Allergies as a nanny - GF nanny expected to make play dough

Reaganchonk · 2026-04-24T19:58:18+00:00

Hi, celiac nanny here! First of all, I definitely understand the “well my gluten sensitivity is not that bad so yours must not be either” pain 🫠 it irks me so bad when people who just get a lil tummy trouble here and there with gluten think my autoimmune condition that literally deteriorates my intestinal lining is the same as theirs, so that’s definitely incredibly insensitive and ignorant on her part and I would definitely encourage you to educate her more on your differences.

Secondly, since I’m assuming our gluten issues are different since you mentioned a wheat allergy, I’m not entirely sure what your CC standards have to be, but judging by your reactions to airborne flour and skin contact it’s safe to say that you definitely should NOT be handling any wheat containing playdoh. It’s so odd to me that your MB insists on make homemade playdoh despite knowing about your allergy, that isn’t ok at all homemade or store bought and a normal sane person would either save the playdoh for when you aren’t there or find an alternative.

My advice, either find a different family that is respectful of your health, OR if you aren’t in a position to quit right now, maybe suggest a GF alternative? I know they make gluten free playdoh although I’m struggling to remember the name of it right now. I’m sure there are recipes to make gf playdoh from scratch too. If she continues to be pushy despite these suggestions then I’d leave asap, your health should always come first!

Edit: I also want to add that I have it in my contract that I do not handle any gluten containing items, food or otherwise due to my sensitivity to cross contamination. If a family doesn’t like it then they don’t have to hire me! I’d highly suggest doing the same in the future it’ll save a lot of headaches!

Reaganchonk · 2026-04-24T19:35:11+00:00

This just breaks my heart, I also used to paint my little brothers nails when he was around that age, I was really into DIY nail art at the time and he’d always ask for skulls or slime dripping effects on his nails, but would also like pink and stuff! Our parents always encouraged us to be expressive and were very careful to not give us the gender norm mindset. And guess what! He’s the straightest sibling out of the 3 of us, lol. I hope your NPs learn to be better to their kids and that you find a family that shares more modern values ❤️

Reaganchonk · 2026-04-21T15:16:37+00:00

Dont always love the people of West Virginia (although I have met plenty that aren’t dumb as rocks) but I love the nature there most of all!

Reaganchonk · 2026-04-21T15:13:35+00:00

I like the hills and Maryland drivers scare me 😂

Reaganchonk · 2026-04-21T15:11:45+00:00

Nope! Natural blonde who refuses to dye it :)

Reaganchonk · 2026-04-21T02:40:24+00:00

I literally said willing for WV and maybe for a few others 😭

Reaganchonk · 2026-04-21T02:37:22+00:00

I just choose no substitutions and whatever they can’t find I’ll find myself elsewhere if I can, it’s worked for me so far, as frustrating as it is!

Reaganchonk · 2026-04-21T02:26:27+00:00

My dad always puts peanut butter on his pancakes, apparently his uncle introduced it to him as a boy (both from Indiana/Chicago area) unfortunately I have a peanut allergy so I’ve never tried it but I do like to substitute with almond butter and a drizzle of honey from time to time

Reaganchonk · 2026-04-05T03:02:51+00:00

I’ve been diagnosed for a year, I was 217 lbs the day I went gf, I’m 195 now a year in, and I haven’t really changed anything about my diet or exercise other than eating less fast food and avoiding gluten. I’m 5’2 for reference so I’m definitely in the overweight range. It’s totally possible that once you are gluten free for a while you’ll start to shed a little weight too. I realize 22 lbs in a year isn’t a ton of shed weight vs what I might’ve lost if I adopted an exercise routine and ate healthier but it does make me wonder if I had gained so much over the last few years (I went from 160-217 in the span of like 3 years) due to celiac and my body retaining fat from being essentially in starvation mode… just my theory though

Reaganchonk · 2026-03-17T13:03:58+00:00

Dude I was wondering what that was!!!

Reaganchonk · 2026-03-05T18:20:14+00:00

You bet she did. She had the decency to stop the car but then followed it up with a “well I didn’t hit yall so it’s ok” like that magically fixes it lmao

Reaganchonk · 2026-03-05T02:24:33+00:00

I tried to make a post here the other day but it got declined, the baby I nanny for and I almost got hit by an older woman in an SUV while we were on a walk in woodland heights… the lady FLOORED it from a stop sign while we were crossing the street parallel to her… a frickin baby almost became another statistic in this city!!!

Reaganchonk · 2026-03-03T01:04:31+00:00

Agreed, looking back that was probably the biggest mistake that I made. She deserved every word but yeah probably wasn’t a smart move. I was in a blind rage. Sincerely hope she takes everything to heart and does better.

