We are officially on day five post food allergy baked milk challenge. Out of five days, he has eaten Amy’s Organic Cheese Pizza 3 days in a row. I had to cut him on Sunday for fear he will learn what constipation really is all about. It’s still a bit odd to believe that after 15 years of crawling and walking on this planet, my son finally tasted cheese. He vomited milk when we gave him his first taste a one year old and was officially diagnosed with a life threatening dairy allergy at age two. So, he has had no direct experience with cheese until last Thursday. In our world, Thursday was life changing.
Our old but loved pizza cutter used by my son for the first time in 15 years!
The world changes as we know it.
Through out the food challenge, he kept talking about how monumental this day was. He said he has been waiting and waiting just for this moment. He spoke of eating pizza with his friends, his soccer and track team being able to “stop for pizza” as he also pondered the taste of lasagna. At home he grabbed the family pizza cutter and said, “I’ve waited all my life to use this…” He already asked his friend’s mom if she would bake him his first mac and cheese when he could eat it. Apparently, she is quite famous for this dish and he has been waiting. We’ve never been a big dairy eating family, so the blessing of dairy didn’t excite us as much as what this all meant: Freedom and opportunity. Every time a food is knocked off his allergen list, the world opens up a bit more. One more stress is removed and sent away to make room for safer days!
Three tiers.
After six months of eating baked dairy with no reactions, my son will be eligible for the unheated milk challenge! It’s fascinating how the protocol has changed and challenging dairy has been segmented into three tiers which are divided up by six month increments:
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- The first dairy food challenge was to cow’s milk baked into cake.
- The next challenge was baked dairy in the form of cheese pizza. Amy’s Cheese pizza to be exact (I’ll explain more below).
- Lastly, the unheated cow’s milk challenge rounds out the tiers and sends folks in dairy oblivion if passed.
Amy’s Cheese pizza was clearly mentioned in the article
Good food challenge reading
For our curiosity during the dairy food challenge, the doctor printed out from the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, “Dietary baked milked accelerates the resolution of cow’s milk allergy in children”. The paper was penned by Jennifer Kim, MD, Anna Nowak-Wegryzn, MD, Scott Sicherer, Sally Noone, RN, Erin Moshier, MD and Hugh Sampson, MD—a seriously impressive group of the nation’s leading food allergy researchers and authorities! The paper broke down the specifics of dairy used in the challenges, specifically referring to Amy’s Cheese pizza made in Petaluma, CA. My doctor requested I find this pizza and bring this to the food challenge, so we could remain as close to this study as possible. Thankfully, my local Whole Foods Market carried the correct variety. I called Amy’s and explained that they are part of the gold standard, the food challenge and I needed to know about cross contamination to tree nuts and sesame seeds. I already knew that they do not have any peanuts in their facility but they did indeed use tree nuts and sesame seeds. The lovely woman on the other end of the phone explained to me the elaborate steps they take to clean and test their equipment. It was insanely impressive and I felt confident using their product. I promised Amy’s customer service person that I would call back on Monday and give them the scoop!
We are still pinching ourselves that the teenage bonding tool has just entered our world. Feeling gratitude deep down to our toes this week!
One of the hardest things I find about managing both life threatening food allergies and asthma is talking to others. I hate to be the one that might be perceived as demanding, pushing or for asking too much. What I now know, fourteen years later, is that honest, clear information presented with kindness works!..
So excited for you all, you can’t possibly know! 🙂 I know what it was like when I passed my food challenges. It was freeing and terrifying all at once, but mostly freeing. It took a little bit to get used to the idea of foods that I was told would kill me were now safe to consume. It was mind blowing, but I also felt like I could breathe a little again, and I emerged from the experience with a compassion for others like you wouldn’t believe, especially in the food allergy community. I will never regret the path I was on with food allergies, and I do deal with some food sensitivities to this day, because of what I gained through it all. Again, I am so very thrilled for you all and pray earnestly that he passes the last phase when he gets there!!! 😀
Julie, thank you so much for your lovely boost of energy! You are right, I felt like I could breathe out just a little more. Ever since we began this journey 13 years ago, I felt as if I took in one deep breathe and then never blew out!
