Food Allergies

[Loves Vintage]

Hi All,

My 8 month old is newly diagnosed with allergies to peanut and egg white. For those that don't know, the new recommendation is to expose babies to peanut butter sooner, which is why we did. PLEASE CHECK WITH YOUR OWN DOCTOR, OF COURSE. A large study indicated that earlier exposure resulted in far fewer cases of allergies. Not in our case.

There was an old thread here on food allergies. I'm wondering what your experiences have been like. I'm quite a worrier, so I have been a bit overwhelmed. My son's reaction was fairly minor - face red, watering eyes, few very small hives on his legs and abdomen. I've been reading on-line quite a bit (I know!) and am quite worried that his next reaction (if he will ever be exposed again, which seems inevitable) could be much worse. I asked his allergist about this, hoping for some reassurance. He answers questions without answering them. In response, he said "well, let's not try and find out." That's not an answer!!

Help?

 

[Bella_mezzo]

B is allergic to eggs. We learned the hard way in Ethiopia when he ate scrambled eggs and his eyes swelled shut and he got huge hives all over his body.

It actually doesn't show up on a blood test for him, but is very clearly an allergy as we have eliminated and reintroduced multiple times (with less severe but still very clear hives/rashes/swelling).

He keeps hoping he will outgrow it, but every time we try to reintroduce (with his pediatricians supervision and approval) he gets a rash.

Good luck!

 

[Loves Vintage]

Hi Bella - I completely forgot about B's egg allergy. Can he have baked eggs?

 

[Logan Sapphire]

My son (6 in April) is allergic to peanuts, pecans, walnuts, and cashews. Blood tests and skin tests are actually conflicting- one says positive, one says negative. He's actually negative with the RAST and the peanut component panel, but gets a large skin wheal with skin testing and has reacted to ingestion. His allergist ok'd him to do a peanut challenge, but he refuses, so we have to assume he's still allergic to peanuts. Each year we go through this back and forth with test results; my husband thinks it's pointless to do yearly testing.

We did not ask that his kindergarten classroom be nut-free, nor did we ask that he sit at the nut-free table. In the past, he's reacted to contact, but has been reaction-free for some years now. I'm more confident that he can advocate for himself, but obviously at 5, he's still very much a work in progress.

We're starting to think about him self-carrying his epi-pen (and I'm so annoyed that Auvi-Q was recalled- they were so much smaller and easier than the epi). He's able to go to parties bringing his safe food (for him, it's mostly desserts that are problematic), and has even done his first drop-off party where I didn't know the parents beforehand.

Here's his last SPT. Poor guy.

 

[amc80]

B is allergic to egg yolks. This is sort of theoretical because he doesn't eat eggs, but his scratch test comes back positive. He's fine with things containing eggs (like baked goods), though. One time we did get him to eat scrambled eggs and he ended up in the hospital. They called it a sudden croup attack, but I think it was more than likely an allergic reaction. It's a non-issue for us, though, because he's so picky, he has no interest in eating eggs. His initial scratch test did test positive to several other things (dairy, soy, peanuts, and something else I can't remember), but those all cleared up. We did do an in office peanut challenge, which he passed. It was quite an ordeal because he refused to try peanut butter so I basically had to force feed it to him. Now, of course, he loves it and has it quite often. Freaking kids.

 

[Loves Vintage]

AMC - So did B ever have peanut butter before the challenge? What a relief that he's ok with peanut butter! I guess the skin test frequently shows false positives, esp for younger kids, or at least that's how I understand it right now.

LS - I recall your posts about your son's allergies. Perhaps eventually he will do the challenge? Has he always been ok about taking his own treats to parties and that sort of thing? Have you avoided foods made in facilities that may process peanuts (or however they label that?) Oh, did your son have eczema?

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I made an appointment for a second opinion today. We don't doubt that he has the peanut allergy, but we are seeking more clarity about how to handle. Also, the first dr told me not to consume pb until I no longer breastfeed, but I've read that some drs say you should because it would be such limited exposure. And, then others say the allergen can't get into breastmilk anyway. I would think this would be a pretty clear topic? Like it either is or isn't. I have certainly had a ton of peanut butter and nuts in many forms since he was born!

 

[amc80]

AMC - So did B ever have peanut butter before the challenge? What a relief that he's ok with peanut butter! I guess the skin test frequently shows false positives, esp for younger kids, or at least that's how I understand it right now.

LS - I recall your posts about your son's allergies. Perhaps eventually he will do the challenge? Has he always been ok about taking his own treats to parties and that sort of thing? Have you avoided foods made in facilities that may process peanuts (or however they label that?) Oh, did your son have eczema?

********
I made an appointment for a second opinion today. We don't doubt that he has the peanut allergy, but we are seeking more clarity about how to handle. Also, the first dr told me not to consume pb until I no longer breastfeed, but I've read that some drs say you should because it would be such limited exposure. And, then others say the allergen can't get into breastmilk anyway. I would think this would be a pretty clear topic? Like it either is or isn't. I have certainly had a ton of peanut butter and nuts in many forms since he was born!

Nope, no PB before the challenge. T has his one year appointment next week, and I'm going to ask about the new recommendations. He's a great eater and I'm sure he'd love PB.

 

[Logan Sapphire]

AMC - So did B ever have peanut butter before the challenge? What a relief that he's ok with peanut butter! I guess the skin test frequently shows false positives, esp for younger kids, or at least that's how I understand it right now.

LS - I recall your posts about your son's allergies. Perhaps eventually he will do the challenge? Has he always been ok about taking his own treats to parties and that sort of thing? Have you avoided foods made in facilities that may process peanuts (or however they label that?) Oh, did your son have eczema?

********
I made an appointment for a second opinion today. We don't doubt that he has the peanut allergy, but we are seeking more clarity about how to handle. Also, the first dr told me not to consume pb until I no longer breastfeed, but I've read that some drs say you should because it would be such limited exposure. And, then others say the allergen can't get into breastmilk anyway. I would think this would be a pretty clear topic? Like it either is or isn't. I have certainly had a ton of peanut butter and nuts in many forms since he was born!

I have hopes he'll someday try the challenge! I think part of the problem is that he knows in real life, if he eats peanuts, we have to epi him, so he's worried that if he reacts at the challenge, we would epi him. I've told him that he'll be under the care of a doctor, who said that epi would not be the first treatment unless indicated. Also, he's been told all his short life to avoid peanuts, so I think it's quite a stretch for his brain to wrap itself around the fact that he would need to eat what he's been told not to.

He has NOT always been ok taking his own treats to parties. It's very much a work in progress to get him to accept that he has to eat differently. I used to try to replicate what would be offered at parties, but that was really more feasible when I knew the parents and had a way to ask ahead of time. Now, I just make cupcakes and decorate them very nicely and freeze them. The drop-off party he just went to said ice cream so I emailed the mom and mentioned that he had allergies and that I'd be sending his own safe ice cream for him. I asked her if she wanted me to stay and she said no, but that she'd take a refresher on how to use the epi-pen. I arrived right on time so that she wouldn't be distracted by other guests and she showed me what she was planning on serving

The other thing I do is to send safe candy. It's more junk than I'd like him to have, but it puts him in a good mood to have a bag of candy and a lot of times, the other kids are envious of what he's having.

We do avoid foods made in same facility as peanuts. I will allow him to eat something processed in facility with treenuts that he's not allergic to. I've heard that skin "holds" onto allergies for a long time, which could be why he reacts skin-wise, but not via blood test or protein component panel. It's so confusing- some allergists say skin test is more reliable, others say blood.

Also, he does not have eczema.