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Chrisma Obiniana’s daughter, Kalea, was only 3 months old when the mom started to notice that something seemed off
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Her daughter, whom she exclusively breastfed, was covered head to toe in severe eczema, cried nonstop and just seemed extremely uncomfortable
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Ultimately, the family’s pediatrician suggested they take Kalea to an allergist to check for Cow’s Milk Protein Allergy (CMPA) or other food allergies
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At the allergist’s office, multiple skin prick allergy tests and blood tests revealed that Kalea was allergic to peanuts, cashews and pistachios. She used to be allergic to dairy, soy and eggs, too, but has since outgrown those allergies
Chrisma Obiniana’s daughter, Kalea, was only 3 months old when the mom started to notice that something seemed off. Her daughter, whom she exclusively breastfed, was covered head to toe in severe eczema, cried nonstop and just seemed extremely uncomfortable.
Chrisma, a nurse in Washington state, tried everything to help her daughter with the eczema. Ultimately, the family’s pediatrician suggested they take Kalea to an allergist to check for Cow’s Milk Protein Allergy (CMPA) or other food allergies. At the allergist’s office, multiple skin prick allergy tests and blood tests revealed that Kalea was allergic to peanuts, cashews and pistachios. (She used to be allergic to dairy, soy and eggs, too.)
“I found out that the foods I was eating were causing all of her issues. I ended up cutting out all allergens from my diet for a year so I couldn’t continue exclusively breastfeeding, but she was a whole different baby after a few weeks,” Chrisma, 25, tells PEOPLE exclusively.
“She has always been such a foodie and wants to eat everything and anything,” the mom adds. “The first holiday season where she was able to eat was horrifying. Being surrounded by homemade food that I couldn’t read the ingredients in, and the possibility that someone might feed her without checking with me, was difficult to manage.”
Chrisma Obiniana
Chrisma Obiniana with her daughter Kalea
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Once Kalea was diagnosed with her allergies, Chrisma began teaching her eldest daughter, who was 3 at the time, how to use an epinephrine auto-injector (EpiPen). After her eldest fully grasped how to use the EpiPen and understood the signs and symptoms, Chrisma started educating Kalea, who was around 1 year old, on how to use the EpiPen as well.
Chrisma says she would sit her children down for monthly lessons, which initially focused on teaching Kalea about her “NO foods” and the importance of asking before eating anything. As time went on, Chrisma gradually introduced other aspects of food allergies as Kalea began to understand more and more.
“At the beginning of the month, I’ll sit my kids down and ask them about food allergies,” the mom explains. “I’ll ask what Kalea’s allergies are, what her safe foods are, who she can talk to if she’s unsure if something is safe, and what the symptoms are. My oldest learns how to look for the allergy statement and ingredients on food.”
“After I ask them all about food allergies, I’ll go over anything they might not remember and review it all,” she continues. “I’ll pull out food examples, like an empty peanut butter jar, a granola bar, or anything else we might have around the house, and ask them to show me how to check if it’s safe. After that, we review where the EpiPen is at home and in the diaper bag, and then we go over how to use the EpiPen. Watching her big sister use the EpiPen and engage in our monthly lessons really helps Kalea get excited about learning these things.”
Chrisma Obiniana
Chrisma Obiniana’s daughter Kalea
For Chrisma, the most challenging part of this journey has been trying to get Kalea, now 2, to understand when to use the EpiPen. While Kalea knows she needs to use it for food allergies, Chrisma explains that sometimes her daughter will fall down and get an “owwy” and ask for the EpiPen.
“Right now, she thinks the EpiPen is just to help her feel better after anything, not just for food allergies,” the mom says.
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Speaking to PEOPLE, Chrisma shares that she’s been posting about her daughter’s food allergies since early on in their journey. Looking back, she says she learned a lot about food allergies from TikTok and wanted to post in hopes that someone else might find comfort in it, just as she did in others’ stories.
This month, Chrisma thought it would be helpful to share a post about their family’s EpiPen and allergy lesson, as it was the first time Kalea was able to use the EpiPen without instructions. The video went viral, amassing more than 350,000 views and hundreds of comments.
“When it started going viral, I was nervous,” the mom says. “We had another allergy video go viral where it was my oldest daughter learning to use the EpiPen, and the comments were pretty negative about how she was too young to learn about EpiPens.”
Chrisma Obiniana
Chrisma Obiniana with her kids
“Thankfully, this time around, the comments were so inspiring!” she continues. “There were a lot of people who grew up having talks with their moms about food allergies when they were kids or other mamas who were inspired to teach their kids about food allergies. One of the comments that really inspired me was from a girl who said her mom would do this with her, and she’ll never forget those conversations.”
She adds, “I hope that one day, Kalea grows up feeling confident in knowing about her body and knowing that having food allergies isn’t as terrifying as people often make it out to be as long as she’s educated about them.”
Looking back now, Chrisma’s advice to parents whose kids also have allergies is to include the whole family. While the first few months after her daughter’s diagnosis were so confusing, she says once she decided to include her oldest and Kalea in their allergy appointments and let them learn alongside her, it felt less lonely and terrifying.
“Now, it doesn’t feel like such an impossible thing to navigate,” the mom says. “I feel confident in her when we go to birthday parties or restaurants, and little daily tasks like going to the park around kids eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches seem less daunting as she is so good at checking if something is safe for her to eat or be around. All the tasks that felt terrifying the first year after her diagnosis now feel like such a relief, knowing my daughter has all the tools she may need to stay safe.”
“If you’re a parent feeling overwhelmed by a new food allergy diagnosis for your child, you are not alone! You’ll be able to go to birthday parties or restaurants one day without dreading it. You’ll be able to send your child off to school without worrying every second. Advocating for your kids does not make you a burden! It may seem like a whole world away, but it will come!”
Read the original article on People
