Reaction after kisses - CMP allergy

[Whelk]

Dd2 (2.5 and allergic to CMP and egg) came out in a a flushed red rash with raised bits following playful enthusiatic kissing with her grandfather. He'd been eating cream about an hour earlier,

It seems horrible to react to just kissing (albeit enthusiatic play). is this normal for milk allergies?

We tend to kiss her on the hair/ clothes if we know we've eaten something. deep down I think they'd think we were mad to suggest they didn't kiss her.

I'm terrified what would happen if she ate something containing CMP.

any allergen can cause that reaction, kissing is a problem. you should tell family that if they have eaten anything that your child is allergic to, they shouldnt kiss her.

certainly when and if your child doesnt outgrow, when she reaches teen years, she will have to be comfortable in any relationship to ask what that person has eaten before they kiss her.

although skin contact looks dramatic , it rarely goes further in to a more serious reaction. washing skin, applying antihistamine cream or giving oral antihistamine is what we do. its more of a problem if the allergen is injested via mouth or rubbed in eye. once the allergen is in the bloodstream a reaction is may be more of a problem.

it doenst matter what other adults think, your childs safety comes first, am sure i am called all sorts of things behind my back esp when my son was younger, now that he is a teen, and we have a long history of mad dashes to hospital, acceptance in the wider family has finally clicked.

Thanks. Yes Im going to have to be much firmer about grandparents not kissing (and in general about allergies) - but thats a whole other topic!

Bloody hell its hard isn't it.

I dread to think what might happen if she ate something

Whelk, I remember that you've posted about grandparents before (this was on a thread where I was having a right old moan about how some of my family do not really seem to 'get it').

It is so hard, isn't it? How do we keep our DCs safe without coming across as completely paranoid mothers...?

DS also reacts to tiny traces on his skin but, as eragon says, it is usually not so severe as it looks.

Yes, sadly this is quite common. I remember all too well the first time DS2 came out in hives on his cheek when DD1 kissed him after eating chocolate. I was so shocked and poor DD1 was so upset but I quickly reassured her it wasn't her fault as none of us knew this could happen at the time. A spoonful of Piriton was enough to sort it out but it did make me wonder what the hell would happen if he actually ingested milk by accident. We now have a policy of not kissing/touching DS unless we've washed our hands and faces, and this applies to all family/carers. Does make me very sad that I can't just give my little boy a kiss without thinking 'have I washed my face since I last ate?' :(

Thanks for all your replies.
It was Ok. I guess I'm just so worried thinking just how bad could it be if she actually ate something or drank some milk.

Yes, DD1 used to as well. My father used to kiss her after drinking tea (with milk in it), and leave big red patches all over her face. Time after time, after being told each time to be careful . To be fair, it never seemed to bother her too much, just a little itchy. Taking her out to sit at eg coffee shop tables was always a bit russian roulette as well.

She seems to have grown out of the contact allergy now, at age 4. Still avoiding ingesting milk and egg in all forms though, and have epipens to deal with any accidents (never used so far).

Do you have epipens? And if not, could you push for testing to see if they are appropriate? At the very least you need to carry Piriton round with you all the time (double the dose is fine for a bad reaction, 5ml I think). It is terrifying, but at least if you have a plan to deal with any accidental ingestion, you'll be able to follow it and minimise the fallout (whilst panicking madly on the inside).

I kissed my dd on the forehead after having a glass of milk when she was about 2.5 and she came up in a red mark (had already been diagnosed with egg and CMP allergy so a bit stupid of me but I didn't realise it would be a problem). Really worried me about her actually eating/drinking something with CMP in it.

Fast forward a year and she's just passed an egg challenge and she scoffed a chocolate biscuit at Sunday School yesterday (wasn't supposed to have it) with no ill effects.

DD's allergies are my least favourite thing about being a parent because they seem to affect everything we do every day - or it feels that way - but I'm hoping that it won't be forever. I know not everyone grows out of them, but at least there's a chance she will.

How old is your DD?

We all worry!!!! However, if your DD is 3 years old or above, I'm guessing that you have trained her very well and that she is highly unlikely to eat or drink (i.e. actually ingest) anything that hasn't been checked with you first.

My DS refused to share food with ME today! - I asked to try one of his dairy-free chocolate buttons (his treat after his first day at pre-school). He looked shocked and said "of course you can't have one!"... then 5 minutes later he came up to me and said "I'm sorry you can't share my food, mummy" - I have trained him even better than I thought!

Are your DD's grandparents aware of the reaction? It make shake them up a bit if they realise what happened...

Sorry, didn't read your original post properly! However, even at 2.5, your DD is probably quite aware of not eating anything YOU have not checked first.

I think I'd be inclined to teach her quite specifically that food offered by grandparents is not okay unless yiou have checked it first... (I have done this with my DS as grandparents mean well but are not sufficiently clued-up enough to keep him safe)

Thank you so much for all your replies. As ever the advice and support on here is so helpful.

Dd2 does have epipens. She got them at 9 months because of her strong reaction to a very small amount of forumal mixed with breastmilk. And I carry Piriton too.

DD1 is allergic to egg and at nearly 5 means I've carried the kit around for about 4.5 years. So we are always prepared!

Dd1 is well trained around food (for herself and dd1) but dd2 is not there yet in terms of keeping herself safe. Although she does ruefully say 'I'm not allowed that' repeatedly as we go around supermarkets.

Greenbananas- How did Ds get on on his first day at preschool? And how did you cope? Have they been as good as they sounded?

Most of the time I feel we muddle through OK. But sometimes I just find it so bloody hard and PANTS!

forumal???? I mean formula!

CokeFan - Sorry I missed your post. That is fantastic for your dd. I do love a 'growing out' story!

What a relief for you. Totally agree about it being the hardest bit of being a parent.

DS used to react after kisses as well. The first time it happened DH was blowing raspberries on DS' tummy about 1/2 an hour after drinking tea and it took us ages to work out what had caused the hives!!

Whelk, yes, allergies are pants. There's no denying it!

Thank you for asking about DS - his first day at pre-school went really well. He was really excited about taking his snack in his own 'special bag'. I was literally shaking with anxiety at snack time, but it was pretty much okay (he was 'sandwiched' between me and a nursery worker. I'm a bit worried about leaving him there unattended, as there is only one member of staff per table of eight children - all drinking milk and spreading butter on toast! - but I will see how it goes...

Whelk - glad you've got all the kit (although we'd all much rather not have to have it obviously).

You mention the grandparents not being great - one thing that helped my mum to appreciate the reality and seriousness of the allergies was practising with an expired epipen. I think being talked through the possible signs of anaphylaxis, and then using the pen herself (on a grapefruit), drove home how serious it could possibly be, as the pen is quite scary really. She actually said to me the next day that she hadn't really taken on board how the allergies affect everything we do, and how well she thought we coped with it. Which from my mum was high praise indeed! I'm definitely going to make the other GPs do it now - I wouldn't trust my dad with feeding DD1 at all! Worth a try?

And yes, allergies really are PANTS. We've got our first food challenge tomorrow and I am shitting bricks .

Lukewarmmama - Good luck tomorrow! It's not the best experience but when dd1 'passed' the baked egg challenge her life changed for the better quite dramatically. So hoping you get a positive outcome.

On grandparents - actually this set try really hard. It's hard to get it right all the time when you don't live with it day in day out. But the fact is that you must.

At home we have many meals which are dairy/egg free so its generally pretty relaxed and when milk is present we are really disciplined about it being contained and tidied up immediately.

Dd2 and I had a good shout today 'Cows Milk's Pants'