Anaphylaxis in 11 month old

[inwiththerosemary]

Hi,

last week my baby (11m) had scrambled egg for the 4th time, and she broke out into hives, vomited repeatedly, sneezed multiple times and then passed out. Before I could get to the hospital she was unconscious and had to stop for an ambulance, they gave her adrenaline and she came round quickly after.

a few days later she had rice pudding (again, had before, it was shop bought) and she threw up and had a wheeze. She does have CMPA but we had done a fair trek through the milk ladder and she was tolerating lots of different dairy products quite well.

we now have EpiPens, and antihistamines.

Before the anaphylactic shock, she had been admitted a couple of times for symptoms like rash and wheezing after eating but the hospital brushed it off as viral. (Both of those meals didn’t have egg, or dairy!)

I am absolutely terrified of feeding her. She has had a rough weaning journey anyway (reflux related) and I feel like she is already behind on finger foods etc, much to the health visitors annoyance and making me feel like a terrible parent.

I am hoping other mums who have experienced this could offer some steer on how to cope whilst we wait for allergy testing? I’m giving her three meals a day, plus snacks, but the variety is limited. 😞

Thanks in advance

Is your health visitor insane? Tell her to get lost for a start.

It is scary, there’s no doubt about it. It’s like being between a rock and a hard place. They have to eat, but food might make them sick. Just pare everything back for a while until you have had the testing. Give her simple unprocessed foods with as few ingredients as possible.

I have been here and can totally empathise.

First of all egg and dairy are common allergies in kids and are fairly likely to be grown out of.

i totally get that you are terrified of introducing new foods. What I did was to use similar techniques as they do for food allergy testing.

first rub the food on their arm and then wait 15 mins, then rub on their lips and wait 15 mins. Try a tiny bit of food in their mouth and wait 15 mins. Every 15 mins double the amount.

Stop if there’s any redness or distress. Have piriton handy.

if really nervous then do it in a&e car park.

I would not hold off from introducing foods as the earlier they are introduced the less likely they are to be allergic to them.

I would only introduce one food at a time if possible.

and to give you hope my DS was severely allergic to milk to the extent that he could not go in a coffee shop where they were steaming milk. He went through immunotherapy treatment and now can drink milkshakes so there is hope.

Thanks all, your responses have really helped and made me feel less alone. We are slowly getting there, although have got to wait another 6 weeks until allergy testing.

Our daughter’s allergies aren’t anaphylactic but they are IGE so I completely get the fear of weaning. It was the most stressful period of my life hands down, and it’s so lonely as everyone else is so carefree!

The advice is to introduce the often allergens little and often, but in your shoes, I’d wait for testing before trialling nuts etc. (someone above mentioned rubbing on the skin first, I don’t think that’s recommended anymore as there’s a theory that how allergies occur - through skin exposure and eczema rather than via the gut). We started by touching pin drop of nut butter to the lip and building up from there.

Dr Helen Allergy is brilliant and worth a
follow on Instagram. Stay away from allergy Facebook groups as you’ll question everything.

My LO is now 2 and a bit and recently ate boiled egg on the egg ladder - it does get so much better and easier, hang in there.

I have also heard that skin exposure before ingesting something for the first time can be a cause for food allergies so I would avoid doing that.
One of my relatives had an anaphylactic reaction to scrambled eggs- it was the very first food his parents tried him on. He did outgrow it, but then developed a nut allergy. Even if your child outgrows the allergy she has, I would recommend always keeping antihistamines and an EpiPen.
It feels like such a responsibility when you’re faced with these allergies, but you get used to it. As your child gets older, you’ll feel more confident that the situation is stable and can be managed.

Allergies are terrible. I paid privately for an allergy test, both prick test for the most common allergens and a blood test.

Allergy testing is disappointing. I wouldn’t be holding out for it telling you anything new. They will only test for things you suspect your child has already had a reaction to. They don’t test for anything new.

You can do a more comprehensive test. The blood test I did (albeit privately) tested everything, all kinds of foods, animal hair, latex etc. On the NHS, I managed to get a skin prick test that tested the most common allergens, plus any requests I had (ie something I suspected could be problematic).

You can, if you pay. But standard NHS skin prick testing they only test for foods you already suspect an allergy to.

I have been where you are and it’s terrifying. We fed only whole foods that I cooked myself. As above we took him to the a and e car park when trying new allergens. It gets better. At five he has grown out of all but the dairy and sesame allergy and at one point we had five allergies. I am now much more relaxed about it and able to manage it better but it takes time and you will get there

Another mum who did some food testing in the hospital site here. I honestly thought I was mental suggesting it but the consultant said it was really common.

I'm sorry to hear what you are going through but I'm glad you already have an epi-pen.
My DS's nut allergies mostly settled down so he now only has two severe allergies as an almost adult. We still have to be careful though.

Another food allergy mum here. It is a scary journey, but I promise it gets so much easier with time.

The first year or 2 are the hardest for sure.

My DC is now 7 and we've gone from 15 IGE allergies to just 6.

1. Keep a food diary, including any reactions

1. Introduce new foods one at a time

1. After anaphylaxis, the body will be more reactive. This could explain the reaction after the anaphylaxis. Or it could be that that food was higher up on the milk ladder or your child ate a larger amount than before? Fresh milk is a lot more allergenic than e.g. cheese or chocolate.

1. If there is any eczema, get it under control with topical steroids, to prevent new allergies developing from skin contact.

1. If they've not already been dispensed, request 2 epi pens. We went private to get ours, as the NHS were beyond useless.

1. Ideally, and I know this is scary, you want to start introducing the most common allergens now, and keep feeding them regularly. Consider doing this with the help of a private allergist, if this is somethiny affordable. They'll do food challenges with you. We introduced wheat and peanuts while parked in A&E.

1. Don't let any doctor "blanket test" your child. This means doing a bunch of blood or skin prick tests, including for foods your child tolerates or have never tried. This is a surefire way of getting false results and avoiding foods unnecessarily. Believe me, it may not seem like a big deal, but every single food you avoid becomes a burden and adding even one can really affect the diet

I'm happy to answer any Qs. I feel like a reluctant bloomin' expert!

Oh and Re the eggs, scrambled eggs are more allergenic the less they're cooked.

On previous ocassions, she maybe tolerated them as they were better cooked or she ate less?

She may tolerate baked egg, or even hard boiled egg. Talk to your allergist about having baked egg in her diet, as this can increase speed of outgrowth.

If she does have any nut/sesame allergy, I strongly recommend starting immunotherapy privately if affordable, the sooner the better.

The wait on NHS should not be too long, but do approach GP to request a time frame. You have epipens, and can get support and training so you are able to cope (it is scary) with using them.

Re - eggs - yes they can be less allergenic the more they are cooked as there are particular proteins that alter their make-up with heat, however it almost goes without saying to avoid them until testing is done.

As others have said, whole foods with the least processing and multiple ingredients are the way to go for the moment.

For bought processed foods, labelling is required by law so can be helpful.
Food diary with photos of any reactions (blotchiness, hives) or even videos of sneezing etc will be useful.