food reaction/allergy

[yellow711]

Does anyone have experience with a food reaction or food allergy with their child (with your JF'18 or older sibling)?

J reacted to eggs and his pediatrician wants him to see a pediatric allergist. 

I feel so naive and uneducated about food allergies/reactions.

[Deleted]

sunfrogger DD1 was allergic to peanuts. Also I know she’s not part of this bmb but dc2london has lots of experience with kids with allergies.

What was the reaction?

[yellow711]

Sept 7, 2018 20:41:47 GMT -6 kbw said:

sunfrogger DD1 was allergic to peanuts. Also I know she’s not part of this bmb but dc2london has lots of experience with kids with allergies.

What was the reaction?

kbw
It wasn’t a severe reaction.

The few times he tried scrambled eggs, the skin around his mouth turned red and his eyes got red.

[dc2london]

Sept 7, 2018 20:44:15 GMT -6 yellow711 said:

Sept 7, 2018 20:41:47 GMT -6 kbw said:

sunfrogger DD1 was allergic to peanuts. Also I know she’s not part of this bmb but dc2london has lots of experience with kids with allergies.

What was the reaction?

kbw
It wasn’t a severe reaction.

The few times he tried scrambled eggs, the skin around his mouth turned red and his eyes got red.

Hi!

I've actually got 3 food allergy kids so I can tell you anything you want to know, if you'd like. But I don't want to butt in since this isn't my bmb

[yellow711]

Please butt in!!
dc2london

[yellow711]

I feel like a shitty mom because I didn’t reach out quickly to J’s Peditrician. I honestly thought she would tell me to have J avoid eggs and try again later since it wasn’t a severe reaction.

But she said J needs to see an pedatric allergist and avoid all eggs/products with eggs. We can’t get into the allergist until November. The pediatrician also is suggesting an epipen.

I feel so naive!
If he accidentally eat eggs, will the reaction be the same? Or is there a risk for more severe reaction?

[dc2london]

ok so you're working with a 7-9 month old here, right?

The first thing you'll need to do is, as your pediatrician suggested, see an allergist and have allergy testing done. With an infant, a scratch test is not going to be accurate. The rate of false negatives in children under 2 is ludacris so just don't even waste your time with a doctor who tries to scratch test your baby. (Case in point, my S2 was scratch tested and cleared of any food allergies at 7 months. At 12 months, he had an anaphylactic reaction to peanut butter). You'll need a good pediatric allergist and a blood test. Blood tests are a hassle, but they're more reliable and can detect more minor allergies.

Definitely avoid the offending food in the meantime, until an allergist clears you to continue giving it to him.

Most people don't know anything about food allergies. Even many pediatricians. So please don't, for a moment, beat yourself up for not knowing how to manage this or even if you feel overwhelmed at first. That's normal. It IS overwhelming at first, but it gets better. And quickly. You learn which things your child can eat and you don't spend an hour every week scouring ingredients lists and allergen labels. Eggs are pretty easy to manage; S1 had an egg allergy for a few years. It's also one of the most commonly outgrown (S1 outgrew his egg allergy at age 4).

Here's the scarier stuff.
An allergy can change at any time. I'm glad to hear that his reactions thus far have been minor. And they could stay that way. But that's not how food allergies tend to operate. They tend to increase in severity over time. My nephew had peanuts for the first time and had a little redness; The second time he had peanuts, his throat swelled. I am NOT saying that to scare you, just to urge you to keep eggs away from him (in any form. Even that one egg cooked into the Saturday morning pancakes could cause a reaction). If testing confirms an allergy, you'll need to carry epinephrine and make sure he avoids all foods that contain eggs. I spent a year carrying epipens for three kids so I totally understand that it sounds like a MAJOR pain. It's not, actually. You get used to being a food allergy parent surprisingly quickly.

So, for reactions. Anaphylaxis is considered any two system reaction. So it could be cutaneous (skin) and digestive (a rash and heartburn). It could be respiratory and digestive (diarrhea and a cough). It could be nervous and vascular (tachycardia and tingling in the extremities). When my 12 month old had a rash around his mouth and started pulling on his tongue, I realized that his tongue was tingling or itching and knew it was an allergic reaction. It can be tough to tell with wee ones so the best course of action is vigilance in terms of what he eats.

