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I have always been a "sensitive" person. Yes, I am good-natured and empathetic, but that's not the type of sensitive I'm talking about. I mean sensitive as in having allergies. I've always had hay fever, spending every summer with a runny nose and itchy eyes, finding any way possible to stay in air conditioning and away from nature's wrath. I also have sensitive skin, with any irritants causing red patches or little bumps all over. Thankfully, my hay fever isn't nearly as bad anymore, although my sensitive skin is worse now that I'm older.

So based on my genetics, I fully expected my children to have allergies as well. Cordy's skin is sensitive like mine. We must use laundry detergent free of dyes and perfumes, she must have lotions and sunscreens made for sensitive skin, and I am always on the watch for the next thing to irritate her skin. Even grass causes a flare-up. The backs of her arms and the outside of her thighs are covered in tiny pink bumps all the time, and those bumps turn an angry red when an allergen presents itself. 

She has yet to show any signs of hay fever, but a new-to-me type of allergy has presented itself: she's allergic to certain foods. Thankfully, these aren't the anaphylactic shock types of allergies - instead, after she eats something she's allergic to, the food burns the skin on her bottom on the way out. Even catching her as soon as her diaper is poopy isn't good enough, as the reaction takes only seconds.

We figured out the first allergy around her second birthday. After indulging in pumpkin pie at a family dinner, the next day she had a horrible poopy diaper, and a brutal red bottom. Diaper cream helped a little, but a second poopy diaper made it even worse, causing blisters and bleeding. She didn't appear to be sick, didn't have any other symptoms, and we were at a loss as to what was wrong with her. A few weeks later, the same thing happened after eating some cinnamon graham crackers. At that point, I suspected it might be something she ate, and we tried to figure out the connection. I did a few food trials (and felt like a horrible person for trying to inflict an allergic reaction on her in order to find the allergen) and I was able to narrow it down to cinnamon.

Once we discovered her allergy to cinnamon, things were better, although it's very hard to keep cinnamon out of her diet: it's found in everything from cookies to barbeque sauce, and not always listed by name in the ingredients. For a few months now, I've also suspected she's sensitive to carrots and red peppers, based on mild reactions after eating them, but I wasn't sure, since it's hard to isolate the offending food.

Two weeks ago she had another bad reaction. Nothing in her diet at home was different from any other week (we're on a pretty limited diet here), so I called the preschool to ask what she ate each day that week. They had graham crackers, but they said they weren't cinnamon. The other menu items were pretty standard foods for her, too, although I noticed they had carrots as a snack one day. Maybe that's what did it?

But then last week we had stir-fry for dinner one evening, and she had another burned bottom the next day. It wasn't as bad as other reactions, though. I had picked out all of the red peppers in Cordy's food - all but one. That one tiny sliver of red pepper seems to have caused the damage. I noticed she had pasta salad one day at preschool, and asked them if the pasta salad had red peppers in it. Sure enough, it did.

To play it safe now, Cordy can no longer have carrots, red peppers, or anything containing cinnamon at preschool. Also, she can't have their graham crackers anymore, either - they are probably OK, but they are made in a plant that also makes cinnamon graham crackers.

I never thought I'd be one of those moms who has a huge list of what her kid can and can't eat. It feels a little silly to list her allergies, too - after all, aren't food allergies supposed to be things like nuts or milk or shellfish? Carrots, red peppers, and cinnamon are a little odd. But seeing how much pain she's in after eating any of those foods is enough for me to push to make sure her diet is safe from allergens. When she's older, we'll probably have a full allergy test done, but for now, I'll keep my list of allergies we've noticed and avoid those foods at all costs.