Two kids on special diets

[Staceyshoe]

My children both have dietary restrictions. The oldest is gluten free. The youngest is severely allergic to dairy and nuts. For various reasons, both kids have been gluten free and dairy free for the past year. It's been simple to have them on the same diet. However, they no longer need to be on the same diet. My youngest has outgrown his wheat allergy and oldest is no longer sensitive to dairy. Dh thinks it would cause fewer problems to continue to keep them both dairy free and gluten free. I can see where it might be in some ways. In other ways (like when we need to pack our own food and try to subtlely feed them during group events), it would be easier to only avoid the foods that they each really do need to avoid.

 

Does anyone have multiple kids with different dietary needs? Any advice for handling this? Is it best to keep everyone on the same diet or customize? (Our meals at home are always safe for everyone--it's more an issue when traveling or in social situations.)

[Spryte]

It's tough. In our house, we all have different dietary restrictions due to allergies. We generally follow what DH lovingly calls the LCD diet - the lowest common denominator diet - at home. So all food at home is safe for everyone, because home should be a safe place for all. Well, back that up to say that we don't include my allergens in that list - I am allergic to eggs and spinach, but we serve those to the household, just not to me. I am old enough to avoid those foods and not feel unsafe. :)

 

But something you wrote makes me think we'd handle part of your situation differently. If a child has recently outgrown a true allergy, then the best way (per our allergist) to ensure that the allergy will stay outgrown is to consume the (prior) allergen at least weekly. If your DS has outgrown that allergy, I'd probably mark it on the calendar to be sure he ingests wheat weekly. We do that with a recently outgrown coconut allergy. You could do the same with the dairy sensitivity (was that an IgE allergy? I'm not sure if what our allergist says applies to IgG allergies or sensitivities, so YMMV, she was speaking specifically of IgE allergies that had previously led to anaphylaxis).

 

While we are out and about, at family functions etc, we don't restrict items unless there's an actual allergy. Not sure I'm making sense, sorry. If we are at Aunt Tillie's house, and DD is offered a glass of milk - of course she can have it, since she's not allergic to milk specifically. But if DS is, he knows he can't, as he is allergic. But we pack most of our own food anyway, so it rarely comes up.