Can I have some more? A young boy's food allergy means he can only eat CARROTS

MEAL times are hardly exciting for toddler Max Billingham because all he can eat are carrots, potatoes and bananas.

 Two-year-old Max Billingham suffers from a rare condition that can prove fatal [NEWCASTLE CHRONICAL ]

Two-year-old Max is allergic to most types of food and at its most extreme his illness can prove fatal.

He suffers from a rare condition called food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome.

If he tries something new it can provoke a severe reaction, causing him to go into shock and turn blue.

The syndrome can also spark vomiting and diarrhoea but the condition is often missed by doctors because it is not traceable through typical allergy tests.

Max’s mother Laura said: “To look at him you wouldn’t think anything was wrong but he’s really ill and we are constantly in and out of ­hospital. It’s really stressful because everything revolves around food.

“A lot of social events include going out for meals or a buffet. Poor Max just doesn’t understand why he can’t have the food.”

Max, who was born eight weeks early, suffered a severe reaction to milk as a baby.

The list of foods he is allergic to – which includes chicken, rice and blueberries – grows by the day and ­doctors have been forced to put him on a special formula diet.

It’s really stressful because everything revolves around foo

Laura Billingham

Laura, a children’s nurse, added: “It’s a case of trial and error and often you don’t know what foods have caused his reaction as sometimes it can be delayed.

“His sister once had a biscuit and he ate the tiniest of crumbs and he was poorly. It’s a horrible condition and some of the doctors haven’t even heard of it.”

This week Max was fitted with a feeding pump which will be used to get essential vitamins into his body. He is expected to stay in hospital for eight weeks.

Doctors hope he will grow out of the disorder but he might have to live with the pump for the rest of his life.

Later this year Laura and her husband Scott, 33, a driving instructor, will make the trip from their home in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, to London’s Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital where experts will conduct further tests to assess Max’s condition.

The couple, who also have a daughter, Halle, four, are keen to raise awareness of the syndrome among parents.

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