Hannahs allergy update...

we have a little girl with allergies at playcentre - although not severe I think - her mum gave us a big pamphlet all about what we can and can't do and it really helped. Maybe you could get somethings for your close friends that you visit regularly.

There is some great advice on the child disability allowance on the cryingoverspiltmilk.co.nz website. It is for the reflux babies but it will certainly apply to your case as well.
I hope the RAST comes back with answers for you!

Yep - as far as I can tell from EBB talk it is non-income tested $35 per week.

Oh Aimee that sucks for poor little Hannah and you. Yep the child disability allowance isnt income tested. And your doc will just fill out the forms for you. Emma might be able to tell you more about it as Maya was on it for her allergys.

Sorry to hear Hannah is having ongoing probs Aimee - it sucks and it's scary! The cheese thing sounds like what happened with Mercedes after I had some peanut chocolate

Hang in there coz it does get easier - with Maya once she got to about 2 she could 'understand' that some foods made her sick and so knew not to eat anything unless it was specifically given to her. She could recite "no milk, no egg, no peanut, no soy" long before she knew what it meant So I felt a bit better about letting her play with friends etc.

The allergy specialist gave us a chart with a list of Maya's allergies and a step by step action plan for if she had an exposure and it also had a photo of her on it to go up on the wall at daycare/playcentre so that everyone was aware of what to do if she had a reaction. We had two small reactions at PLaycentre (under my supervision but not a single one at daycare as they were so vigilant.

The CDA is around $72 a fortnight and not income tested so anyone can get it if they have a child with a disability that is expected to last 6 (12?) months or more. I get it for Mercedes to help with the cost of the allergy formula and for Sienna's kidney probs and when Maya was smaller we got it for her allergy formula. You don't need to show proof of costs - it's more to recognise the extra care and attention that kids with health isses demand (ie. when Maya was smaller I was very limited in who I could leave her with due to allergy issues).

You may also qualify for a Disability Allowance which is income tested and is a partial reimbursement of costs incurred. It probably won't cover the epipen as that is a "one off" but they will definitely include specialist and prescription costs if you qualify (including Neocate or Pepti Jr).

Hope this helps...

Well Han got tested this morning - looks like definitely eggs and a mild nut allergy. Need to go back to the doc (2 weeks to get an appointment!) to get the form to have the bloods done and see how bad they are and as a baseline to check every year if she is outgrowing it.

Thanks for your kind words and esp those of you that have been/ are going through this.

Jennz - do you remember where you get your Epi-pens from in NZ? Havent investigated yet, am just being lazy!

Didn't test it as we already knew about it.