Severe Dairy, egg, sesame and peanuts allergy

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My son has recently been diagnosed with severe dairy, egg and sesame peanuts allergy. He reacts with rashes all over his body if he even sits on a public high chair used by other babies. It’s so hard looking after a wriggly boy with so many allergies and wondering how everyone’s coped....
I can’t even let him play with other babies and I have stopped going to play groups as he puts everything in his mouth, and most toys gets also licked by other babies that have had milk....
I am dreading being invited to bday parties and have already had to reject one because I’m worried how I am going to keep my son safe....

Has anyone taken their severely allergic babies to nursery?
Have they outgrown these allergies or do they stick for longer?
I’m an exhausted mother with no prior experience with allergies....

That must be tough. I don't have direct experience but one of my Facebook friends has been through this. Her little one happily outgrew all the allergies by about age 4 but it was a long slog. Have you had an appointment at an allergy clinic? There might be notices on a pinboard for local meet ups for families living with extreme allergies?

My 2 yo DS has severe allergies as well (dairy, egg, fish,nuts, soy) and goes into anaphylactic shock to all but soy.

It's really hard but you really can't stop living your lives because of it, especially if you have other children!
My son attends a nursery and childminder and to be honest for most of them it's so common they have it down to a tee! As I said my sons only just 2 and already knows only to eat what's on his plate and not to let children touch his food Maybe look around your area and see what's about...

I was lucky at first as my son had an oral aversion so we didn't need to worry about putting things in mouth but my friends are all amazing so at parties etc they normally make a little announcement to say "soandso can't have such and such so can you keep an eye out for food on the floor etc"

Sorry that was really long and didn't really answer your questions but feel free to ask anything if you want to as we've been where you are and now are in a place where it's still a pain but just something we get on with.

The best thing that happened to us is having an amazing consultation team and specialist nurses. GPS try their absolute best but you really need (which you probs are) consultant advice.

With regards to skin contact, our son wear full body bandages so doesn't have issues with touching things (unless people touch his face!).

This is really hard. It's nearly 10 years since I realised how many allergies my baby had, and how severe they were. Very few people understood my level of anxiety about him, and a few even thought I must be exaggerating or making it up.

Here are a few tips (in no particular order )

Carry wet wipes everywhere, and clean all high chairs and tables thoroughly. Ignore the judgy people who roll their eyes at you cleaning swings and slides at local parks.

Take emergency food everywhere (e.g dairy free biscuits, flapjack, the kind of things that can live in your handbag) even if you don't think you are going to be out of the house for long. (You can't just buy a sandwich for him if you get delayed).

Find playgroups where the staff listen to you, actively care, and are willing to make adjustments. If children are allowed to eat cheesy crisps while playing with the toys, don't even bother going to that one, but if they all have a set snack time at a table, this is more doable, children can wipe their hands and faces afterwards. I've met some wonderful playgroup leaders who bent over backwards to include my son. The local churches tended to be more sympathetic than the preschools and surestart centres.

Always check ingredients, every time you buy. Sometimes they change without warning.

ALWAYS have the medication with you. Check every time you leave the house.

Find recipes that taste good, and are cheap and easy to make. These will become your family favourites. (I'll send you our chocolate cake recipe if you like).

Develop a special smile of non-reactive patience for people who say, "have you tried goats milk / kinesiology / my latest strange cure for allergy? " Also for the people who say, "a little bit won't hurt him".

Do everything the hospital paediatrician says, and ignore well meaning advice from everybody else (even me)

It does get easier to deal with. My healthy 10 year old is with me now (off school with a temperature).

My son says that your baby will need security from you even more than most children. He also says keeping the environment safe is key.

My son hasn't had a serious reaction in years, although some of his allergies are still severe. You will find coping strategies

If you're worried about food/ingredients, Food Maestro is a fab app that we used at first (and my friends still use if looking after him) where you can put all allergies in and then when you scan a food barcode it will tell you if he can and can't use it.

And YY to just smiling and nodding when people tel you about miracle creams etc they used and were cured within one week!

In answer to one of your earlier questions, children are less likely to grow out of their allergies if those allergies are multiple and severe.

You will be told by many well-meaning people that most children grow out of milk allergy by the time they go to school. Please don't get your hopes up.

Having said that, my son no longer reacts on skin contact to invisible traces of milk. One day last term, somebody flicked yoghurt on his arm in the lunch hall and he didn't even get hives! He can eat baked milk in biscuits now (carefully controlled milk introduction managed by hospital), and 'may contain traces' is no longer a problem. This is life-changing for us!

When he was small, I didn't dare to send him to nursery as I couldn't find one that would cope. However, the second preschool we tried was able to accommodate him. His infant school made lots of adjustments for him, and he is now well cared for by his junior school.