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Irresponsible discussion of food allergies I've only read about two-thirds of Perfect Madness, but I have already noted that the author makes approximately 9 references to food allergies in which she implies that they are invented by control freak, overprotective mothers (to paraphrase, of course). In one paragraph on page 187, she equates anorexia and bulimia with food allergies or intolerances. My daughter has a life threatening allergy to milk and all milk-based ingredients, and no, I did not "imagine" the allergy. It has been, much to my sadness, clinically demonstrated in a hospital with a GI specialist in a food challenge. One of the greatest challenges I have found in keeping my daughter safe is from those people who assume that food allergies aren't real or from those who assume that "she'll just get a little rash." I have met enough other mothers like Judith Warner who just make my daughter's life a little harder to protect. Ultimately, the author works a little harder to "poison motherhood for American women" like me who are working hard to safely and lovingly parent children with food allergies. Ultimately, her disrespect and disregard for the reality of food allergies undermines her purported regard for American mothers making her book a failure.