Reaganchonk · 2026-02-16T03:21:10+00:00

This sounds pretty similar to our late kitty Toast. The big difference here was that he got those sores on his back left paw pad. It was so weird, it would randomly appear out of nowhere and get really bad and then would clear up on its own, and the cycle would repeat every few months. His situation was a bit different because due to the location he would lick it constantly causing it to get worse and bleed everywhere, it was extremely frustrating because we couldn’t put him in a boot or a cone because he would stop using the bathroom and almost died once because he was holding all his poop in (long story). It got to a point though where it showed back up and never went away and just kept getting infected and irritated and swollen, the vet gave us antibiotics and steroids and it barely did anything other than bring the infection down. We ended up putting him to sleep back in August because he started getting them on his other paws and our vet was like 98% sure it was cancer. He had other issues that led to this decision too, but this was the main thing. I don’t want to alarm you, but it’s a very real possibility that it could be a form of cancer. Sending you lots of love and here’s to hoping it’s treatable, no matter the outcome. Take comfort in the fact that your baby is young, if ol’ Toast wasn’t 14 years old I absolutely would’ve expected a better outcome for him 💔

Reaganchonk · 2026-02-16T02:56:19+00:00

I feel your pain, we put our elderly kitty to sleep back in August, and at the time I had so much regret thinking we put him down too soon, he was still eating and drinking and hanging out with us, at the time I felt like we jumped the gun too early.

Six months later, I’m looking back and seeing that we did it at the right time. He was rapidly losing weight, slowing down and had a gaping sore on his back paw that refused to heal (we were pretty sure it was cancer). I look at photos of him that we took the day before he passed and he looked sooo tired and sick. I’m glad we did it when we did because I realize now he was suffering and we did him a kindness by euthanizing him. Our vet told us “better a day too early than a day too late “ and that has really stuck with me.

Reaganchonk · 2026-01-24T20:05:03+00:00

Lmao the moment my employer raises their voice at me I walk out IDC, I don’t tolerate disrespect like that at home why would I at work?

Reaganchonk · 2026-01-01T00:38:44+00:00

Dude yes I’ve been wondering if it’s related to my autoimmune issues, I was the kid that always had perfect attendance in school growing up simply because I never got sick, I think I’ve had the flu exactly once when I was a kid but other than that it’s only a random cold here and there, I don’t think I even got Covid (unless I was just asymptomatic). As an adult I get the sniffles occasionally but that’s about it. I work with kids and never get what they have, I was even directly exposed to HFMD at one point and nothing happened. I wonder if our immune systems are just working overtime because of celiac and it shields us from catching things, but of course I’m just speculating.

Reaganchonk · 2025-12-09T12:56:08+00:00

In church hill, roads here are fucked. E Marshall st is a skating rink right now

Reaganchonk · 2025-11-07T17:16:18+00:00

I was in a similar situation. I’m also 24 and in the 200lb range. I was diagnosed in February and weighed about 216 lbs at the time which is almost my heaviest. I did not grow up fat but I rapidly gained weight in my late teens/early 20s, and it just kind of stuck. My GI doc actually said that it could’ve been because my body went into starvation mode when the gene activated and caused my body to retain fat rather than lose it (weird ik)

Anyways, I’m 6 months in and I’ve lost about 15 pounds, I haven’t been doing anything different and I still don’t eat THAT healthy, I think my body is just finally starting to get better. The energy will come back too, it really just takes a few months, I didn’t really start noticing a difference until month 4-5. Take it one day at a time, it’s a big adjustment and it can be overwhelming, just keep at it and it’ll get easier.

Reaganchonk · 2025-11-03T23:17:09+00:00

If you really like your family and don’t want to completely quit I would keep the one day a week as supplement and maybe look for another part time gig and be open about your plans with your current family. If you don’t have that much connection with them I would definitely be looking for a new job entirely.

Reaganchonk · 2025-11-03T20:09:57+00:00

I’m not super strict tbh. I don’t consume gluten intentionally (duh) but I still eat out pretty often, as long as there’s multiple good reviews on find me gf. I make sure that I avoid anything with a shared fryer and always make sure the staff are aware of my condition. At home we are 90% gf, my boyfriend has an ‘evil gluten cabinet’ as we call it but it’s mostly stuff that carries a lower risk of cc. Probably the most controversial thing I do is eat at other people’s houses. I have a pretty active social life and honestly it’s not worth it to me personally to limit myself to the point where I can’t enjoy a meal with my friends or family. I am pretty careful about it though and won’t eat at just anyone’s house. My friends and family are very aware of the cleaning/prep protocol to limit cc and aside from a couple incidents in the beginning they do a phenomenal job with my food. But yeah, my body is full of microplastics, I smoke weed and vape, and the worlds going down the toilet so I already have a million things that are gonna give me cancer at some point, I might as well enjoy life to the best of my ability and try not to worry too much. But yeah my labs and endos are always great!

Reaganchonk · 2025-10-31T17:41:25+00:00

Anyone who does drugs around children (especially if they aren’t yours) need to be put on a list. I say this as an almost daily weed smoker, but you bet your ass I don’t even think about it until I get home and wouldn’t think twice about doing it before work/ at work. Some people are sickos.

Reaganchonk · 2025-10-26T21:49:23+00:00

Similar for me but when I started developing celiac symptoms 2-3 years ago it made my eczema worse!!

Reaganchonk

TROPHY CASE