleep on our bed would not be a good idea. We tried a few more nights just to be sure it wasn't a fluke and she was calmer. Of course we still weren't getting all that sleep :).

I've fully plunged to investigate the simplest of mattresses, not VOCs, no memory foam, no polyurethane, no plastic, no fire retardant soaks, e.t.c. And I came across the Berkeley mattresses (http://berkeleyergo.com/). I liked how simple it was, some German coils, an inch of latex for firmness, wool, and organic cotton cover. No flame retardants (wool is a natural fire retardant), no toxins. I also was so lucky to actually find a retailer in NYC who sold it. I was thrilled, my husband was still not fully convinced. He felt that I had it out for that EverTrue mattress! Regardless, after almost four weeks of total sleep deprivation we set out to the store the next morning and bought it.

And then, a miracle.... our daughter slept "like a baby" again! First night we agreed that it could be a fluke... but it continued...

I just want to be clear that I'm not in any way connected to any of the products that I've mentioned here, I'm just sharing our experience and perhaps there is another mom or dad out there who is pulling their hair out wondering why their little one is itching the night away when they've ruled out every possible trigger.... perhaps it's the mattress!

I hope you find this helpful and I am so grateful that there are still companies out there who manufacture truly clean products, clean of man-made material and of toxins.

We know where we are buying our crib mattress for baby #2 :)

Beware of the "Green" labeling

It's quite natural to think that when something is considered being "green" it is safe for both the environment as well as it's inhabitants. However, this is not always the case.

The other day I was researching the Spray Polyurethane Foam (commonly known as SPF) that is widely promoted as a "green" building material for its ability to improve energy efficiency. It insulates better per inch than fiberglass or cellulose, which can mean major energy savings on heating and cooling for the home owners.  However, it the impact on the environment whether during the manufacturing of the raw material or the installation process does not turn out to be quite so "green".

SPF is a formed by combining two parts, side "A" and "B" side materials. The "A" side is known as polymeric methylene diphenyl disocyanate (PMDI) and consists of approximately equal amounts of monomeric MDI and higher molecular weight oligomers of MDI. The "B" side is a polyol blend which typically contains base polyols, catalysts, blowing agents, surfactants, flame retardants, and other additives.

Even though once the compound is mixed and cured it is supposed to be inert and safe for building re-entry after 24 hours in general but depending on the manufacturer, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) believes that the material is still very new and not yet well understood. They believe that the potential long-term-off gassing is not fully understood.  Furthermore, they recommend that individuals with a history of skin conditions, respiratory allergy, asthma, or prior isocyanate sensitization should fully understand the product information and consider safer alternatives. That is, if the installation is done properly by someone who is an expect in this area.  So there is still a wild card where the safety of the product is further compromised by the skill of the installer, the quality of the foam, thickness of the application, and ability to properly inspect post-installation.  Furthermore, the EPA also suggests that any maintenance or repair work that disturbs the cured compound (cutting / heating e.t.c.) is a potential health hazard.  Considering this, it is quite unsettling that this is marketed as a "green" building material that is being used during construction on weathering modifications to existing constructions.  

References:

http://www.epa.gov/dfe/pubs/projects/spf/spray_polyurethane_foam.html

http://www.sprayfoam.org/technical/faqs

http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/spray-foam-jobs-lingering-odor-problems

http://polyurethane.americanchemistry.com/Spray-Foam-Coalition/Guidance-on-Best-Practices-for-the-Installation-of-Spray-Polyurethane-Foam.pdf