To ask if you have had a toddler who was allergic to nuts but outgrew it later in life

[5lilducks]

Sorry, posting here for traffic.

I gave DD 2yrs and 8 mnths the tiniest bit of a cashew nut and she had an allergic reaction. She vomited and had a rash all around her eyes and was quite limp in my arms. The paramedics arrived and with piriton , calpol and monitoring she was sorted out. I am now worried she will have a lifelong allergy to nuts. Neither myself or DH or any of our close relatives have nut allergies. I can now see on NHS website they say to introduce nuts when child is between 6 -12 months. Given that she has eczema I was worried about introducing nuts to her but now having read the NHS guidance I am worried that I have failed as a mum in this respect and my DD will have a lifelong allergy to nuts. So, lovely mumsnetters, I would like to know if any of you have had a toddler who had nut allergies which they eventually grew out of, or any experiences of nut allergies in toddlers.

@DuckonaBike were you referred to an allergy specialists without a anaphylactic reaction ?

@5lilducks (liking the duck theme here) yes we were. She has never (touch wood) had anaphylaxis, only mild/moderate reactions. She does have a lot of allergies, which may be a factor, although happily some are now reduced. She also has asthma which is an additional risk. I don’t know if either of those things was a factor in getting referred - I didn’t have to push for it, it just happened.

Also her problems were first noticed nearly 10 years ago. I don’t know if things have changed.

I weaned late with my son who has eczema and now multiple nut and peanut allergies. The thinking now is by taking molecules in via their skin where there is a poor barrier already before their gut they are more likely to develop allergies. His allergies reconvened I wean my next child at 4 months on everything which I did. No allergies.

Anyway as the allergies are already developing I didn’t recommend doing anything without seeing a dr first. But that was my experience.

Sorry that should say the paediatric allergist recommended I wean my next child early.

Ds1 has his first reaction at 6mo. His reaction was less serious than your dd's but I panicked and rushed him straight from the park to a&e at the children's hospital . So we had a discharge letter from them which I took to the gp, who referred us straight to the paediatric allergy service. We were seen 4 months later when he was diagnosed with peanut and cows milk protein allergies. Both moderate.

It is possible that the gp was more willing to refer him because of the suspected cmp allergy I suppose. Or maybe she was just more switched on?

@Carycy the advice I was given was exactly the opposite! Ds2 was weaned later and super-carefully. No baby led weaning for him.

He has no food allergies at all. Personally, I think genetics is a huge determinant of allergy susceptibility.

Allergies are odd. My dd had her 1st allergic reaction to hazelnuts at 4. She had previously eaten them with zero problems. It can be a bit daunting at first but it's totally liveable with. My dd has never had an anaphylactic reaction but our gp still referred us to a specialist who did skin prick tests etc. Different drs do recommendations different things. We saw one consultant who said avoid all may contains etc but then another told us the opposite. It can be a minefield. There is a great fb page that lists nut free food called the nut free living guide.
It seems horrible at first but kids adapt. My dd now knows to ask about everything she eats with people other than us and she checks packaging as well. She still lives like a normal child. Although some resturants are really shit about allergies of all kinds.

How do you get a referral? Mine had a reaction to nuts and eggs but every time m I've mentioned it the advise is to just avoid them.

I just spoke to our gp for a referral. I think we were lucky he took us seriously as I have been told by another dr its 'not a true allergy' as she just vomits and gets hives. I would see a different dr if they won't refer. It's helpful to see someone who really knows what they are talking about and can answer all your questions esp about may contain products and medication etc.

@chunkyrun how confident are you?

"Just avoid them" is useless advice. For how long? Are you then supposed to periodically have a go to see whether they've outgrown it?

In your situation I'd have a look on the anaphylaxis uk and allergy uk websites, where I'm pretty sure the gold standard advice is to get a referral. Then challenge your gp, quote the advice and - if they still wont budge - ask for a second opinion. Alternatively, ask for a referral to a private paediatric allergy specialist (look up who you want to see you first) if you can afford it.

Nut allergies are such a funny thing, aren't they? One of my DDs had no allergies at all until she was 12. Then she developed an allergy to hazelnuts and cashews (having merrily been a consumer of Nutella previously; it was actually the cashews that provoked a reaction).

Then she tested positive for peanut allergy a couple of years later. Her tree nut allergies have changed over the years but hazelnuts and cashews have been the constants.

We found blood testing more accurate than the skin prick testing, though, for her.

We moved to a different country when she was 11and I have wondered if there was an environmental trigger to the nut allergies. She developed the most awful hay fever which she has never grown out of and the nut allergies started not long after. Perhaps her immune system just got overwhelmed?

I also developed hay fever and we both now suffer from oral allergy syndrome to certain raw fruits and veg. That on its own doesn't require an epipen but is really uncomfortable and we just don't eat the foods in question raw at all.

"Just avoid them" is useless advice. For how long? Are you then supposed to periodically have a go to see whether they've outgrown it?

