Two year old Margaret Shifflian looks like a healthy, happy child, but the past year has actually been a rough one for her and her family.

"She was chubby and happy and full of life. She just started throwing up and I didn't know what to do," says her mom, Julia.

Margaret threw up five to six times a day for two weeks and the doctors were puzzled until they realized that she had severe food allergies, making her allergic to common foods like cereal, chicken, yogurt, eggs, even milk.

"I was poisoning her, that was the thing. I'm her mother and I was giving her foods that weren't good for her and I just didn't know," says Julia.

Margaret has eosinophilic esophagitis, a severe food allergy where white blood cells build up in the esophagus, causing swelling and narrowing, and making it difficult to swallow. In Margaret’s case, her condition is coupled with severe vomiting and stomach irritation. She can even get a rash or hives when in contact with some foods.

"It takes two weeks to get one of those foods out of her system. It's not just she gets a rash, or she gets an upset tummy, she vomits and it's violent," says Julia.

Pediatric Gastroenterologist Dr. Lynn Duffy says it's a relatively new disease, but they're finding more and more cases lately. Her practice diagnoses nearly two cases a month.

"When patients have it, they can present with reflux like symptoms, but it's from a very different cause. It's not acid induced, it's allergy induced," says Dr. Duffy.

To control the disease, Margaret must stick to a strict diet, a tough task because her safe foods are so limited. Staples include pork, potatoes, rice and most vegetables. She has to avoid most other foods like those with wheat and gluten and dairy. To supplement her diet, she drinks a special formula that has 100 percent nutrition. But this formula isn't cheap and health insurance doesn't cover the cost.

Their insurance company says they'll only cover the formula if Margaret is fed with a feeding tube. But the Schifflians say that isn't necessary.

"I think it's ridiculous that they're going to deny coverage until we do something drastic," says Paul Schifflian.

"It's hard to feed a two year old anyway, but take away cheerios, take away cake, take away milk, take away cheese, take away so many foods that normal toddlers eat and it makes it more difficult," says Julia.