SPOTLIGHT OF THE MONTH – @the_freefrom_mummies
I am so excited to announce that this months spotlight is the amazing Katie aka @the_freefrom_mummies. As we are nearing Mother’s Day I thought I should ask Katie some questions about being a Mother.
- What are you/ your family allergic/ intolerant to?
I have three children with multiple food and environmental allergies. We currently avoid dairy, egg, sesame, chickpeas, kidney beans, peas, shellfish, avocado, coconut and banana, apple, peanuts and all tree nuts. Environmentally, dust mites are our biggest challenge but we also struggle with animal dander and pollens too.
We have a few food challenges and skin prick testing booked in soon and we are looking forward to learning more about our family’s allergies and how we can best manage them.
2. What is your favourite part of being a Mother?
Coming from a large family, I always knew that I wanted to be a mother and my dreams came true when I had my babies.
My favourite part is just simply watching them learn and grow and with that my love and heart growing too. They also crack me up constantly, I could happily just sit and watch them and they have me in stitches every day.
3. Why did you set up your blog / Instagram page and what do you hope to achieve from it?
In all honesty, when I experienced my son having anaphylaxis and the severity of his day to day reactions, I felt like the only person in the world to have experienced these things. I was desperate to reach out to other parents who had experienced similar things to us. I had many friends with babies around the same time as me, but they often couldn’t relate to some of the things that we were going through. I initially started my blog to document what we were going through and to use it as a measure of how far we had already come. Soon followed the Instagram page and I found this fantastic community of other families just like ours. I enjoy sharing what we go through as a family and speaking with others. I hope that the things that I share help them to know that they aren’t alone and we are stronger together like one happy free from family!
4. As a Mother, what are the three best pieces of advice you would tell your children?
Firstly, be kind. Allergies has changed my life and perspectives in many ways. It has taught me that everyone has their own battles and how crucial it is to show kindness to others, as you never know what battles they have already overcome that day. I hope that my children learn the power of being kind and show it every day.
Next, trust your heart. Having children with allergies has taught me to have confidence in myself. When I truly believed that something wasn’t quite right, I had to fight for what I wanted for my children. I truly believe that we have a natural intuition that will guide us and lead us to making the right decision and I hope that my children take everything that we have taught them and use it to make good decisions.
Lastly, be brave. Things won’t always be easy but if you are brave and resilient, you can overcome anything.
5. What is your favourite piece of advice for people that have allergies?
Trust your gut. If something doesn’t feel right, then it probably isn’t. In those early days, even as a first time mum with no knowledge of allergy or asthma, I knew that something wasn’t right. It wasn’t an easy road and often pushed me out of my comfort zone, but speaking out has helped me to grow as a person and learn that nobody else is going to advocate for my children other than me (and their dad!). For me, this works both ways too. If it feels okay, then it probably is. Try not to jump to the worst case scenario, far easier said than done, I know.
6. We are all people behind our allergies, what would you say is the one most interesting non allergy related fact about you/your family?
Thinking of the answer to this question has made me wonder if we are interesting at all! We are a very close family and we love spending time together very much. Nothing makes us happier than snuggling down with some good food, a great family film and lots of cuddles. We enjoy spending time together by the sea. Just being together is when we are at our best.
I just want to say a massive thank you to Katie for being my March Spotlight and for answering these questions so beautifully.