I need to buy mozzarella today. How foreign will that feel? Have a great day.
How amazingly exciting for you all! ({(HAPPY HUGS)}) for the added peace of mind that must come with crossing a danger off the list!
Hi Selena,
Been thinking of you! Hope all is well. This is really quite exciting!
James and Patrick have been eating baked milk products for years and can now eat a little yogurt and ice cream. They just do not like cow milk so they (including Danielle) still drink rice milk. Too much ice cream and yogurt still might give them an upset stomach and diarrhea, but they just are unwilling to drink straight cow milk. Great day in your home!!!!
Hi Patti!
I miss you! It is a great day! Cyrus is soooo proud. He really feels his body is healing in many ways.
Congrats – my family is also on a food allergy, life-changing path. Our 10 year old daughter had her egg in product challenge at the end of July and just completed her two weeks of daily baked egg consumption. She is really enjoying her new-found freedom – especially donuts. Today is actually her birthday and I got to order her a really fancy cake from a bakery for the first time ever! Good luck to you and your son and thanks for sharing your story. The more of us that share, the easier it will be for other families to face food allergies and food challenges.
Leesa,
Thanks for your comments! I yelled out “oh wow” when I read it was your daughter’s birthday and she just enjoyed a fancy bakery cake! My kids thought I was nuts talking to myself. How lovely and exciting. I just love that we have a community where we can share these kind of success stories and not feel awkward or out of place. I am soooooo very happy for your daughter. My daughter is 10 years old too and is allergic to tree nuts and I know at that age this is a HUGE deal. Congratulations and tell your daughter Happy Birthday!
Wow, congrats to your son, you and your family!
This gives me hope that someday my son will also be able to safely eat pizza with his friends. He’s only 3, so it’s heartbreaking to think that he’ll have to miss out on the usual food-focused social events (he has multiple food allergies). However, hopefully he’ll grow out of at least some (if not all!) of his food allergies. Thanks for sharing about you son’s great news!
Welcome to the club, honey! If you haven’t read it, here’s one for you:
http://foodallergybitch.blogspot.com/2013/02/congrats-your-child-passed-baked-milk.html
We’re hoping to do our open milk challenge in the late fall, although our allergist wants to see the numbers keep coming down. We’re also behind you guys on cheese because we’ve been introducing soy at the same time as baked milk.
But it’s so encouraging to finally get these teens through pesky milk allergies. Let’s cross our fingers that the news continues to be so good!
Thanks, I want to join your club! I follow you and missied this article–thanks for sharing! I confess: I forgot about baking with powdered milk too! It is encouraging! Thanks for the support!!!
So happy to read about how the milk challenge has changed your son’s life! I have an 8 year old that has been going through the baked milk challenge. He did great with the muffins so we went to the next step. He had his first bite of pizza last month and had a cheese burger this weekend. It’s the first time a cheese burger has brought me to tears!
By the way, you are so right about how nice Amy’s Foods is. I have also called them with questions and their customer service is outstanding. Before my son was able to have real cheese pizza, Amy’s soy cheese pizza was a staple at our home as was their soy cheese mac and cheese. Since my son’s allergy is to whey and not casein, he was okay with those products (and loved them).
Thank you for writing such a great blog. It’s great to connect with other allergy moms.
Hi Betty,
Thanks for the email and welcome! OH My Goodness! It never occurred to me to give him a cheese burger?!? I just read this and realized that we have not tried cheese burgers. I’ve been stuck on pizza. Have you tried any dishes with cheese baked in like Mac and Cheese?
Some ǥenuinely choice posts on that internet site,
bookmarked.