Allergic mother-to-be lives on Big Macs in pregnancy and gives birth to a 10lb 2oz whopper
When Suzanne Franklin fell pregnant, she was at a loss as to how she would eat for two.
The 23-year-old had suffered from extreme food allergies for year from eggs to dairy and fruit and vegetables.
Burger baby: Suzanne Franklin and baby son Harry with a Big Mac, which helped sustain both of them during Suzanne's pregnancy
Doctors warned her that pregnancy would make the symptoms worse but that antihistamines could harm her baby.
But Ms Franklin knew she wasn’t allergic to McDonald’s burgers - so she ate a Big Mac burger everyday throughout her pregnancy.
Any worries about her unusual diet affecting her baby’s growth were unfounded - as she has given birth to her own 10Ib 2oz whopper.
Miss Franklin said: ‘All those burgers definitely didn’t do him any harm. It was the only thing I could eat safely during my pregnancy, so I just lived on them.
‘When Harry was born and the doctors told me that he weighed over 10Ib’s I just couldn’t believe it.
‘I was worried that I wasn’t getting enough nutrients for me and the baby - but Harry definitely proved that wrong.
‘The doctor who scanned me at 20 weeks told me that I must be doing something right as he was so big and healthy - but I never expected him to be that big and neither did they. The doctors expected him to be around 8Ibs.’
Miss Franklin, who lives with partner Paul Wilson, 27, a dental technician, in Dudley, West Midlands, has suffered from extreme food allergies since she was two-years-old.
She said: ‘I ate a chocolate covered peanut when I was two years old and it sent my body into anaphylactic shock and I had to be rushed straight to hospital. Doctors told my parents I was lucky to be alive.’
What a whopper! Harry weighed 10lb and 2oz at birth
Miss Franklin was diagnosed with a severe nut allergy and she had to carry an adrenaline pen around with her at all times.
But it wasn’t until she was 15 that her allergies became more extreme. She ate a kiwi fruit and her throat closed up, leaving her unable to breathe.
She said: ‘I couldn’t breathe, but luckily mum could see what was happening to me and she called an ambulance straight away.
‘But then a week later the same thing happened when I was eating a strawberry and tests showed that I was allergic to eggs, tea, alcohol, rice, oils, fish, and all fruit and vegetables.
‘I became absolutely terrified of eating, as I just seemed to be allergic to everything. For weeks I just lived on bread and water, and I dropped two stone in weight.’
But Miss Franklin discovered she could eat Big Mac burgers - without cheese or salad, so she began to eat them most days.
She was so allergic to other foods that she had to cook dinner separately from her partner and store all her food in airtight containers in the fridge.
Miss Franklin, who is studying interior design and architecture, said: ‘I just can’t risk it. If someone so much as touches a lettuce and handles my food, it can trigger a life threatening reaction.’
In March last year Miss Franklin discovered she was pregnant and doctors warned her that pregnancy could make her allergies worse.
She said: ‘My diet was limited enough, but now I was eating for two, so I had to make sure I didn’t lose any weight.
‘I couldn’t take antihistamine medication throughout the pregnancy, so I had just had to hope that I wouldn’t suffer an attack.’
So Miss Franklin turned to the one food that she knew that she could eat safely - Big Mac burgers.
She said: ‘I was just desperate to keep eating so that the baby could grow, so I just forced down burger after burger each day.
‘Paul would eat a salad, and I would just look on enviously. The lack of nutrients in my diet meant that I picked up one cold after another, but I was advised not to take any multivitamins in case they triggered an allergic reaction too.
‘I wondered if eating so many burgers would affect the baby, but luckily my 20 week scan showed that the baby was developing fine. It was such a relief.’
By the time Miss Franklin went into labour on Christmas Day, she had gained four stone.
She said: ‘My bump had just kept growing and growing - Paul kept joking that it was all the Big Mac’s I was eating.’
Harry was born at Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley, weighing a whopping 10Ib2.
Miss Franklin added: ‘I just couldn’t believe it when the doctors told me what he weighed.’
Baby Harry is now three months old - and he has shown signs of inheriting Miss Franklin’s allergies too. He is already allergic to seven different types of milk.
She said: ‘I had hoped that Harry wouldn’t be allergic to all the foods that I am, but it looks as though he may have inherited some of them. But at least he won’t be allergic to burgers.'
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