Now, if he is tested and turns out not to have an allergy, you can ignore almost everything I said. If he's tested and turns out to have an allergy, there's additional advice I can give you in what to look for and how to manage living with a child with food allergies. You can tag me any time and I'm happy to help. Luckily, schools and daycares have come a long way in the past ten years in dealing with allergic children.

I hope it turns out just to be an irritation or intolerance and not a true food allergy but, if it is an allergy, please know that you CAN manage it and it will be ok.

Seriously, tag me any time. I have a stupid amount of experience on this topic and am happy to help however I can.

[dc2london]

Sept 7, 2018 20:57:45 GMT -6 yellow711 said:

I feel like a shitty mom because I didn’t reach out quickly to J’s Peditrician. I honestly thought she would tell me to have J avoid eggs and try again later since it wasn’t a severe reaction.

But she said J needs to see an pedatric allergist and avoid all eggs/products with eggs. We can’t get into the allergist until November. The pediatrician also is suggesting an epipen.

I feel so naive!
If he accidentally eat eggs, will the reaction be the same? Or is there a risk for more severe reaction?

PLEASE don't feel like a bad mom. Nobody knows about allergies until they are faced with them. There's no way you could have known. And yes, a lot of pediatricians WOULD have told you to just wait a few weeks and tried again; I applaud your pedi for being vigilant.

I would absolutely keep him away from eggs and any product containing eggs. Ground flax seeds make a surprisingly good substitute for eggs in baking, and the rise of commercial vegan foods is really helpful to people living with egg or dairy allergies.

Call the allergist and put your name on the cancellation list if you have a flexible schedule. I first tried to schedule with a pedi allergist in late December and was given a March appointment. I put myself on the cancellation list and in mid January I was offered an appointment the next day. 

If he accidentally eats eggs, his reaction could be the same, it could be less, or it could be worse. Unfortunately, allergies are total jerks and are really unpredictable. That's why allergists are regarded as kind of paranoid. But their job is to keep your child safe and healthy. 

Modern food labeling makes living with allergies much easier. Here's a good list of ingredients to avoid:


www.foodallergy.org/common-allergens/egg

[dc2london]

I promise you, you can do this. It looks like a lot right now, but you absolutely can navigate this.

[dragonflyinn]

Sept 7, 2018 20:44:15 GMT -6 yellow711 said:

Sept 7, 2018 20:41:47 GMT -6 kbw said:

sunfrogger DD1 was allergic to peanuts. Also I know she’s not part of this bmb but dc2london has lots of experience with kids with allergies.

What was the reaction?

kbw
It wasn’t a severe reaction.

The few times he tried scrambled eggs, the skin around his mouth turned red and his eyes got red.

This happened with my DD, not the eyes but she got red around her mouth, it would go away after a few minutes though so not super severe. It was one of the only proteins she would eat though so we KOKO and she grew out of it.

[sunfrogger]

We had a couple stints with reactions to food.

DD1 consistently developed a rash around her mouth when she ate cooked eggs (not baked though, baked goods were fine). Our ped had us KOKO unless a more widespread rash emerged. Her egg sensitivity disappeared by I think 18mo or so.

She was also dxd with a peanut allergy. When she ate it, she developed red eyes and widespread hives on her face. We avoided peanuts and at age 2 had bloodwork and a food challenge done. She was cleared of am ana rxn but obviously we are still careful of being alert when she eats pb. She gets a rash around her mouth like she did with eggs when she eats pb like in a sandwich. But otherwise she's been OK.

Allergies are super scary but like dc2london said you adapt really quickly. Hugs.

[sunfrogger]

Within 5 min of pb


45min after


5 min after Zyrtec


Era: yellow711

[yellow711]

dc2london THANK YOU so much for all the advice and information. I really appreciate it. I will definitely take you up on your offer to chat down the road.

dragonflyinn, dragonflyinn, That is great your DD grew out of it

sunfrogger that is great she grew out of the egg sensitivity. How often does she eat peanut products now?

[sunfrogger]

yellow711 honestly she steals peanut m&ms all the time. We've recently gotten her to eat pb & jelly as well. Maybe 1x a week?

Her allergist advised me to start O with pb as early as possible, and to do it consistently. So O gets peanut butter on a teething wafer at least once a week. No rxn from her yet! 🤞🏻

Edit : but no reaction at all when it's baked into something like a cookie, or to peanuts themselves.