Food Allergic & Having a Baby: A 6-Part Series by Amanda Orlando

Writer Amanda Orlando is among the many millennials who have severe food allergies. Like her, they are now having (or contemplating) kids. But allergic moms-to-be have plenty of concerns.

There’s anxiety about passing down your allergies to your child, having a reaction while pregnant, and key details like allergy-safe food at the hospital. It’s not the usual journey to motherhood.

Exclusively for Allergic Living, Amanda created our series “Food Allergic and Having a Baby.” She recounts her own experience as a mom-to-be with multiple food allergies (including dairy, nuts and soy) through great storytelling. Then she weaves in the views of leading allergy experts on breastfeeding, nutrition, myths that need debunking and more.

In this post, for easy access, we’ve collected all six parts of this eye-opening series. Settle in for great reading, as Amanda walks us through her motherhood journey from pregnancy through her son’s toddler stage. All told from the perspective as the mom with multiple severe food allergies.

1. Women with Food Allergies: Why Many are Afraid to Get Pregnant
In Amanda’s first article, she candidly discusses why she, like many young women with food allergies, had pregnancy worries about genetics, reactions in pregnancy and more.

2. Allergic and Giving Birth: My Hospital Food Plan Goes Awry
Amanda explores giving birth with food allergies. She’d done her homework: briefed her care team on her anaphylaxis history, prepped safe meals, had a doula lined up. What could go wrong? Plenty. From early labor, to 50 hours of it, to a scare with her newborn, to finally settling in with her son.

3. Allergic Women: Here’s Why to Embrace the Messy Bits of Birthing
Amanda discusses the powerful experience of birthing her baby. From shunning the “messy bits” shame to appreciating the miracle of giving new life. With input from Dr. Carina Venter, PhD, RD, she dives into the gut microbiome’s link to immune development, staving off allergic conditions and boosting baby’s gut microbiome. Empowering for those with food allergies contemplating motherhood.

4. Food Allergies, Pregnancy and the Newborn: Busting 4 Key Myths
Amanda busts pervasive myths that make the journey to motherhood with food allergies harder than it needs to be. With expert input from allergist Dr. Scott Sicherer & dietitians Dr. Carina Venter & Marion Groetch, read to find clarity and reassurance. From using epinephrine while pregnant, to the risk of being allergic to your own breast milk, and more.

5. Allergic Mom: How I Introduced My Baby to My Food Allergens
Amanda has multiple food allergies – including dairy and nuts and a 6-month-old ready to start eating solid foods. But she was unsure how to introduce her allergens. She shares the experience and her strategies, including dietitian Carina Venter’s genius tip for making a paste of tree nuts.

6. Invasion of the Cheesy Crackers: an Allergic Mom on Playdates
Amanda navigates playdates as a food-allergic mom with a young son. At teddy bear picnics full of shared snacks, she learns to balance his inclusion with her safety. It took time to get right. Her journey is honest, relatable, and inspiring. From the random Goldfish cracker encounters of the dairy-allergic, to small acts of kindness from other moms.

Amanda Orlando is a cookbook author, food allergy advocate at EverydayAllergenFree, and founder of the non-profit organization Free To Be Me Society.