A rant to Katie Hopkins about allergies!

So, I know Katie Hopkins, the fame hungry foul ignorant snob, says inflammatory things purely to get exposure (she must be a true believer than there is no such thing as bad publicity), but her latest tweets really made my blood boil! 

As a mum of a child with allergies and intolerances, her comments just highlight the ignorance of a lot of people's understanding regarding allergies. The number of times I've heard comments that restrictive diets due to "supposed" allergies is just in fact picky mums or fussy eaters, it makes me so mad! Well meaning family members who hand munchkin a snack laden with ingredients she's intolerant to have no idea the suffering they could be causing later on. Ok so she's not going to go into anaphylactic shock, but she might very well scratch her skin until it bleeds. Hardly worth the risk is it? 

There are varying degrees of allergies, from throat closing, life threatening severe reactions, to reactions like the photo above where food intolerances cause flare ups of eczema, hives and skin or bowl irritation. The lower end of the scale may not be as terrible as the possibility of needing to call an ambulance for your child, but id say watching your child suffer while their skin bleeds and weeps pus is awful enough.

There's a real need for public education regarding allergies and intolerances. Too many of us mums are branded over protective and too soft, giving in to our children's "whims". Sure, I could let child to eat food everyone else is eating, but if it's going to result in situations like the photo below, how am I being a responsible parent thinking of my child's well being?

So Kate Hopkins, and all of you other people out in the big wide world who roll their eyes at yet another mum who states their child has dietary restrictions, think about why we're saying it. Memorise these photos of my child's face. We're not making moral choices based on our own beliefs. We're not saying little Tommy or Suzy doesn't eat something because it goes against our beliefs. It's to prevent our children needlessly suffering.