Debbie B.
Moderator
8/24/2008
2:06 PM
120 Posts

Here is an opportunity to share and learn from other's experiences. Please post the story of your child's first reaction, subsequent exposures, any anaphylactic reactions...

Janell R.
8/26/2008
3:38 PM
13 Posts

My son's first reaction was at a friend's house. He was about 1 1/2 and he ate a peanut from a little dish on her table. It was before I could stop him and my main concern was choking. He turned red and threw up. I called the pediatrcian who told me not to worry too much. I didn't know anything about food allergies so it sounded fine to me. The next year I gave him part of a peanut butter granola bar and the same thing happened. The pediatrician called us in to have a blood test and it came back highly reactive. It's odd because he had peanut butter in between these incidences with out any reaction. I am just so thankful we found out when we did and not later.

Janell

Jennifer S.
8/29/2008
1:04 PM
13 Posts

Tyler was born with ezcema and he was a very fussy baby. Finally at 5 months we had a blood test done and it came back reactive to dairy. We saw an allergist and come to find out Tyler was allergic to dairy, eggs, soy and nuts. We have had a few incidents with eggs. Tyler getting into the trash can and then once shopping got ahold of the eggs in the shopping cart and broke one open. Thankfully we did not have any anaphylactic reactions, however he broke out head to toe in hives and started turning red. Benadryl was the savior on both cases.

Leslie M.
9/2/2008
2:12 PM
19 Posts

From the time Liam was in the NICU, he started vomiting and screaming on my breast milk. Doctors kept saying he had Colic, he was premature and it would pass. This continued for a long 4-5 months then the severe Eczema started. We then tried Soy formula, which he did better on (not as much vomiting and blood in his stool). The severe Eczema continued and after the introduction of solids he would vomit about once every other week. We were told that he had rotavirus every single time we took him in. That was hard to accept and things seemed to be getting worse with more solids. It was so difficult to figure out and I carefully introduced new foods. However, he was in daycare and we received calls numerous times that his face had swelled up and he had hives all over. It seemed like a never ending battle so for many reasons I quit teaching and stayed home with him (he was 19 months old). We saw a Dermatologist and his Pediatrician but we never got any answers. We had never dealt with food allergies nor did we know of any family members with food allergies. So long story short, once I was home with him things seemed to get better since I knew exactly what he was eating and other environmental things he was exposed to. Then he picked up a Walnut and his entire hand and face swelled up instantly. We gave him Benadryl and took him to Dr. McKnight shortly after. When we were told that he was allergic to eggs, peanuts and tree nuts, we felt relieved to finally know but wanted to kick ourselves for not seeing an allergist in the first place. We learned the hard way and our second son has shown no signs of food allergies but he only eats what Liam can eat.

Jennifer N.
9/24/2008
8:33 PM
5 Posts

My daughter has had ecsema since birth, and has had small reactions now and then after eating, but we could never pin it down, then about two months ago(she was 15 months)she accidently touched a tiny dot of peanut buter and before I could stop her she put it in her mouth. I had been so careful to keep her away from it because of her ecsema, but she was just too fast. Within 30 seconds her whole face turned red, she developed hives, her lips and eyes swelled up, she started walking into things and had explosive diarrhea. I took her to the E.R. and it the DR. said we were lucky she had gotten such a small amount, any more and she probably would not have been able to breath. It was the most terrifying experience of my life. I still don't quite know how to cope with it. I keep blaming myself for eating nuts while breast-feeding. My doctors said it was okay to do so, but now I feel like I did this to her.

Erin F.
9/30/2008
8:00 PM
6 Posts

When Grace was about 18 months old, I gave her her first PBJ sandwich. She loved it, and dug right in! As kids do when they eat, she'd gotten some peanut butter on her cheek and face. I suddenly noticed she was starting to break out in hives - as quickly as they'd come, they'd fade and pop up somewhere else on her face. I did the only thing I could think of to do... I ran her to the bath and tried to wash the PB off her face and hands. The hives started to get a little better, but didn't completely fade. The whole time, I kept watching her lips and tongue, making sure she wasn't going into anaphalaxis (thank GOD she wasn't). It was really hard to put her down to bed that night - I just wanted to keep an eye on her, but the hives were gone in the morning.

I told the pediatrician at our next appt, and he had us make an appt with Dr. McKnight. Right now Grace is just allergic to peanuts and PB, but he wants us to stay away from all nuts, just to be safe. We were prescribed and epi pen and we have a follow up appt next summer.

