Back in January, my daughter had her first visit to a pediatric allergist. After waiting for three years, we finally had the opportunity to meet with someone whose expertise is allergies!

We had been avoiding wheat and had never given her eggs or peanuts (due to the results of previous allergy tests). In addition, we had not given her anything containing milk since she was one because of her anaphylaxis dairy allergy.

The allergist encouraged us to start giving her little servings wheat. He also set up dates for us to challenge her egg allergy and her peanut allergy.

Both of the food challenges took place in his office and each were done on different days.

The results? She’s not allergic to eggs and she’s not allergic to peanuts!

Hallelujah!

After having success with both of these food challenges, we arranged a baked dairy challenge for Thursday, May 23rd.

The eve of the food challenge was highly emotional. I cried as I baked muffins with double the amount of milk in them. It seemed horrifying to be baking something that could be deadly to my little girl.

I didn’t sleep well Wednesday night and Thursday we had to be up early to go to our 8:00 allergist appointment.

Food allergy challenges are done on an empty stomach, so naturally, my daughter scarfed down the first quarter of the muffin. We waited twenty minutes. No reaction.

The doctor supervised her eating the next quarter of the muffin. We waited. All was well until she started to get stuffy. Then her nose started running. She coughed a little and complained of her nose feeling plugged.

My poor little girl. Runny eyes, sneezing, and a stuffy nose.

The doctor told us that we would have to wait a while before we decided what we would do next. I sat in the waiting room, my daughter sitting between my husband and I. Tears formed in my eyes as I watched my little girl. Her eyes were running and she sneezed frequently.

I had to leave the waiting room before I fell to pieces. I went to the bathroom, closed the bathroom door, and cried.

I cried for her, for me, for my family, and for all the hopes that had been lost. How I longed for her to live an allergy-free life! To be able to eat anything… anywhere. To be able to go somewhere without an Epi-pen harnessed to her waist.

As I sobbed I remembered that my God is good and my tears turned to prayers. I told God that we had come too far to be denied this blessing. I told Him that my daughter deserves healing… she is one of His children.

I dried my tears and returned to the waiting room.

A little while later, the doctor approached us and asked how we would like to proceed. We could stop the allergy challenge or we could try another quarter of the muffin. We agreed to her continuing with the testing. She ate another quarter of the muffin and we watched her closely. She was still stuffy but the symptoms didn’t worsen. About twenty minutes later she ate the last quarter of the muffin.

We watched her for an hour… and the symptoms subsided.

So what now? Well, we need to regularly feed my daughter food with milk baked in it. The hope is that she will build an immunity to it. In six months time, we will have a baked cheese challenge.

I am hopeful.

We are blessed.

God is good.

Jennifer Bly

Author of My Kitchen, My Classroom: An Introduction to Homeschool and creator of The Deliberate Mom. Jennifer writes about parenting, homeschooling, her faith, and life with her husband and two girls. Jennifer has a Bachelor of Applied Human Service Administration Degree with a specialization in Early Learning in Child Care.