When will it stop?

Bubba had another allergic reaction tonight. I have no idea what he reacted to as I made sure he wasn't exposed to nutmeg at all, but there it was. I was giving him a bath and all over his tiny little body was a rash. I don't know what caused it. I scoured ingredient lists, I tried to think of anything environmental that it could be.

I don't know.

And I feel like the shittiest parent because of it.

You know what's hard about food allergies? You know that until you're able to get your child into an allergist, you should make sure they avoid anything that could be an allergen. He should have fresh, organic fruits, veggies and meats. But that's not always achievable. For instance, I'm super broke and can't afford to buy him fresh, organic fruits and veggies and meat. Instead, we eat the boxed crap in the house, keep his epipen close by, and hope that we don't have to use it.

People whose kids don't have food allergies don't understand what this is like. It's been a month since I discovered bubba's food allergy and at least once a day I hear at least one of the following:

"Aren't you being a bit dramatic?"

"You're being kind of crazy about this."

"You're overreacting."

"You should be glad he doesn't have, like, a REAL allergy."

"I think it's fine if he eats (something, without checking labels)"

"Hasn't he had this before with no reaction?"

"Are you sure he's really allergic?"

And I just want to cry. These are real things that have really been said to me. No, I'm not being crazy or dramatic or overreacting. It is a real allergy. No, he's not okay to eat something unless I've made sure it's okay. Maybe he has had it before, food allergies can take multiple exposures to develop. But he probably hasn't. And yes, I'm sure he's really allergic. His doctor didn't prescribe him an epipen for no reason.

So it's been another great week. My kid had pink eye in both eyes, a double ear infection, he threw up, and then he had another allergic reaction. And it's only Tuesday. Excuse me while I go cry in to a lot of ice cream.