Kristy L.
10/3/2008
12:42 PM
1 Post

Our 2 year old son Jack is cursed with extreme food allergies. He was diagnosed at 7 months old with allergies to all dairy products, eggs, wheat and peanuts. We found this out because he had an anaphylactic reaction to creamed spinach.
Jack has had 4 severe anaphylactic reactions in his short 2 year life. He has been rushed to the emergency room 4 times (once after playing at a public park, where someone must have spilled food on the playground equipment), including 25 hours in ICU.
Jack is so sensitive, that he will break into severe hives several times a month, and we don't even know why.
There is nothing more heart wrenching... nothing more frightening than to see your child go through an anaphylactic reaction. Jack is an amazing kid, and we are so blessed to have him in our lives. We don't take a single day for granted.

Tiffany M.
10/7/2008
7:51 PM
2 Posts

First off my son's first reaction was when I was starting him on solid foods when he was 6 months old. He was having a problem with rice cereal, that is when i discovered that there was something wrong with my baby. I went to a specialist at CHOC hospital, because at the time I was living in California and that is when I discovered that I had a baby that is allergic to everything. I was told that it was good that I nursed my son as long as I did. I of course at this point had to change what I ate for him. As for his scares, we have had a couple. One time Andrew ate one wheat thin cracker and got very sick were he went limp in my mom's arm and I had to call 911 by the time they got there he finally throw up the cracker, but it took him a long time. He had a reaction to french fries that were made in soy oil. Our most recent reaction was to a drink that was made at Tropical Smoothie, the kid made Andrew's drink with yogurt, chocolate and oranges. Well two of the three things he is allergic too. That was bad reaction too. Andrew has always had ezcema. At this point I am very lucky that I have never had to use his Epi Pen.

Debbie B.
Moderator
9/8/2009
7:53 PM
120 Posts

My son's first reaction was when he was 2 1/2 and I gave him a slice of toast with a very thin layer of peanut butter- for him to try for the first time. He new he was trying something new so he was cautious and only touched the bread to his lip and kind of licked it. He put it down and immediately started crying and fussing and was very agitated. I couldn't imagine why (even though I consciously knew I was giving him PB for the first time- I literally never considered he would actually have a reaction to it-nor what that would look like-nor what I would do). Then I saw the hives start up. And keep coming. Then I noticed his lips were swelling up. And he started sneezing repeatedly. I gave him a dose of Benadryl and drove him to and urgent care. They gave him a shot of epinephrine and a steroid shot. He improved.
I was in a daze for a few days, amazed to find out he has a potentially life threatening food allergy. I'm sure you can all relate. Since that day I have learned so much about food allergy.
We have been extremely vigilant ever since. Despite our constant efforts, he has had a couple of contact reactions since that first exposure. One on a Southwest Airlines flight- even after taking a morning flight, wiping everything down well, and of course having them cancel the peanuts for that flight---scary. He also had some kind of slight exposure from the frier at Claim Jumper (that's when I learned that even though they don't use peanut oil they never recommend someone with a nut allergy eat any of their fried foods). He also broke out in hives and respiratory issues recently from something he ate from Kentucky Fried Chicken which is still a mystery to us.

Debbie B.
Moderator
9/8/2009
8:07 PM
120 Posts

Posting this for Mary B- from her introduction post- wanted to list it also under this thread:
When Jacob was one we went to a raw cafe to try it. We ordered a piece of pie or cheesecake or something and gave Jacob a bite. He instantly started coughing and rubbing his eyes. We didn't think he looked well and he started getting hives around his eyes that were swelling. My mom has had allergies for years so I knew that eyes swelling was a problem. I read the label and there were so many different kinds of exotic ingredients and different nuts that I knew he was probably having an allergic reaction to something in the pie...We left and stopped to get some Benadryl. We gave him some in the car...He complained the whole time. When we got home I gave him more and then he started throwing up. After he threw up, the hives went away and he was better. He acted exhausted, but I knew the reaction was over.

I used to be a nut eater. I used to put them in EVERYTHING. I thought the reaction must have been to something exotic that was in the pie, not nuts because we ate them all the time. I didn't think much more about it.

