Did all your children have allergies/intolerances?

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DH and I have been pondering when/if we should have a second dc. The one huge hang up for me is that ds is intolerant to milk, soya and wheat and either allergic or avoiding just encase eggs, chicken, salmon, seeds, all tree nuts and peanuts so far and I really don't think I can handle the dietary requirements of another problem feeder with allergies/intolerance until ds has either grown out of the intolerances or can cook for himself!

I know I am possibly making a meal of all this but I find it so hard to cook proper food for him as well as vege dh and feel like I struggle with every meal now, I can't imagine what it would be like with another child to worry about.

So really I am looking for reassurance that all children that come after tricky eaters are perfect eaters and never have any allergies or intolerances! Either that or it magically gets easier! Feel free to tell me I am being silly, it has happened before!

Both of mine had intolerances (ds1 to cmp, ds2 to egg) but they both outgrew them within the first year.

Sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear!

Have one child, he isn't intolerant to anything.

Discrete - I am very glad that they grew out of them within a year, it gives me some hope that ds's will go one day!

One of mine has allergies and the other doesn't, if that helps.

Our family is quite atopic anyway, but only two of my four have actual food intolerances. DS had a gluten problem, DD3 has a problem with milk. Both manifested in similar ways- horrible corrosive diarrhea and outbreaks of eczema. The two middle ones were/are fine (apart from childhood eczema for DD2 until the age of about 4).

Have been thinking a lot about this too. Have read recently that your womb immunity improves with each child, so if any, your first born is most likely to be allergic. No idea if this is really true, but it gives me hope!

DS 16 - allergies to nuts, seeds, plasters, hayfever and some animals

DD 14 - nothing at all.

First and third have issues, third was the most severe. DD in the middle was a dairy refuser and is mildly intolerant but doesn't drink milk and I don't give it to her and never have.

I know the jury is out on whether to exclude potential allergens in pregnancy and there is research into this but I don't think the comparisons go far enough when excluding foods go far enough to be an adequate comparison. I was dairy wheat and sugar intolerant while pregnant (made me feel ill, gave me indigestion, made me hurt) with DS2 so I think his issues were present on the womb, in hindsight so were the other two. Listen to your body while you are pregnant and carry on excluding while feeding, I wish I had done as the first few months of DS2's life would have been a lot easier if I had. I also wish I had done some intolerance / allergy testing while pregnant and as soon as DS2 were born. DS2 has fairly acute intolerances to wheat and dairy and is allergic to peanuts and has outgrown his allergy to sesame. I also believe identifying and excluding intolerance foods has an impact on the severity of allergies and the likelihood of outgrowing but I am only an expert in my own children and am all too aware that each case is individual!!

Ds1 no issues.
Ds2 coeliac and asthmatic

My daughter- 3 years old. Is allergic to all nuts apart from walnut and we nearly lost her to nutella! Thankfully we have epi-pen now and piriton. She also gets hives very easily and has server asthma. I have the guilt of not breastfeeding her and wonder if that would have made much difference.. Just curious and not trying to take it away from OP question but the parents that have children with breathing difficulties and allergies did you breastfeed them and if not did you breastfeed your children that where born after - did they have same problems?

Breast fed all of mine. 1st no allergies, 2nd lactose intolerance gone by age 5. Third lactose intolerance gone by age 4. Nut allergy anaphylaxis diagnosed age 11.

I think it is just a lottery.

Hi, I had a similar-ish thread a few weeks ago, hope the link works www.mumsnet.com/Talk/allergies/1495211-anxiious-about-stopping-bf-DC2-due-to-DC1s-history-of-allergies-wheezing-eczema-etc

DS1 and DS2 developed symptoms of their intolerances at exactly the same age (but two years apart) which was freaky. Luckily for DS2, it meant we worked out was going on and dealt with it very quickly. When I'm cooking for one (or two, as DH has developed the same intolerances) I may as well cook for all of them. I sneak out occasionally and eat pizza and ice cream, guilt free!! I certainly wouldn't have a third DC now because we have been through quite a lot (colonsocopy and endoscopy, 12 months of trying to work out what was wrong and briefly thinking DS1 had leukaemia) while DS2 used to stop breathing in his sleep! The reflux they both suffered really caused us issues too. Now, we have to concentrate on keeping our DSs well and keeping our marriage healthy too - it's been a bit of a stress!

