14 month old, allergic reaction. Is there anything else I should be doing?

[RubyRo]

DS is 14mo.

He has always had a fairly 'mild' dairy allergy, discovered at 6mo when I started weaning, and therefore we avoid it.

Up until now he would develop hives in the area that milk had touched, which quickly when down with Piriton.

However he has recently had a severe reaction, where he was covered head to toe in hives, red and swelling eyes and laboured breathing. He was taken by ambulance to hospital and is aposolutlely fine. The scariest thing about this it that we have no idea what caused it He hadn't eaten for at least an hour prior to this.

So now we are beginning on our journey to find out what caused this reaction. We will soon be going for an appointment with an allergy doctor and I just wanted to know to expect from anyone who had already been through this process?

In the meantime I will be making sure we always have Piriton with us at all times and I'm watching him like a hawk whenever he eats. I was thinking of maybe packing a little hospital bag for me and DS for emergencies? Just with a change of clothes etc (I was sat covered in DS's sick for hours!) is there anything else I can do for him?

I'm so scared for by poor boy

Hi as you have found out , allergies don't often come in ones. sorry to welcome you to this group of parents, but there are lots of us here to support you.

I think carrying piriton is sensible.

the allergy clinic will ask about his reaction history, and do some skin prick tests.

good luck

Hello and thank you for your reply.

DS has to wait a month(!) for his allergy appointment. I've been looking into private testing and taking out insurance to cover costs, but because this is a pre-existing condition it's unlikely they will pay.

Can I go to the GP and ask for an epi-pen? He didn't go into shock, but I'm worried about the next time! Or will I have to wait until I see the allergy consultant?

Any advice would be much appreciated

a month isn't that long, its usually about 8 weeks for first appointment, at least for London clinics.

when my son was young the waiting time was 18 months, we felt lucky to be seen after waiting for 8 months.

That said, totally understand what you are feeling right now.

just feed him normal stuff as you have done with no problems, carry on avoiding dairy and be careful in your kitchen not to cross contaminate meals with dairy etc. which I am sure you already do. Read all labels and avoid any that mention traces of dairy. His diet may be a bit repetitive

Remember that you have fed your child without any reactions and provided safe food more than he has had reactions.

If you want to see if you can get an earlier appointment, see if you can contact consultants secretary and ask if you can attend an appointment that someone has cancelled. Also contact if health gets worse from an allergy point of view, severe eczema, or asthma.

good luck, let us know how you get on.

If he had laboured breathing perhaps you could ask your GP to prescribe rescue inhalers and/or epipens.

dd was only prescribed her epipen under protest (because nursery wouldn't take a milk allergic child without). As it turned out it saved her life after she ate part of a pistachio. I never leave the house without hers.

Wrt it taking an hour to react, my elder dd took 2 hours before she had a significant reaction to egg - head to toe hives, flushed, vomiting. I don't think its common but its certainly possible. What did your ds eat in the meal an hour previous? It's the second exposure to a food that triggers reaction (or can be subsequent).

Good luck to you and your ds. Its a rocky road but its perfectly possible for your ds to lead a happy, fulfilled, active and normal life. It just takes preparation and vigilance.

He had chicken, rice and pesto pasta (he wasn't that keen on the rice so I swapped it for pasta) all things he has had before.

It's so strange. He has always been able to eat cheese and butter , chocolate is hit and miss as he will sometimes get a rash around his mouth after eating it. Surely if he's allergic, he would be to all milk products?

I think maybe we should go completely dairy free for the time being?

pesto has pine nuts, which are often cross contaminated with other nuts during processing.

Chocolate is again something which has nut traces in and certainly I would avoid both these foods until testing.

if your son can eat cheese and butter, its possible that he is growing out of this allergy as he can eat a processed /heat treated from of milk with no problems.

I don't think you need to go milk free, just plan his meals carefully and don't cross contaminate your meals with his when cooking.

I would be thinking about nuts, too. Lots of chocolate (like Cadbury's) has nut traces. Commercial pesto mixes cheaper nuts with expensive nuts. Galaxy milk chocolate is nutfree (or at least has no trace warning).

Kinnertons do a nut/eggfree dark chocolate if you want to eliminate both.

Skin prick tests should narrow it down. Try to stay sane. xxx

Pesto can be made with cashews or other nuts instead of pine nuts. And pine nuts can be cross contaminated with other nuts.

Also contains egg and obviously milk.
My money's on that as the culprit.

Thank you for all your replies, very helpful.

I've booked DS an appointment with an allergy consultant for Friday, will update!

Good luck x

So you were all right, DS was diagnosed with cashew nut allergy and CMPA. We are now waiting for them to test the rest of the nuts, so are but free for the time being.

The doctor wouldn't prescribe an epipen because the reaction wasn't anaphylactic, I'm really not happy with this. Why do I have to wait for my child to stop breathing before I'm prescribed medication which could save his life? When he had his skin prick test the nurse commented on how 'big' his reactions were. I'm sure cost is the prime reason for not prescribing the pens.

We are going away on an all inclusive holiday at Easter, where I won't have any control over how the food is prepared and not to mention the huge risk of cross contamination.

I feel so stressed and upset. And just so sad for DS.

The doctor also said that 'how they react, is the reaction you will get' and we won't get a bigger reaction next time. This is bollox isn't it?

How could he possibly know that

Does he have much soya? A lot of children with cmpi react to soya too

He has soya at nursery and almond milk at home, he's not reacted to it so far.

They tested him for pine nuts and no he wasn't allergic. Thanks for the advice regarding the AC website, I'll contact them and ask their opinion.

I feel less hysterical than I did this morning (), so slowly coming to terms with it!

'how they react, is the reaction you will get' and we won't get a bigger reaction next time. This is bollox isn't it?

My allergy progressed from cooked cheese making me violently ill but normal cheese being okay, to a tiny amount of any cheese sending me anaphylactic...they can get worse!