It’s not just the allergy - it’s the cost of survival.

Most people think food allergies are simple: just avoid the food, and you’re fine. If only that were true. When your child has severe, life-threatening food allergies, avoiding allergens isn’t just a preference - it’s a constant, high-stakes battle. Every grocery trip, every restaurant visit, every birthday party is a potential minefield.

But what most people don’t realize is that managing food allergies doesn’t just cost families emotionally and physically - it costs them financially. And I mean big time.

The first time your child has a life-threatening allergic reaction, everything changes.

There’s the panic, the rush to the ER, the helplessness of watching a doctor inject epinephrine into their tiny body. Then comes the realization: This is our life now. Every meal, every snack, every party, every holiday - food is no longer safe.

I know because I’ve lived it.

Before I became a food allergy mom, I had no idea how complicated, exhausting, and downright terrifying it could be. I didn’t realize that something as simple as a crumb left on a lunch table or a trace of peanut butter on a shopping cart could send a child into anaphylactic shock.

Now, 15 years into raising two kids with life-threatening food allergies, I wish more people understood what it’s really like.

So, let me pull back the curtain a bit. Here are 10 things every food allergy parent wishes you knew.