Helping Special Needs Kids Minimize the Risk of Contracting the Seasonal Flu & Swine Flu

Even though the swine flu is two words, these days it is as if it were a dirty four-letter word. If you have it or have had it, you know that people treat you as if you have the plague. Now, for you and I or people who are otherwise healthy, we are probably fine to catch it. But not so for many special needs kids especially those who are medically fragile or who have not-so-great immune systems. Knock on wood, I have had patients and relatives come down with it and even cough on my face as they were ill, and I still haven't caught it. Sure am glad I take my multi-vitamin and probiotics daily! Now, as sure as I type this I will start coughing and get body aches with a high fever, but I do think there are ways to minimize the chance that you catch it. Notice I said minimize, not a guarantee of not getting either kind of flu. I am not going to tell you anything awe inspiring that anyone else hasn't said: wash your hands many times throughout the day and after contact with a suspected or confirmed infected person, cover your mouth when you sneeze or cough, take your vitamins, eat healthy foods rich in vitamin C and anti-oxidants, etc, etc, etc.

But how can we minimize the risk of a kid with special needs getting either the swine flu or seasonal flu? Well, if you are a parent of a special needs child who is homebound, change clothes after coming home from work or the community, wash hands thoroughly with soap and water for at least 15 seconds, keep the house clean, and STAY away from hugging, kissing, or touching saliva if you have a fever, headache, body aches or any other symptoms. Doesn't this sound like common sense. You would think! But so many of us are so focused on caring for the children that we ignore a fever or body aches.

For children who aren't homebound, teach them to not lick/mouth on non-food items such as toys, because if they touch a toy after a sick child at preschool, church, or elsewhere has touched it, then "WHAMMO", the virus has a chance to attack the mouth! Teach the child to wash hands regularly or for the caregiver to remind and help the child wash hands. If you can avoid places with a bunch of children such as fast-food playgrounds, that might be smart to avoid during flu season. If you must go to those places, go at a slower time such as during the week as opposed to the weekend.

Getting the flu shot may be beneficial for some kids, but not an option for others. This may be due to allergic reactions to eggs or other vaccine ingredients. My children are allergic to eggs, so I can't really do much about that except to make sure they get lots of rest, water, fruits, and vegetables as well as supplements. This may help the immune system fight a potential invading virus. But if doing those things doesn't help your child, take him or her to the doctor at the first sign of the flu so Tamiflu (R) or other medications can be given if the doctor deems it necessary.

Egg Allergy in Young Kids

I could write a book on food allergies, but I won't. I will just stick to small articles and blogs. Both of my kids, several relatives, and many clients suffer from food allergies. This is a topic I wasn't too familiar with 6 years ago, but "wow" has 6 years changed what I know. I have given the long details in a previous blog how both of my children began having food allergies as small infants. I breastfed and refrained from eating what they were allergic to. There was limited choices of formula, only elemental (Elecare (R) and Neocate (R)); they were expensive, and I knew that breastfeeding was the best choice. So, if I had to eliminate these foods from my diet, you can imagine how much investigating I had to do initially. Now, I have so many recipes and know what can and can't be cooked.



Living with egg allergies means no flu shots or yellow fever vaccine (if severe allergy, no MMR shot), certain desserts are eliminated, and no country breaskfasts being served. My daughter's egg allergy used to be so bad that we couldn't even cook them in our home because her eyes would swell up just from the aroma. Now, she is still allergic but not as bad. Living with egg allergies also means that my kids aren't going to eat cake at another child's birthday party. I plan ahead and make a "special" cake. I use cake mixes that are egg, dairy, & nut free and sometimes also use the ones that are gluten free. Actually, the vanilla flavor ones are not too bad, whereas the chocolate ones require acquiring a taste for it; I spit out the chocolate cake the first time I bit into it 5 years ago at her 1st birthday party. Now, I can swallow it but am not gung-ho about it. So, I just usually buy the vanilla flavor that tastes similar to muffin mix. If your child only suffers from egg allergies and not others, you can most likely buy a regular cake mix and just use a substitute. Eggs are the binder, liquid, and leavening agent of the recipe, so the substitute needs to have those qualities. One suitable substitute is flax seed oil. Another is using 1 tbs of vinegar with 1 1/2 tsp of baking soda (or 2 tsp baking powder, but make sure it is egg-free) in place of one egg. Some of the nutrients found in eggs can also be found in meat, fish, poultry, legumes, grains, vegetables, and hemp products. I give both of my children various vitamins, probiotics, and cod liver oil everyday so they can get the nutrients they are missing out on because of food allergies. They also drink a hemp beverage which also contains calcium.



Living with egg allergies is manageable once you know what you can and can't eat. I teach both of my children to never take food from someone else and ask "Did my mommy say I can have that?". I drilled the staff at my daughter's preschool about only letting her eat from her lunch. It meant at holiday parties she didn't eat what everyone else ate, but "oh well", I just brought her "special" snacks. My son is too young to understand, but I am working on teaching him too. Any babysitter or relative that takes care of my kids knows not to vere from what I asked them to feed my children. Sometimes the person didn't listen which meant a dose of benadryl or a shot of epinephrine. But we have survived. Once you get a grip on what the child can have, you realize there are actually a lot of good foods and recipes out there. But it also means less trips to fast-food joints or restaurants; you never know if foods with eggs were cooked on the grill or oil vat, which means cross-contamination. One good source on food allergies is http://www.foodallergy.org/

My daughter is supposed to go to the allergist this week and get retested. She gets re-tested once a year, and has already grown out of nut and soy allergies. Cross your fingers for us that she grows out of the remainder of the food allergies including eggs!