An Aberdeenshire mum is encouraging people not to offer children they don’t know a treat during the festive period as they may have a hidden condition.
Jessica Davidson and her daughter Sophie, 4, both have coeliac disease, a condition where the immune system attacks itself whenever gluten is consumed.
Christmas and New Year is a particularly worrying time for the 31-year-old as food containing gluten could easily fall into her daughter’s hands.
She said: “As Sophie’s mother, I look at her face, I see she feels left out. I have to take her away from the buffets, she doesn’t understand why she can’t eat the normal food.
“I go to parties with Sophie’s friends’ mums, and I can’t sit, have a chat and be settled. I have to constantly watch Sophie.”
Although she fears Sophie may pick up food containing gluten, she also worries she could consume it through contact with other children.
She said: “It’s not just about her eating the food, it’s about her touching other kids after they were eating gluten.
“If, for example, Sophie kisses her friend and they have pastry on their lips, if she digests any tiny bit of gluten, she’ll have a gluten attack.”
During a previous gluten attack before she was diagnosed with coeliac disease, Sophie was taken to hospital after she stopped breathing and went floppy.
‘What if they offer her a sweetie?’
In order to prevent her having a gluten attack, Mrs Davidson had to warn a care home Sophie was performing at shortly before Christmas not to provide any food as a treat.
She said: “I had to e-mail the manager of the dance class and say, ‘Can I make sure no food is provided. If there is, Sophie won’t be able to attend.’
“It was kids only, no parents were allowed, so that got my anxiety through the roof because I thought ‘What if they offer a sweetie at the end to say well done?’
“But they were brilliant, they e-mailed me back and said they will inform the care home the children must not give any food due to allergen reasons.”
‘Think of how they’re going to feel’
Mrs Davidson is now urging people to be mindful of food intolerances this Christmas and not to offer a child you don’t know well any food.
“People do need to be mindful. I could go into somewhere where someone doesn’t know Sophie and they’ll say, ‘Would you like a biscuit?’
“Then I have to say ‘Oh no she can’t, she’s got an allergy, so strangers shouldn’t offer kids food unless they ask their parents,” she explained.
She urged anyone hosting a children’s Christmas party to consider various dietary requirements to prevent alienating some of the children.
“Think of the children with allergies, think of how they’re going to feel being left out, a separate table or wee snack plate can be provided,” she added.
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