Allergy Awareness Week 2014 kicks off today and so it is with great pleasure that I share this post with you and highlight a company that has been of great help to me. Does your child suffer from anaphylaxis, have a food allergy or related medical condition? Read on and be sure to enter our giveaway.
It was about this time past year that I shared my personal recount of discovering Possum’s severe allergy to egg. At the time it was a massive shock to my husband and I, especially considering we both have no family history of allergies or intolerances. The sheer thought of owning Epipens was enough to scare me.
Once that initial shock wore off, we instinctively armed ourselves with great information from doctors and fellow parents with children dealing with allergies and looked to find anything that would help us support Possum (2.5 years) and keep her as socially included and as safe as possible.
Source : Allergy Awareness Week 2014
My greatest challenge
I have to be honest, the most difficult part of having a child with a severe allergy is trusting whatever environment your child is in. We maintain an egg-free household so I know our little bubble is safe and the food I prepare is completely egg-free. However, as Possum quickly starts to assert her independence, which obviously just comes with age, I find my anxiety levels start to increase.
There has been a few (incredibly scary) incidences where Possum has shown early signs of a reaction due to a lack of others around her being allergy aware or from cross contamination. As much as my husband and I can teach her at this age, we work hard to make Possum allergy aware but unfortunately a cupcake still looks too appealing for her to even question what is inside it and if it will be harmful to her. It is for this reason that I began researching and discovered a brilliant website called ‘Star Allergy Alerts‘. Insert heavenly music here! 😉
Star Allergy Alerts
Star Allergy Alerts is an Australian based company who understand the importance of alerting others of children who suffer from allergies. They offer a bright and fun range of allergy and medical awareness products that are designs in modern colours and include cute characters your children will love! Their products are recommended by allergy specialists and General Practitioners and can be seen in schools and child care centres. They also have an international online store.
The picture above show just a few of the items I have, which give me peace of mind. The stickers on her snack boxes have been fabulous for those times she spends a few hours at a gym creche. It’s that little reminder to the carers that she requires extra attention around other children who have brought food from home. The wristband and badge has been helpful during those times she is somewhere that is quite busy and she has somewhat greater independence, such as at a wedding reception or play centre. These little warnings can be my voice when I’m a short distance away from her and stops generous adults offering her food. I encourage you to check out their educational picture story books as these have certainly helped us teach Possum about her allergy. I have also purchased an Epipen pouch and medical tag.
Win a Star Allergy Alert Multi-pack!
Allergy Awareness Week begins today in Australia and so Star Allergy Alerts have given into my pleading efforts and are offering one fabulous multi-pack, which includes an awareness t-shirt, badge, sticker pack and wristbands. The lucky winner will be able to choose from the huge range of descriptions, so to suit your child’s needs and the size of the tshirt.
How to enter
Competition now CLOSED!
Share this post with others parents/teachers who might also be interested. You might also like to consider following Star Allergy Alerts Facebook page or subscribe to their email for great specials.
{Disclosure: I was compensated with an extra Star Allergy Alert Epipen pouch, stickers and wristbands for this post. All opinions I have expressed are my own.}
My 2 year old is at the age where all food is for him and all adults think that all food is for him. I would love to win this so I don’t have to run around everywhere at food related events like a headless chook trying to stop both he and the adults from shoving food in his mouth. This would certainly help me make everyone in his life “allergy aware!”
I would love to have these products for my daughter, having just started school, she is now responsible for herself and not always confident to mention her allergies. So these products would be a great reminder to the people around her ie: teacher, other students that’s she has an allergy to Peanuts.
My 2 year old is anaphylactic to Tree Nuts and although I do the absolute best I can, which I imagine all allergy parents do, I find that general awareness and information told to people does not help me keep my son safe. I am hoping that stickers on my son’s lunch box will be another visual reminder of his allergies, and that a shirt such as this would increase the awareness even more. If people within mine and my son’s life knew the extent of allergic reactions I would feel a little safer and less anxious about this unfortunate condition, however unfortunately I do not feel safe and my anxiety is high every time I take my son out from my home. Also, my son loves stickers 🙂
I would love to win the star allergy alert multi pack because my son who is anaphylactic to peanuts also have a speech and language delay called apraxia. The pack would easily identify him as an allergy sufferer without him needed to rely on words
This packed would be awesome for my little one. He’s 20 months old and is allergic to egg, wheat and dairy and too little to understand or to be able to communicate it to others so would be a great help to
Us
Gosh, as if parenting isn’t stressful enough! I take my hat off to mums and dads of kids with allergies. It’s great that these cute products can bring you some peace of mind x
I would love this for my little boy who suffers from an egg allergy. While most of our family and friends know and are really good about trying to keep things egg free and/or out of his reach if they aren’t, this would help make others aware that he has an allergy and can’t necessarily eat everything he would like to!
I’d love to win this prize for a family in our family day care service. Z is such a delight, and now she is getting older her circle of contacts in and out of family day care is ever widening. Star allergy alert products will help us help her family in communicating her needs and increasing awareness of her allergy status-putting a bright and beautiful face to that dry allergy alert information we consistently present. 😉
What a great giveaway! One of my identical 3 year old twin girls is anaphylactic to peanuts, the other one is not allergic to anything. I would love this pack so the stickers can communicate her allergy to others and ‘speak’ for her when I am not there.
These are such an awesome idea! I’m lucky that my own children don’t have any known allergies but I work in a school and love the idea of these products.
Hi, these look amazing. I would love these for my almost 3 yr old who has a severe dairy allergy because she is very indepentant and we would love to let her be more adventurous at family functions and friends parties without having to hover over her head.
Eggs, dairy, peanuts I can not have
They make my tummy sore
My mummy makes treats for me
So I don’t miss out, give me more!
My baby brother gets sore tummies as well
Even fruit he cannot have, not fair I want to yell!
My name is Alexander and I am now three
For people to understand not to feed me will make mummy shout Yipee!
It must be such a worry. Knowing that you can’t be there for every second to make sure that your child is safe and knowing that so many people just don’t have a clue about these things. I think products like those would certainly ease my mind a little. What a useful giveaway. Thanks
My little one spent the first year of her life in specially designed sleeves with integrated hypoallergenic gloves to stop her scratching her skin until she bled due to sever baby eczema, it was heart breaking. Thankfully this has cleared up only for her to be diagnosed with food allegies to eggs, nuts and beef (random and weird!) for which we always carry an epipen just in case, thankfully not needed yet. However she is a happy and wonderful.
I love these products and will go and order some for myself as there are far more deserving kids and families on this list. As far as choosing a winner goes I don’t envy your task!
Wishing everyone an allergy free weekend!
My 2 year old daughter is allergic to the top 8 allergens and is anaphylactic to soy. It has been difficult living with these allergies and providing all her food at childcare while needing to work. These products are an excellent idea and definitely helps in labelling my daughter’s food at childcare as I have had to cater for her food in our own storage containers (to avoid contamination risks).
I really appreciated reading this, as I don’t have kids with allergies and so it is good to read the perspective of someone that does. Thanks for raising awareness xx
I know this is an old post, but my nephew will be going to kindergarten in August and I’d like to find the educational picture story books you mentioned. I’m not finding them on the Star Allergy Alerts website.
http://www.starallergyalerts.com.au/
Hope that’s helpful. 🙂