If your first baby had allergies, did your second one too?

[HatHen]

Hi,

My DS had allergies and I am worried my second baby will have allergies too. Has anyone been in this situation? Did you BF or FF your babies? How did you manage?

Watching with interest as ds has dairy allergy and I'm currently pregnant with number 2! I don't want to give up cheese again!!!! My friends second baby has multiple allergies (dairy/gluten/soy) despite her first having none so it can happen I think

Yep, DD1 had CMPA and DD2 has it too. Will probably contribute to me having no more children if I am completely honest.

@ScarletBegonia1234 @EnglandKeepMyBones yes, it is really scary, especially multiple allergies.

I am in a situation where I definitely know that I will not breastfeed (multiple reasons) but I'm a bit worried that if my second baby has allergies, not BF-ing might make the allergy a lot worse? I suppose I perhaps need expert advice on it, but it would be good to get some anecdotal evidence too

No. My dd1 is anaphylactic to peanuts. Dd2 has no allergies.

The first time I dropped her off for a party I was like 'right, so....' then I realised I didn't have to say anything about epipens etc. it was so weird.

My DS1 had terrible eczema from birth until around age 4 & now is plagued with hay fever, also think he may have some sort of wheat intolerance. DS2 has nothing

No.

DS has an epipen but DD is fine .

Ds2 is anaphylactic to nuts, peanuts, coconut. Ds1and 3 have no allergies.

Dd is allergy free, ds has eczema and asthma, wheat and dairy allergies, ds2 has eczema.... each baby is different. Good luck.

Dd and ds both cmpa but ds less severe. Dd had allergy to eggs and ds didn't. Think chances are higher than normal but I don't know how much by. Oh and I was told bf helped a lot especially with the resultant eczema and reflux.

DD1 is anaphylactic to cashews, pistachios and peanuts. I had DD2 scratch tested at 7 months and she was minorly allergic to all three. She was retested at a year and was negative to all three (plus everything else she was tested for). I BF both girls.

Ds 21 has nut and seed allergies, as well as hayfever and plasters, but his allergies didnt start until he was 4
Dd 19 has none

Forgot to say Ds was breastfed and fd was not.
Breastfeeding only delays allergies, it doesnt prevent them

Thank you everyone.

Did any of you do anything different in the pregnancies or pre-pregnancy when your baby did or didn't have an allergy?

My pregnancy craving was peanut butter on toast for both pregnancies. Ds actually outgrew his peanut allergy bit not treenuts or seeds

DD1 has a peanut allergy and as far as we know, DD2 doesn't. Although she's not been tested yet. DD1 has bad eczema though and DD2 doesn't.

I didn't eat peanuts in first pregnancy, GP advised me not to and I did eat them in second pregnancy and currently in third. Not sure if that made ant difference at all

Adan Fox who is one of the leading paediatrician allergists in the U.K. told me a few years ago that research shows that if one child has a nut allergy there is only 7% chance that the 2nd child will also have a nut allergy.

Both my dc have multiple allergies. I was told that it was more likely my second dc would have them, but equally there was a good chance that he/she wouldn't have any. No figures given though.

I was also told that there was no evidence with regards to advice in pregnancy, when I asked what I could do. This may have changed now though, as this was five years ago now.

I didn't breastfeed as was unable but I think it is supposed to help.

I won't lie, it's been difficult, especially as both dc have multiple allergies to different foods (typical!). But there are worse things in life, and luckily both have grown out of some of them now, so diets are a bit easier. I had to be very organised with meal plans, and keeping cupboards stocked.

Experience of a first dc helped second time around and second dc's cmpa was accepted by doctors a lot earlier and I was listened to more by doctors because I already had a dc with allergies.

@wonderwoo thanks for sharing your experience. With your second DC, as you did not BF, did you give Hydrolysed formula straight after birth, or did you wait for symptoms before giving hydrolysed formula?

I waited for symptoms first, then went to gp and didn't take no for an answer! I did speak to the midwife/allergy doctors about going straight onto allergy formula, but it was not considered a good idea. Luckily my gp didn't take much convincing, but I think having spoken to my other dc allergy doctors about it first gave me confidense in how to assert myself! He actually needed neocate in the end (started on nutramigen) but that took many months and I regret not knowing/pushing for that earlier. Live and learn, hey!

There is every chance your next dc will not have any allergies at all. Hold into that thought. And remember that you now the have experience and knowledge that will help no end if they unfortunately do.

Thanks @wonderwoo

I am guessing if my next child has an allergy the symptoms will be there from the start, especially if FF. I remember my DS had some formula in hospital and had the hive type rash (which at the time we were told is nothing). I am going to look into the difference between neocate and nutramigen.

I can't and don't want to BF, and I am trying to decide whether to have another baby who ia highly likely to have food allergies who I know I won't be breastfeeding

Although both DDs have CMPA, DD2 didn't display symptoms of it until she was around 7-8 weeks (ebf - I ate huge amounts of dairy). Once symptoms started we knew what it was and I eliminated immediately. There is a chance your second won't have the allergy, I don't think they'll prescribe the formula until symptoms are present because it's so expensive (the sma alfamino we have costs around £45 a tub). Although speaking with your midwife/GP may be a good idea as they will have experienced parents with similar concerns

It's so difficult to predict. All you can do is prepare yourself that yes maybe your baby will have allergies. Sometimes reactions are slow so all will seem ok then after a week or two of formula the effects start to show. This is what happened when we introduced some formula with ds. In that time damage was done and it took months to clear his system. But you can't get the hypoallergenic formula without a diagnosis or at least symptoms. So I think if not bf you simply have to take the risk. It's not a huge risk and you can keep a close eye on symptoms. Though symptoms might be different with different children like they were with mine. It's a minefield!!

@EnglandKeepMyBones Thanks. At what age did your DD2 ourgrow her allergy?

@laulea82 You are right, it is very difficult to predict, and symptoms can be confusing too. Has your DS outgrown his allergy now? And what age?

Dd grew out of cmpa at about 18 months. Egg allergy about a year after that. Dd is slowly growing out of it. Can now have cheese, some small amounts of butter, but still can't have fresh milk or yogurt at all. He is 14 months. If he gets no better than this it's still ok. He can have soya which dd never could. He gets itchy after fish too. 🤔

DD2 is now 13 months and we failed the milk ladder at stage one a couple of weeks ago with her only getting it through breastmilk, but her reaction is lessening and I think it's going to go similarly to DD1, where she went from being quite sensitive to nothing fairly rapidly