Help! Reaction all around baby's mouth. Is it the strawberries or the peanut butter?

[IlanaK]

Ds2 has had a reaction come up all around his mouth just now. It is red and blotchy. He is 1 year old and the only two things that I think can have caused it were peanut butter or strawberries that he had as part of his tea. He has had peanut butter before when he has shared a little of his older brother's sandwhich. But this time he had a slice all to himself. He has also had strawberries before as we made smoothies the other day and he had a little then. But tonight he had his own portion of the smoothies. He has excema, but otherwise has not shown a reaction to any food before.

Any ideas what I should do?

I have just had an all over rash and swollen face in my 2 year old. I'm pretty sure it was strawberries (they are now banned). We went to the docs who gave him antihistamines. If yours is 1 I think he is old enough to have piriton liquid. You might give him some of that just to subdue the reaction.

If it was my child I would give piriton. But I'm not a doctor, just what I'd do.

Another vote for the piriton - check the bottle, but It was prescribed for DS when she had chicken pox at age 1 so I think its OK for this age.
See the doctor too when you can if you want it properly diagnosed

Give him piriton or other anti-histamine for now, and then, tbh, if it was me, I wouldn't give him either strawberries or peanuts again until you have spoken to the Dr.
Once they have had one reaction to something, the next time they are exposed can be more serious.

It could have been either or both, Ilana - bad luck that he had his second exposure to both at the same time (the first exposure is often OK but triggers the sensitivity the second time, iyswim).

I would ring NHS Direct for advice on what to do about the rash, and then challenge him with each thing one at a time, after the rash has subsided.

Thanks everyone. The reaction had subsided by the time he went to bed this evening without a dose of Piriton so it seemed to be quite minor. I think it was the strawberries so I will cut them completely. Next time he has peanut butter, I will watch closely just in case.

Hi, I was told not to give kids under 2 strawberries or peanuts including peanut butter. Other Mothers have told me not under 5 years!

DD has allergies to strawberries and all citrus fruits, dont know where i,d be without piriton

Peanuts and other whole nuts are to be avoided until 5 yrs old if your DS has a history of allergies. TBH I wouldn't try to feed him anything else with peanut unless he has been tested. I was told by the GP to deal with the allergy as if he had a nut allergy diagnosed. The paediatrician told me to avoid whole nuts and particularly anything with nuts until 5 yrs old, though he seems not to be allergic to traces of nuts. When I posted about this a few months ago, some people mentioned that the first reaction to peanut is normally very mild but the second time you have a 50-50 chance of having the same mild reaction or to go into anaphilaxis shock. Not worth the risk IMHO.

If he has excema you should not be giving him peanut butter at 1 year old.

best to avoid the peanut butter. Our consultant didn't tell us the 50/50 bit but he did say that no-one could tell us if the next reaction would be the same or more severe. So there is a risk of anaphylaxis if it is the peanut butter and that is a medical emergency. You could try rubbing a little bit of each on his skin (not near the mouth) and see which comes up. No test is perfect but if he gets a raised bump for peanut butter see your gp as he neds a proper test.