Courtesy of Mission MightyMe
When Catherine and JJ Jaxon welcomed their daughter Niall in 2009, they were typical first-time parents who followed their pediatrician’s advice to the letter. This meant ensuring she didn’t consume any peanuts, tree nuts, or other allergens as a baby. When she turned 3, she tasted a walnut—“and we quickly realized she was severely allergic,” Catherine recalls.
The little girl broke out in hives, her eyes were swollen shut, and she started to vomit. After that incident, “EpiPens went in every diaper bag, every backpack,” Catherine says.
By the time the Jaxon’s third child was born in 2015, the medical guidance around allergens was beginning to change. A London-based researcher named Dr. Gideon Lack had conducted a groundbreaking study that showed most peanut allergies could be prevented with early and regular peanut consumption. Pediatricians around the world—and eventually, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases—changed their feeding guidelines as a result. Wanting to prevent another food allergy in their family, the Jaxons decided to give the new approach a try. “That’s when we realized how difficult it was for parents to follow the research,” Catherine says. “Nuts are a choking hazard for babies who don’t have teeth, and the entire baby aisle is allergen-free.”
The Jaxons decided to take matters into their own hands, creating Mission MightyMe with the goal of ending the food allergy epidemic. They enlisted the help of Dr. Lack, who signed on as co-founder in 2018. They also joined forces with Todd Slotkin, co-founder of the Food Allergy Research & Education nonprofit. Together, they spent two years developing quick-dissolve nut butter puffs made with peanuts and multiple tree nuts.
Courtesy of Mission MightyMe
They began selling their puffs online in March 2020—“when the whole world shut down,” JJ says. “Growth was slow at first; nobody’s walking past your website.”
“We were launching a business and homeschooling three children,” Catherine says. “It was pure insanity.”
Although the initial response to their product was mostly positive, it did require some reeducation. “At the very beginning of this journey, I think a lot of people thought we were crazy,” JJ says. “For so long, the guidance had been, ‘Don’t give babies any nuts.’ But when you actually explain the research to someone, they typically get it. It makes sense.”
Courtesy of Mission MightyMe
Online sales began to tick up—and up, and up—more than doubling each year since the launch. This fall, Mission MightyMe announced it would make its brick-and-mortar retail debut at 200 Target stores nationwide, including some in Atlanta. “When we found out Target was happening, I’m pretty sure I did a happy dance,” Catherine says. “It felt like a huge step for our mission. Target is how you reach a mass market; we never wanted this to be a niche product.”
The Jaxons say that if their products help save other parents from having to experience what they did with Niall, they’ll be satisfied. “Over the next decade or so, I believe we’re all going to watch the rates of these food allergies drastically come down,” JJ says. “It’s very doable, and we’re really excited to be a part of it.”
