Angéline Galinier Warrain has three children, two of whom are poly-allergic: she tells us how she taught her daughters to manage their many food allergies.
- Angéline Galinier Warrain has three children, two of whom are poly-allergic girls. They each have more than a dozen food allergies.
- They suffer from delayed allergies. That is, they can become allergic to foods they eat too much and too often.
- For the mother, the most complicated thing to manage is the daily management of meals, but also the frustration of little girls in the face of food restrictions.
Dairy products, goat, sheep, beef, veal, wheat, pork, corn, soy, coconut milk, pumpkin, almond, zucchini, peas, cauliflower… This is not a shopping list, but of the different food allergies of Angéline Galinier Warrain’s 8 and 4 year old daughters.
The mother of three children faces another difficulty: the little girls can develop reactions at any time to previously unproblematic products, because they suffer from delayed allergies. “They become allergic to foods that they eat too much and too often”explains the journalist and nutrition consultant.
Food allergy: managing frustration isn’t always easy
Angéline recognizes that her daily life is not always easy between shopping and separate meals to compose for each child. But, there is another complicated element to manage: “the drop in morale linked to frustrations and the fact of often eating differently”. Indeed, it is not always easy for a child not to be able to be “like the others”.
“The 4-year-old manages her allergies pretty well – she doesn’t take anything without asking, ‘Am I allowed?’ But it’s more difficult for the 8-year-old. She has her ups and downs. at home, there’s no difference. But when we’re on vacation, it’s more complicated: she can’t stand having a separate or transformed dish less and less, because she can’t take anything from the menu. Constantly controlling herself is a heavy burden for her,” says Angeline.
“Like the glasses, we wonder how they will accept them and it goes away on its own”
Children understand very quickly that they have to be careful when it comes to meals and snacks. “They have no trouble integrating substitute foods, because they feel it does them good”assures the journalist, who became a nutrition consultant specializing in food allergies last year. “I compare it to making them wear glasses. You wonder how they will accept them and it goes away on its own.”
However, if her daughters quickly integrated their allergic disorders, Angeline made sure to instil caution in them. “From an early age, I taught them simple sentences: ‘am I allowed to?’, ‘no, I can’t!’, ‘I have to ask my parents’. becomes more complex with age. She also has advice for parents whose child has just developed allergic disorders: “You shouldn’t be afraid to say no if he insists. For my part, I explain to them that I am the guardian of the belly and that they must always ask a referring adult, otherwise they will be sick.”
Allergies in the USA: they are taken very seriously
If composing menus taking into account the prohibited foods of each is not always easy, allergies do not slow down family projects. Angéline and her family moved to New York just over a year ago.
New country, new accommodation, new language, new culture… one of the challenges of this adventure was to start from scratch. And, it was the same for the races! “In France, I know the products by heart, even if I always take a look. There, we had to reread and find the right products. It was a bit tedious”recalls Angeline.
She also faced a disappointment: “There are only nine reportable allergens in the US. Also, my daughters are allergic to foods that are staples or substitutes in America like coconut milk and soy that my daughters are allergic to. For example, most milk-free ice creams are not sorbets like in France. They are made with coconut milk. You have to know that”.
However, this expatriation in the country of Uncle Sam has many advantages. Americans are particularly sensitive to allergies. “During a tea party, parents will bend over backwards to find the right cake. I never needed to bring anything. There is always a mother who integrates it”rejoices the mother of the family.
And for the canteen, which is an important issue for many French students? “All the children have lunch boxes – so apart from the tedious work for me to prepare their meals every day – the girls are ‘like everyone else’ and no longer isolated.”
Angéline Galinier Warrain, journalist and founder of the site mafamilylife.fr, had already shared with Why Doctor the journey followed until the diagnosis of delayed allergy of his daughters. Check out the video.
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