Baby Girl knows something is extra special about her cupcake this time.

We’ve been approved to start eating baked eggs!

That may not sound appealing, but when you have a toddler who has an allergy to eggs, and you’re a parent who constantly worries about every piece of food they ingest, then you know this is a milestone.

It’s a personal breakthrough for food allergy sufferers–getting a doctor’s approval to actually start eating small amounts of foods that have triggered an allergic reaction in the past.

For our family, it’s another good sign that Baby Girl may be outgrowing her food allergies. You can read about her initial testing and diagnosis here. Our journey started when she was one and tested positive for 9 different food allergies. That initial list included eggs, dairy, soy, peanut, tree nuts, pineapple, cantaloupe, watermelon, and lemon.

Baby girl, now 3, has fewer pricks during her allergy skin tests.

My daughter’s first allergy test at age 1 included 9 food allergies.

Seriously, cantaloupe?

Since then, I’ve been working hard to create recipes that will allow her to enjoy her favorite foods with low risk. Like this amazing fluffy egg-and-dairy-free waffle recipe! 

A year later we retested and that list of allergens was cut to three–eggs, dairy, and cashew/pistachio.

The kids are helping me make up our first batch of cupcakes.

Many food allergy patients undergo a battery of skin and blood tests to monitor their levels of antibodies to an allergen. And if they are deemed “ready” for a food challenge–where they are allowed to ingest a small amount of their allergy food–it’s usually in the presence of their doctor just in case they need emergency care during the test.

Tears welled up in my eyes when I heard our pediatric allergist say we were ready to start introducing egg. Our allergist felt that my daughter’s numbers from the skin prick test and prior bloodwork were low enough to start slowly adding small amounts of baked egg into her diet. Our official in-hospital food challenge will happen in about 9 months.

So we’ll start with 1/2 cupcake every few days–the allergist recommended making up a batch from a cake mix that uses three eggs. And eating 1/2 a cupcake out of a batch of 12 means she’s ingesting roughly 1/8 of an egg. Over the next few months, we’ll gradually increase how much of it she eats.

We used a Betty Crocker three-egg cake mix to make our first batch.

My nerves are a bit on edge about it all–I’ll constantly be looking for signs of a reaction. But my joy is unmatched when I see her putting her big brother in a headlock, and then racing him to the kitchen to grab her share of cupcake.

So let her eat cake–but just half of it, for now.

Information published on BestestMommyEver.com should not be used to diagnose, treat, prevent or cure any disease or condition. Health and wellness tips, routines, and regimens are not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment and before undertaking a new health care regimen.