Suspected nut allergy - what now?

[onemumtwocountries]

DS is 5.5 months. We have been experimenting with purees for a couple of weeks, all good. This morning we tried peanut butter with his avocado and banana breakfast. He got a rash around his mouth, eyes streaming, puffy eyelids. He vomited his whole breakfast about half an hour later. Needless to say I was quite frightened! It's now gone back to normal.

What do we do now? Do we go to the GP? Do they run tests? Obviously we will steer clear from nuts but how do we overcome this while he grows up and tries more foods which may contain nuts? They're no family history so I have no idea. Also do people keep an epipen at home? Would it be a sensible thing to do?

Thank you.

[onemumtwocountries]

There's no family history, sorry.

[chloesmumtoo]

Hi onemumtowcountries. How is he now? Poor thing, yes I bet it did give you a scare.
I would definitely go to see your gp and yes he could refer you for skin prick testing up at the hospital. I don't know what their procedures are now as my dd is a teenager so I am a little outdated! She had a reaction at around two and a half and was admitted to hospital where she was given epipens and an overnight stay. They then prescribed her epipens to carry always and we had skin prick tests to confirm it and future appointments with a paediatrician to manage her allergies. Obviously with your ds being so young, things may be slightly different. Peanut allergy can be very serious so any reactions where he has breathing problems and or throat swelling don't hesitate to call 999. For now be very careful and wash his highchair thoroughly and anything he may put in his mouth with the peanut butter on. As for epipens yes I feel everyone with a peanut allergy should carry/have them but may depend on the test results. I don't know how old you have to be either.
You get used to avoiding all foods with nut warnings on so don't worry. It is awful/stressful at first but you get used to it. It will all depends on what your specific paediatrician tells you to do really. But for now I would air on the side of caution and not give anything risky or with warnings on just in case.

[chloesmumtoo]

My dd has many allergies. Eczema, asthma, peanut allergy (life threatening), dustmite allergy, pollen allergies, fruit and veg allergies (oral allergy syndrome) ibruprofen allergy. Its been difficult to say the least but you do tend to find these things do link up. Has your ds any eczema asthma?
Also write down the other things he had in his breakfast for the paediatrician so you don't forget. Just in case it was not the peanut. Anything he ate this morning could have caused it so be careful. Usually a reaction happens on the second exposure of eating it, not the first. Watch the avocado, has he had it much before?
My dd had never eaten peanuts prior to her reaction to my knowledge but had handled them feeding squirrels and had suffered swollen face when family were on holiday here once and I do remember granddad eating monkey nuts! I blamed her sun cream at the time.
Can be a bit of a puzzle sometimes to work out the culprit. Was it just Banana, Avocado and Peanut butter only in his breakfast?

[onemumtwocountries]

Hi Chloe and thank you. He's had avocado and banana for breakfast at least half a dozen times now, it's all cut up and blended freshly so I know exactly what's going into him. I'm positive it was the peanut butter. Thanks for your input, I will speak to the GP soon. Hope your DD is ok!

[MollyHuaCha]

My DCs are teens. When they were younger I followed HV advice to avoid all nuts and peanuts until they were 7 yrs old. I remember gingerly testing by them when they reached this age. OP, yr DC is just a few months old. Has the advice on trying peanuts changed?

[onemumtwocountries]

Hi Molly, yes, they now tell you to try peanut butter between 4 and 6 months to minimise the risk of developing an allergy later in life. I think I'm going to leave it for a while!

[MollyHuaCha]

Ah, I see. I followed advice of the time and personally avoided eating peanut butter throughout pregnancy and br-feeding. When DC stopped feeding I was already pg again, so no peanut butter for another 9 mnths and then the br-feeding time. When I was eventually 'allowed' peanuts again I remember making myself a couple of rounds of toast, slathering on the peanut butter and then finding I had actually gone off it

Sorry, OP, didn't mean to hog yr thread. Yes, yr plan to revisit nuts at another time sounds good to me.

[chloesmumtoo]

Glad you know it is definitely the peanut butter onemumtwocountries. Makes things a little easier knowing for sure. Goodluck when you visit gp, you'll have to keep us posted how it goes. Yes my dd is doing well, some things have improved more as she has got older. Still severe with the peanut though.
Yes Molly I remember the advice on no peanuts through pregnancy and not for children especially ones with eczema until atleast primary age. My memory fails me on what age exactly. My dd should not have had peanut when she did but ds decided to be kind at a buffet and gave her one when we weren't looking!
They seem to be change advice so much over the years, it is hard to keep up. It seems they feel it is best to introduce peanuts early these days.
Dd's allergies are from Dp's side. Dp is fine (well has a bit of oral allergy syndrome, itchy mouth with banana some fruit) but there is a lot of his family with allergy symptoms and a cousin with peanut allergy. Both dp and myself had eczema as children too.

[dementedpixie]

I have never seen that peanut advice especially as you aren't advised to start weaning before 6 months. Everything I have read says to avoid them before 6 months.

[dementedpixie]

www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/food-allergies-in-children.aspx NHS still says not to introduce before 6 months. Are you in another country with different advice?

[onemumtwocountries]

Thanks for the NHS link. We got given this advice at an NCT workshop on solids. Yes I'm in the UK. This link www.parenting.com/blogs/show-and-tell/caroline-parentingcom/food-allergy backs them up but the NHS seems to be more cautious. He's 6 months next week.

[dementedpixie]

It looks like a recommendation in the US then. Don't know if I would go along with it tbh if it hasn't filtered to the UK yet

[2014newme]

Oh gosh peanut butter at 5.5 months is too early. Banana is not supposed to be given till after 7 months ss it's so starchy
Go to your gp and get a,referral for allergy testing for the nuts and avoid them in meantime.

[HateSummer]

I didn't give my kids nuts until 12m and even after that.

Dd was diagnosed with a nut allergy a few months ago. She's allergic to all nuts. There's different levels of allergies, and if your ds didn't have breathing difficulties then he might just be mildly allergic and they won't give him an epipen for that.
You could take him to the doctor and they'll refer him to the hospital to get a pin prick test done, but I'd cut out the nuts until then.

[trixymalixy]

Current advice from my allergy consultant is to expose to nuts (not whole nuts obvs!!) as early as possible to give the best chance of avoiding nut allergy so you have done nothing wrong OP.

I would avoid nuts for now and ask your GP to refer for testing.

They are very unlikely to give an epipen to a 6 month old as they are below the safe weight for one.

[welshweasel]

There is an awful lot of emerging evidence that weaning between 4 and 6 months is beneficial in terms of reducing allergies. I read the biggest paper and chose to wean at 5 months, everything except honey. I was chatting to the HV about it at his 12 month check and she had just been to a meeting where they were discussing changing the NHS guidelines as they have in a number of other countries. So giving a 5.5 month old peanut butter is entirely reasonable. Sorry he's had a reaction. I'd pop to the GP as they may wish to do allergy testing as but allergies in particular can be serious second time round.