Customer Reviews

Caring for Your Child with Severe Food Allergies: Emotional Support and Practical Advice from a Parent Who's Been There

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a wealth of information for parents, caregivers, teachers, grand parents and anyone else who has contact with your food allergic children. It is also an excellent resource for those who you are trying educate about food allergies and the importance of strict avoidance of the offending allergen(s). The book is written by the mother of a child with a life threatening peanut and tree nut allergy who has adopted a down to earth approach in dealing with all of the issues that you are faced with when a family member has a life threatening allergy. The author shows you that a realistic approach to keeping your child safe while, at the same time, trying to allow him or her to lead a normal life and be a "kid" can be achieved. She leads you through the stages of life with severe food allergies and the emotions evoked from the usually terrifying initial allergic reaction experience, diagnosis, feelings of guilt, acceptance, practical advice for coping and avoidance, dealing with sometimes doubting family members, caregivers and educators.

As a parent of a little boy with a life threatening peanut allergy, I can truly appreciate the knowledge and first hand experience that the author has in dealing with severe food allergies. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone with food allergy concerns.

My child was just found to be allergic to peanuts. Some family members did not think that it was a serious condition until I sent this book to them to read. It does a great job of stressing the importance of checking ALL lables for hidden peanut products. Before reading this book, my relatives thought we were over reacting in our restrictions to her diet. After reading this book my relatives called and wanted to discuss her allergy and what they could do to help.

If you need some information to support what you are telling people about this allergy, this is the book for you. It is very readable and has a lot of helpful information.

This book combines personal and professional expertise with practical insight. Any parent of a severely allergic child can identify with Ms. Collins' story...the fears she faced in the wake of her son's diagnosis and the challenges of parenting a child with food-induced anaphylaxis. Yet, she takes the reader past the fear, providing us with the help we need to get through daily issues at home, school, while eating out, traveling, etc. In this book I found gentle wisdom. How I wish this resource had been available 6 years ago!

I have told the school, family, and friends about this wonderful book. It helps give credit to what I have been telling people for years now. Raising a child, with severe food allergies, can be a stressful thing! We can learn a better way through education. My favorite part of the book was being able to hear the author's husband tell his side of the story. I am glad to have this book as part of my collection for allergy awareness.

Lisa Collin's book is informative, insightful, and full of the reality of living with life-threatening food allergies. In a society where misconceptions and ignorance about true food allergies is the norm, it is so very helpful to have a book that seeks to enlighten and educate. As a parent of a child with food-induced anaphylaxis, I wish I would have had this book 7 years ago at the time of diagnosis. However, it is still an excellent resource for those of us who are years into living with the knowledge that a trace of peanut protein could lead to a life-threatening allergic reaction in our child.

This book is full of practical advice on all issues dealing with food allergies. Clear and easy headings make this book a great reference tool. Being a parent with a child who has mutiple food allergies I could relate to many of the areas this book covered.

Before you go into complete shock after learning that your life has completely changed, check out a few books like this. People can and do live with severe allergies.

As another reviewer said, this isn't for people who have been living with allergies. It is pretty good for those of us who are new to food allergies AND for grandparents who, all to often, say "just one bite won't hurt."

This book would be a good starting point for caregivers and newly diagnosed allergy parents, but there isn't much here for those of us that have gone through this for years.

I wish the anecdotes had either been more in-depth, or entirely left out. The purpose would have been better served by several case studies following patients for a few years.

i gave this book to my daughter's daycare. it's a quick read and gives a good overview of food allergies, how to manage food avoidance (with a chapter dedicated daycare/preschool environments), how to recognize a reaction, and how to respond to a reaction. it's concise and to the point, not bogged down with a lot of extraneous stats and info.

Ms. Collins tells us all of the painful, but important journey from discovery, research and finally solution to this most insidious of problems. Her literary manner and style generates confidence and comfort with her conclusions. She finally opened our eyes to some real solutions to a situation, which, until I read her consise, yet complete book, had eluded us for many months. She knows so well those things that are so important to us all and deserves our attention, support and praise. Thank you for everything, Ms Collins.