A link between complications in pregnancy and allergies?

[AnitaBlake]

I'm not a geneticist, or any sort of 'expert' in this area, I work in ppublic health, so this is in no way a scientific survey oor enquiry! So far my sample size is two, and its an incredibly biased sample consisting of me and my mum!

Or possibly four depending if you are counting pregnancies or mothers.

My mum had three pregnancies that went to term. Of these, two were straight-forward and uncomplicated. The third one was very complicated, she developed pregnancy-induced hypertension and had to be induiced for the safety of herself and the baby.

Because in 'those days' you did, she began weaning early, and discovered that he was severely allergic to eggs, dairy and corn.

I've had one pregnancy, I developed PIH and the baby was delivered at 38weeks, for both our safeties. My little girl has a dairy allergy (confirmed by the allergy clinc).

I just wonder if any one else with an allergic child had complications in pregnancy?

I don't think the complications caused the allergies but mmaybe were an indicator of things to come? I've done a quick google search but can't find any studies that even consider maternal health.

Its crossed my mind. DS2 was strangled very hard on exit. Had the cord very tight 3 times, 2 minutes to resasitate, head twice the size (for 24 hours only) blood shot eyes for months. However, I personally totally and utterly blame his 3rd set (3 injections) of immunisations. He was fine until that day. Had milk based items numersous times until That Day.

How I regret it.

I had Pre eclampsia in my first pregnancy with DS who went on to have allergies to nuts, seed and hayfever etc.
But pre eclampsia is most common in first pregnancies and allergies are more likely in the oldest child so it could well be a coicidence.
DD no complications (other than high risk for DS) and no allergies.

I had pre-eclampsia. DS is allergic to nuts and egg yolks.

I had absolutely no problems throughout my pregnancy and my dd's birth, but she is still allergic to peanuts. She has two cousins who are also allergic to nuts so IMO, there must be a pretty strong genetic link.

My DS (4) is allergic to peanuts, nuts, cows milk & eggs. He also has asthma, hayfever & eczema. My pregnancy & birth were uncomplicated. My DD (20mo) hasn't any allergies we know of (no exposure to nuts/peanuts yet) & my pregnancy & birth were both uncomplicated.

There isn't an obvious cause I can link to DS & his allergies. The one difference is that whilst pg with DS I ate his allergens & for the fists 6 months of bf before we knew of his allergies. Where as with DD I avoided DS's allergens during pg & until she was weaned to know if she was also allergic.

In my first pregnancy I avoided peanuts but no other nuts, or any other foods for that matter. I had to have loads of steroid injections due to bleeds late in pregnancy. Dd has no allergies.

In my second pregnancy I didn't avoid peanuts or anything else. The pregnancy was more straightforward with no problems at all. Ds is allergic to egg and cashew nuts. The only thing I did differently second time around was to have the flu jab, as everyone around me - both family and work - was coming down with pretty serious bouts of flu and I didn't want to take the risk. This is now the stick I beat myself with, I totally blame myself for ds's allergies. Of course there's no way of knowing if things might have been different if I hadn't gone for the jab, but I suppose it's human nature to try to find a reason.

I think the reality is that beyond genetic inheritance, nobody knows why some people develop allergies and others don't. I have a friend whose husband's face blows up like a balloon if he goes near a horse. Their children have no allergies. My dh and I have no allergies and yet our ds does, so even a genetic likelihood of developing allergies is not set in stone. Shit happens, and sometimes it happens to you unfortunately. I wish there was a way of predicting/avoiding allergies - I am pretty devastated that I won't have more children now, as I just couldn't go through another pregnancy knowing that there is every possibility that I could have another allergic child.

That's gone off topic a bit, sorry, but I suppose what I'm trying to say is that allergies are so unpredictable there doesn't seem to be any common denominator anywhere along the line - easy pregnancies are probably just as likely to produce allergic children as problematic ones...

Thank you all for replying, I think I'm wondering if perhaps an allergic child coould be the cause of pregnancy complicatioos, or part of the puzzle anyway. I'm a strong believer in genetic causes with healthh issues like these but, my work has led me to investigate more environmental factors. Looking at the whole picture as opposed to individual exposures.

I think with my mum reacting so badly to the pregnancy that resulted in an allergic child and then the same happening to me kind of got me curious!

I had HELP syndrome - induced at 37 weeks. Baby had a cow's milk allergy almost from birth. However, I believe food allergy is linked to family history - I have suffered from hayfever, so has DH. I also have food allergies and my mum had no probs when she carried me, although I was readmitted (as a baby) around six weeks with bronchiolitis. Apparently, mum's with hayfever should avoid being preggers during hay fever season!!

I had HELP syndrome - induced at 37 weeks. Baby had a cow's milk allergy almost from birth. However, I believe food allergy is linked to family history - I have suffered from hayfever, so has DH. I also have food allergies and my mum had no probs when she carried me, although I was readmitted (as a baby) around six weeks with bronchiolitis. Apparently, mum's with hayfever should avoid being preggers during hay fever season!!

Funny. I've wondered the same thing. Have 4 ds. All have hayfever to some degree and 3 have eczema (I have both) but only DS2 (who was monitored during pg for slow growth and i was hospitalised for a bleed) has severe allergy. did have mild peanut allergy and has severe allergy to kiwi fruit. Also has suffered with severe asthma although that now seems to be under control (i hope!) Just seems strange that during pregnancy there seemed to be indicators that things may not be straightforward!

Also the case with a couple of friends and their children. Some pregnancy difficulty has seemed to equal a more difficult time with health generally for that child! Weird!

I had three straightforward pregnancies but in hind sight, my food intolerances while pregnant were indications of future problems. In fact with DC3, I wish I had followed my gut instinct a bit more and somehow tested for wheat and dairy allergy / intolerance. If I have excluded wheat and dairy earlier and discovered his nut and seed allergies we might all have had a much more easier first 9 months!! The EAT survey concerns me as I think some food issues are inherent in vitro and earlier exclusion is better than early introduction. I do wonder if there are early signs that could if correctly interpreted could have significant and long term positive improvements to our children's health.