Burnout And Parenting With A Food Allergy

Managing your child's FPIES can be very draining. Burnout among food allergy parents is a real thing!! Where we direct our energy matters.

Constant worrying over something that is BEYOND your control is draining. It leads to anxiousness and most importantly, it makes you feel helpless.

My daughter was exclusively breastfed and I had to figure out a breast milk substitute for her before returning to work. I knew that my supply would drop and the idea of pumping at work was dreadful. I spent a lot of time and energy worrying about what alternative I can give her. And I was very VERY skeptical about challenging her with dairy because she reacted to soy. I realized now that replaying those thoughts were not helpful and they were exhausting.

I had no control over whether my daughter would react to a certain food. BUT I had control over my plan.
When will I do a dairy challenge?
How do I do a dairy challenge?
What is my next step if we fail the dairy challenge?

Redirecting my energy to the things that I can control (eg. coming up with actionable steps) helped me move away from feeling helpless. When you have constant thoughts popping up, ask yourself....are they things that you can control or are they beyond your control? Redirect your energy to something that is within YOUR control.

Our story had a happy ending. We were lucky that she passed dairy!! I was grateful that my worries did not come true P/S: FPIES is a non-IgE food allergy, do not attempt food challenges at home for IgE -mediated food allergies.

What is your biggest struggle with FPIES?? I would love to hear them. Share your struggles in the comments below!