^^ thanks I'm going to have to be pushy aren't I. With eggs he can't have say a cake with eggs in but if he has home made pancakes they're to eggy. One dr said use the egg ladder but the nurse said to avoid 🤷🏾‍♀️

Sorry you went through this , it is such a scary experience.
One 'positive' is at this age your DD would have tried most of the high allergen foods and you already know she doesn't react, which is a huge benefit.
My DS reacted to milk on his skin at 5 months (nasty hives) and eggs cooking in the same room at 5.5 months (vomit, diarrhoea and worsening eczema). NHS ran bloods which confirmed the egg/dairy allergies and highlighted a few more.
He has tested positive to most nuts and sesame but his numbers are low so we are hoping to do food challenges on the NHS in case they are false positives.
Facebook has some good 'Allergy Parent' groups and I constantly read of kids outgrowing their nut (and other) allergies. It is not as uncommon as one may think.

DD had a reaction to peanuts at 2 1/2. Very sleepy, coughing and hives. We got a referral on request and the skin prick and blood tests showed a severe reaction. We were issued with epi pens and she was tested every 3 years to check for any changes. Her last but one test the reaction had increased and we were told it was unlikely she'd outgrow the allergy.

However her most recent test showed a substantial reduction in reaction. A blood test showed no peanut specific markers and she has now successfully passed a food challenge at 11.

DS had a relatively mild reaction on first exposure to peanut butter aged 9/10 months. It was a tiny scrape on some toast, I was eating it and shared it with him to chew on. He seemed ok but his face came out in hives and lips awoke up.

We were told to avoid them and see an allergy specialist when he was a bit older. Around 3 we saw the specialist and she did various skin tests showing mild reactions. We then very gradually introduced peanut butter, did the thing where you wipe it on his arm, then his face, then he licked a tiny bit etc. Over a period of months. It seemed to work and he shows no reaction now (aged 4) although he doesn't much like it.

It is still on all his notes though and seems to get copied from one set of notes to the next so will probably crop up on his records for years.

Awoke = swelled, sorry for autocorrect

My son age 1 was allergic to milk and peanuts and outgrew both by age 3

Me!

I can eat nuts fine now. I grew out of it in my 20s

You need epi-pens now and a referral to an allergy consultant.

DS's nut allergies have mostly settled down but he's recently developed an oral allergy to raw carrots.

That advice was based on upcoming research. Suggesting the current trend for late weaning could be contributions to allergies in atopic children.

My husband has a mild nut allergy so I read a lot round that when pregnant and as pp have pointed out current thinking is later weaning is resulting in more allergies and nhs advice is not to avoid potential allergens (obviously not those the mother is allergic to) when pregnant. So I ate nuts while pregnant and breastfeeding and introduced at 6 months. Small quantities to begin with. It all seemed ok and then around 8 months I thought maybe DD had a reaction but put it down to her eczema. Next time she had peanut butter she had a reaction. Started rubbing her mouth and broke out in a rash on her hand where she rubbed it. Luckily antihistamines sorted it.

We got a referral to the allergy clinic where they did the skin prick test. My DD initially tested negative using the solutions but I said there is no way she is not allergic so they ground up some peanuts and tested it again which confirmed the allergy. So we have epipen everywhere we go and we go back for more testing in a few years.

Apparently about 20% of kids grow out of it. So I'm hopefully but based on DH I don't think it's likely.

The consultant told me I did everything right, it's just one of those things. But definitely get a referral sorted.

My dd was allergic to nuts, milk and eggs as a toddler. Now 17 and has been allergy free for 10 years. She had a "nut challenge" which basically meant slowly eating a nut flapjack.

I've been following the research @Carycy. Last study I looked at was still excluding children with known allergies from the research group eg if they were allergic to cmp or egg they weren't eligible to take part. Have they moved on from that then?

With ds1 I didn't eat peanuts when pregnant or breastfeeding (conceived 2 weeks after a miscarriage so I was paranoid). DD I'd relaxed and my fave snack while pregnant was a Snickers. DS2 I'd gone back to no peanuts. Dd is the only one who was exposed to peanuts at an early age and she's the one with an allergy. Sod's bloody law that the one where I followed the guidance was the one who ended up with a problem. Who knows though, that exposure might actually have helped her grow out of it in the end.

My DS was a child with bad eczema and asthma and had his first allergic reaction to peanuts aged three (vomiting, drooling, inability to swallow as throat closing). He’s now aged 24 and is still allergic to both peanuts and tree nuts. He has had proper allergy testing under a paediatric consultant with the last tests as a teenager which showed strong reactions to both peanuts and all the tree nuts he was tested against. We were told at that time that if the allergies had persisted so strongly into teenage years, that he was unlikely to grow out of them. He has always carried epi pens since his first reaction.
I would say that a referral for proper allergy testing is essential to enable you to manage the allergies confidently as your child grows up. I also suggest getting in touch with the Anaphylaxis Campaign who have provided our family with much help and guidance over the years as we’ve encountered different situations (school trips, eating out, going to uni in shared halls and many others). I think they have a helpline that you can ring if you need.