So here I am 4 months after my 3rd child browsing through Facebook aimlessly, came across an Ad that changed my whole life. I know it’s a bit dramatic, but trust me, when I came across this enlightening information it blew my mind away.
The Ad was on Ready, Set, Food! It was their video presentation at Shark Tank (Their claim to fame!). At first the video was not clear enough for me to know what it was, because I was that person living under a rock not realizing a product like this could even exist in the world. Something made me want to know more about that video, so I clicked the link which took me to their website. A quick 30 second browse made me realize that this product was for babies to potentially avoid allergies, which sparked my interest as I already had one kid with several allergies.
I started doing more research on products similar to this and to my pleasant surprise there were more choices. If you are looking for a quick comparative analysis of the available products in the market Click here! This post is about why I choose Ready, Set, Food! for my family over the other available, and just as promising, products.
After doing a through comparison I right away knew Hello, Peanut! was not the product for us, because my 2nd child was allergic to milk & eggs, I needed to make sure my 3rd one was not going to be allergic to those as well. I appreciated the fact that Ready, Set, Food! was a lot more transparent about the dosage of allergens in their product (following guidelines of LEAP, EAT, & PETIT study dosing). When browsing through Spoonfulone, I couldn’t find answers on how much milligrams of each allergens were present in their product and was it enough to reduce the body’s immunological tolerance.
I remember my pediatrician telling me to give one food at a time and watch the kid for at least 2-4 hours to make sure you don’t see any allergic response. So, to see a product that followed that guidelines of introducing one food every 4 days totally made sense in my head. If I gave my child Spoonfulone and if he/she ends up being allergic to just salmon and nothing else how would I know? I didn’t know this until my kid’s allergist educated me about it, a skin test is not always ideal for kids with eczema because their sensitive skin will show a positive result to almost all of the allergens. To know a true allergy in a child is through direct consumption, which is a terrifying thought, and one which we are not willing to find out.
Both the companies stated the fact that age 4-6 months was the critical period in the baby’s life where a potential allergen should be introduced. This put me in a panic mode because, my 4-month-old was taking his good-old time in reaching his milestones and was nowhere ready to start solids. With a sense of urgency, I tried feeding him applesauce and he spit it right out. I liked the convenience of mixing Ready, Set, Food! into my breastmilk and giving it to him knowing he would drink it all. Unlike Spoonefulone that claimed their products needed to be used for 3-5 years, Ready,Set,Food! said to use theirs for 6 months or until your child starts regularly eating eggs, milk and peanut. Ready, Set, Food! was also much cheaper in comparison than their competitors. I was comfortable spending $30 for a month for 6 months for a product that I didn’t even know existed few days ago.
Ready,Set,Food! had a video on their website where Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan talked about how she had a child with allergy and wanted to avoid her next child from having allergies which is why she created this product and that video resonated with my family. Both my husband and I got goosebumps realizing that we are not so helpless after all. That there is something we can do to reduce the risk of having our kids be allergic to something. Our only regret was that I wish I had known these products existed 2 years ago when I had my 2nd one. My son now is 15 months old and so far, has no allergies that we know of. Is it because of Ready, Set, Food!? I don’t know! What I do know is that at least my husband and I didn’t feel helpless in this situation and that is more than enough for us. I write this blog in the hopes that someone out there finds this helpful and is able to try it for their own child. Lets end this allergy epidemic one child at a time.