From the experiences of people above, I reckon I'd probably go for a second though...

XKarenX guilt is such a horrible part of being a mum... Exclusively breastfed both mine to 6 months and carried on part time til a year. DS1 cows milk protein allergy, DD2 egg allergy, eczema and others emerging as we speak. It's a horrible lottery and the stuff that comes out of big research studies e.g. The breastfed group were less likely to have x, doesn't tend to work at the level of the individual child - look at mine!

Have 4 DC's, all have allergies or food issues, some worse than others. DD is 'only' allergic to pineapple, kiwi and papaya.

DS1 is coeliac, so on a GF diet. He is also allergic to latex, and all penicillin based antibiotics.

DS2 is allergic to latex, pineapple, kiwi and papaya.

DS3 is severely allergic to Dairy, even trace amounts of CMP set off anaphylaxis. He is also allergic to Soy and nuts.

So our family is using a GF, dairy, soy and nut free diet...

I bf both my DC exclusively for 6 months, DS to age 2, DD to 15 months. DS has multiple allergies. DD is just allergic to egg.

FWIW it does get easier.

Forgot to say, bf DD for 6 months, DS1 for 4 months, DS2 for 3 months, and DS3 for 12.5 months.

Ds1: breastfed for 6 months. No health issues.
Ds2: breastfed for 2 years. Allergic to nuts, peanuts, dairy, eggs, soya, sesame, peas & pulses.

Someone once told me families with atopic history have a 1 in 4 chance of having a child with allergies. I have no data to back that up though!

I am not trying to hijack this thread but as parents who all have something in common allergies with our children.

My daughter is three and goes to a lot of parties throughout year. I've always just took things she loves to eat and give her them but she has a party to attend this Saturday and has asked me can she eat like everyone else at the party. I felt so bad!
My question is how do you all deal with parties etc without making the children feel different to others?

karen there's a thread going on at the moment on how old LOs are when they can understand about allergies that might have some useful ideas... It is a really tough thing I agree - at the end of the day it is inevitable that they will feel different, but the hope is that we can help them feel that being different is ok, or maybe even a bit special (or is that pushing it?) there are some nice books which might which - I've put a link onto the other thread... and others have some really nice thoughts about how they manage it in their families.

Not my kiddies as I only have one (allergic to penicilin, erythramycin adn the other antibiotic he's tried that I can't actually remember right now, plus I suspect a mild milk/cmp intollerence) so can't comparesubsequent cildren. But I'm one of 6 children:
#1 allergic to almonds (only since late teens). Her kiddies #1 milk but grew out of by about 6 as longs as not too much at once, #2 exzema but no food allergies.

#2 nothing
#3(me) asprin, bee stings, wasp stings, react worse than average to most insect bites, mild latex, no food allergies.
#4 latex. pineapple and sulphates set off asthma (but all since adulthood, not as child)
#5 nothing. Her kiddies #1 nothing #2 oranges and has exzema.
#6 strawberries as a child, but no longer (and only if he ate to many!)

My dad had sever asthma and hayfever and Mum nothing.

Only my eldest has allergies (milk, egg, nuts).

HOWEVER, I was told to treat the other two for the first year of their life as if they had the same allergies, ie they had to avoid DS1's allergens completely. At 1 they were tested and they were ok, so I could then resume a normal diet.

The trouble was that not having milk and egg all that time meant that they wouldn't touch it when I did try to give it to them. Then they got fussy about vegetables. The result now that DS1 is 12 is that I have

• a 12 year old who is allergic to milk, egg and nuts but who will try everything and anything and loves vegetables

• a 10 year old DD who is allergic to nothing but eats a very restricted diet. She has drunk milk since the age of 4 but has only in the last year condescended to eat "normal" pizza, having insisted on DS1's rank fake ones for the last 9 years. Will not touch cheese but likes soya cheese.

• a 5 year old DS who is also allergic to nothing but eats a similar restricted diet to the 10 year old. Will not touch milk, yogurt, but will eat ice cream and chocolate. Will not countenance normal pizza.

• a veggie DH

I suspect DD and DS2 would have been fussy eaters anyway but it has all been made a lot worse due to the restrictions in their first year.