How did you find out about your LO's allergy?

HappyMama30

We found out our DD was allergic to walnuts at age 20 months.  We were at a friend's place for a pot-luck, and dinner was running late.  I gave her a piece of a square my husband had made, and it contained walnuts, coconut, condensed milk, and gram wafer crumbs.  Within minutes of having the square she came to me panicked, watery eyes, her voice had gone hoarse.  I thought she was coming down with a cold, but the speed of these changes was alarming.  Something in my mind clicked, and I thought "there were nuts in those squares."  I yelled (in a room of concerned friends!) for my husband.  He asked if we should call 811 (a health service over the phone), and I said NO WAY call 911 now.  Now, she was wheezing and crying and could not catch her breath.  It was the most terrifying moment of my life. 

When the paramedics arrived she had one mask of ventolin, which was so terrifying for all of us (we had to hold her down as the EHS held the mask).  Two more masks in the ambulance (that went better after the teddy bear "got one" too).  Aerius and epinephrine at the children's hospital.  We were told we'd have to wait four hours (with a toddler who hasn't eaten, and keeps pulling the nodes off her body every time she moves, and of course setting off the heart monitor b/c she's just been given epi).  Oh my.  She finally went to sleep at 10 pm after some serious newborn rocking tactics.  We had to go to a 24 hr pharmacy to pick up her epi-pen, and then drive the 1.5 hours home at midnight.  She's had follow up allergy testing, and has tested positive for walnuts and neg for coconut.  She will be re-tested for walnuts now every Fall until school starts, and then tested for EVERYTHING before school (aka "the danger zone").  We've been told her allergic reactions could get better or get worse.  We carry an epi everywhere now.  I worry about her baby brother. 

MrsBeckO

DD was diagnosed at 11 months with level 3 peanut allergy and tree nuts were a mix of level 1s and level 2s. We had never given her any direct peanut products, but weren't checking labels for "made in a facility with.." warnings. There are no other food allergies on either side of our family.

When she was 11 months old, she woke up from nap one day COVERED in large hives and one side of her face was swollen. We gave her Benadryl and called her doctor. We were told to keep her on the Benadryl for the next 24 hours and watch for signs of a worsening reaction. She ended up having to be on Benadryl around the clock for over a week, if we tried to space the doses out to 5 or 6 hours the swelling and hives would start to return. Once she was able to stay med free long enough, we did skin prick testing and discovered the peanut allergy. We were told to avoid all nuts and come back for blood testing around 2 years old. In that year she had 4 or 5 more accidental exposures and reactions, her worst one involving facial swelling, hives, and ultimately vomiting. Her blood scores revealed the severity of the peanut allergy and which tree nuts she was/was not allergic to.

We too carry an epi pen everywhere, along with Benadryl and her rescue inhaler for asthma (diagnosed at 18 months). 

mrshutch

I am so sorry you had to find out in such a scary way!

Our DS is egg/peanut allergic (and a "little bit" of dog). He had beautiful baby skin until 2 m/o, when he started having severe eczema. Over the following months it got so bad he was covered literally head to toe in horrible open sores- we found out at 6 m/o that he had an undiagnosed staph infection (this was a total low point!). I could tell he wasn't milk allergic, and figured he prob. had the nut allergy when I gave him peanut butter for the first time around 9 months? and he quickly threw up all over the place. My husband also occasionally made omelets and he had scrambled eggs at school and occasionally broke out in a red rash on his face (this was the weird part- it wasn't every single time). When he finally had a completely blatant reaction to egg I talked to our pediatrician & we were referred to the allergist. DS was about 13 months at that point. Fortunately, we're able to manage minor breakouts w/ his antihistamine and haven't had to use the Epi. The scariest episode was just a couple of months ago when a bakery screwed up an order for a kid's b-day cupcakes at his school and included egg- I was mortified! DS started throwing up and within a couple of hours had a swollen face and was uncontrollably itchy. It was the 1st time I thought I might have to use the Epi.

The great thing is how awesome DS has looked- it's still painful to look back at some of the baby pics and see his itchy, rashy, red skin But I'm thankful he doesn't have more severe allergies, and at this point it's not intimidating to me to figure out recipes, etc. for him. It's great to see him getting to be a regular kid!

HappyMama30

My DD also had terrible eczema like PP mentioned.  She had horrible open sores on her face, and I didn't know how to treat it at first, and I know I made it worse.  My son also had some much milder eczema.  We don't have any allergies in our family.  It is such a mystery.

mrshutch

Aw, poor thing! Yup, a lot of this stuff is still a total mystery. Hopefully your DS doesn't end up having allergies as well. Our DD has never even had a hint of any allergies. Honestly, I'm a tad concerned that if this LO is a boy he could have allergies as well. An esthetician (sp??) said that boys have their mom's skin and girls have their dad's, which seems to be true in our case (I've always had mild eczema but no food allergies at all). I'm the one who has food allergies in the fam- my cousin had horrible allergies growing up. So I'm thinking there just might be something to this whole idea. .. . well, if nothing else, I'll have ideas for handling any future allergy issues