I see many posts all over the internet about allergies, how to cope with them, and the classic, ‘you know you’re an allergy mum when….’

It is true, there’s some sort of kinship! And relief, that you’re not the only one in the whole universe that’s experienced hell in a league beyond anything you’ve ever witnessed before, when talking with a fellow allergy survivor – and yes I do mean survivor!

The months of sleepless nights, the 24hr fear and worry over what the hell is actually wrong with your child.

The endless conversations around poo, and no I don’t mean the usual ones that take place when you become a parent. I mean the ones where you’re discussing green, orange, red, frothy, up to 20 times a day ones! The ones where you feel as if you’re single handedly keeping pampers/ huggies/supermarket own brand ones in business!!

The 10 times a day impromptu outfit changes and bath times to hose everything off! And the futile attempt that comes with it of holding your breath, and trying to soothe your inconsolable little one, whilst trying desperately not to gag, or worse, puke due to the seriously bad assault on your nostrils that hits the back of your throat and pulls your stomach contents up quicker than a shot of Jägermeister used to as a student!

The constant writing down of food and drink consumed, in the vain hope of finding some sort of connection to the snivelling, snotty, ill, unhappy, eczema encrusted, puke filled, poo machine, sorry mess of a child in front of you.

The despair of never truly knowing the answer of what is going on.

The teeny tiny bit of hope that one day your child may just grow out of whatever freaky thing is going on, or that there’ll be a miracle cure found, or that it will become acceptable to wrap your child up in cotton wool/ bubble wrap, because let’s face it, nothing else seems to be working!

The sheer bloody awe that you yourself haven’t become some quivering wreck in the corner. I came scary close at one point, when on 2hrs broken sleep a night. And my good god, sleep deprivation doesn’t half make things worse! It’s like the world, his wife and his dog is totally against you, right?! Stupid little things, like a tissue not being pulled out the box right can induce you to a fit of rage that the Incredible Hulk would have been proud of!

Yep, we’ve all been there! (stop laughing!)

That my friends, is a true depiction of ‘you know you’re an allergy mum when….!!’

We’ve had a ‘good run of it’ recently. Callum has seemed fairly stable, a few days where you question if something would happen, but on the whole, he’s been doing really well. That usually means something will happen sooner rather than later.

And boy did it!

We got some magic straws for Chloe and Callum to enjoy on Chloe’s birthday (Christmas Eve!), so as a special treat, as it was Christmas, we let them have them for breakfast! Chloe had the strawberry one, and Callum the chocolate one. The labelling suggested that all was safe, although the ‘chocolate flavouring’ left some unanswered questions….

A voice in the back of my head questioned whether it was wise, but we kept it to a small amount, and crossed our fingers and hoped for the best! *Note to self, don’t ever ignore that little voice!*

You can guess what happened…..

Yep, it backfired spectacularly on us!!

As soon as breakfast was finished, and everyone was washed and dressed and ready for the day, Chloe wanted to open her birthday presents.

So picture the scene, Chloe getting all excited over her big pile of presents, and starting to open them. Me, sat with pen and paper trying to write down who gave what, to make the thank you cards easier to do.

Mid-way through comes this mournful ‘mummy mine feel sick….’ Followed with a splat, splat ‘uh-oh’ splat, splat…….

Running, I find Callum surrounded by sick, and it was still coming thick and fast….

Those bloody straws!!!!

Not quite the chilled out, happy Christmas Eve we were planning!! Instead, Chloe was opening presents, whilst I mopped the floor, and Callum curled up in a ball on the sofa in the playroom, feeling very sorry for himself!

In the end, it took until the afternoon for poor Callum to start to feel more human again!

Always, always trust your instincts peeps, it usually isn’t wrong!