A year later we bought the trail mix that has the m&m's in it. I gave Jacob a little bowl and after a while Jacob came over to me complaining. His hands had chewed up nuts on them. His eyes were starting to swell and he was getting hives. I quickly washed his hands. He started coughing. Then his eyes rolled back in his head and he went unconscious. I grabbed my purse and told Maddy to get in the car. I kept saying..."stay with me Jacob...stay with me"...his eyes rolling back in his head the whole time and his little body completely limp. I thought about calling an ambulance but I didn't know which would be quicker. As I was buckling his seat belt he suddenly woke and threw up. I held him over the trash can crying and saying..."stay with me baby"...We came back in the house and he threw up and slept the rest of the day. At the time I didn't realize how serious this incident had been. I should have gone to the hospital.

We saw a pediatrician and I told him. He prescribed and epipen and referred us to McKnight. It took two months to get in. They tested Jacob for tree nuts and peanuts and peanut butter. Cashews had the biggest welt and my mom-instinct tells me that's what his severe reactions were to.

We've been living in a nut free home for a year now and now we are onto the next stage with Jacob: PRESCHOOL!

Duane & Dana G.
9/10/2009
8:36 PM
25 Posts

Scott was a baby (10 months old), crawling around and wanting to sneak a taste of everything we ate. Duane use to make this incredible home made peanut butter fudge. Scott came a calling so I gave him a lick off my finger. He vomited a little. I thought he was doing the baby spit up thing......so didn't think anything of it. At this time I had no idea what a food allergy was! A year went by and he had his first Halloween. He had his first Hershey's miniature peanut butter cup. Instantly he had hives around his mouth and he was pulling at his tongue and spitting the candy out. Even his fingers where he touched the candy had hives. He was ok, but we thought this was strange. At a Dr. visit we mentioned this experience. Scott went to see an allergist and have a skin test. Sure enough he had some good size welts on his back from the test (allergic to peanuts, tree nuts). While he was in preschool the teacher was absent so a sub took over. During snack time he was feed a granola bar that had peanuts. The school knew about his food allergies and had an epipen. They called to ask what they should do. Since I was ignorant about FA, I just came to pick him up and took him to the ER. Little Scotty was not recognizable when I came to pick him up. His face was red (even his ears), his eyes swollen and watery, and welts on his face. He looked terrified because everyone was panicking! When I got to the ER, they had me go to a room where we waited (about 10 min). They came in to give him a shot of benadryl (nope no epipen). 5 min. later he vomited! The ER should have gave him the epipen, they were even clueless that my son was experiencing anaphaylaxis! At this time I'm still not educating myself about food allergies. Yes, I knew that Scott should not eat peanuts/nuts but there's so much more to food allergies than just ingesting it! My younger son Matthew had not ate peanuts until a Halloween party at preschool (I think our family was cursed at Halloween & Preschool) :) Matt had his first taste of Reeses pieces. He started crying the moment he tasted his first one. "My tongue is burning!", so I had him spit it out in my hand. He had a few hives around his mouth. Only because of my experience with Scott I figured this had to be FA. Years followed and we were lucky. Lucky, because we were still ignorant parents when it came to FA. I received a phone call from the school nurse when Matt was in second grade. His eye and the right side of his face was severely swollen due to peanut butter residue left on a book. He rubbed his eye and the results were bad, he looked like the hunchback (Disney movie). Thank the Lord he didn't wiggle his loose tooth! I hate to go there..... His classmates were freaking out because he looked deformed, so he stayed home for 2 days because the swelling would not go away (even with benadryl from the ER Dr). THIS FINALLY OPENED OUR EYES!! We made an appt. with an Allergy Specialist at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City (Dr. Portnoy). Since then we have spent years researching FA and now live vigilant lives. We are confident that our boys know how to keep themselves safe and I'm proud that they lead the way in protecting others too. Scott is now 13 and Matthew is 11 years old. They are incredible boys! More mature in many ways than the typical kid, all due to their food allergies.

Sara D.
9/14/2009
8:34 AM
10 Posts

We learned that Hannah had an allergy to egg through a skin test just after her first birthday. She had not yet eaten any eggs. We had gone to the allergist because she had eczema/rashes since about 2 months old. It kept progressively getting worse, so we took her in. Turns out, she was allergic to our dog and then also eggs. She just had her first actaul allergic reaction to egg a couple of months ago at her preschool. A parent brought in cupcakes and gave her one without first asking the teacher. After one bite, she started crying and had a rash all throughout her mounth and all over her back. They gave her Benedryl and we picked her up from school. Luckily, we did not have to use the epipen.