Aibu To not really understand why so many children have food allergies?

[daftpunk]

Babies are weaned later ......? I didn't know anyone allergic to nuts or milk when I was at school, can someone explain it?

[marenmj]

just wanted to point out that, while you cannot give your DC an allergy you most certainly CAN give them an intolerance by not exposing them to certain foods.

ie, if you are vegetarian and DC eats veg and suddenly eats a burger they will be sick, not because of allergy/intolerance but because they are not used to meat and their gut will not have be able to cope with it.

Your gut adapts and makes physiological changes to the bacterial community based on what you put in it. I have lived in London three years and to this day cannot eat a ready meal, not even a fancy one, without getting ill... not adapted to something in them I suppose.

I do worry about this with DD as DH and I both hatehatehate fish so she gets none at home. Trying to figure out ways to incorporate it or somehow branch out because I don't want to limit her food choices because of my tastes.

Obviously this wouldn't apply to non-food allergens and if someone is already at a high immuno response trying to reduce the other strains on their systems (such as foods they are sensitive to) often gives them the boost they need to deal with the more important stuff, so I would never tell someone to NOT try a limited diet if they are dealing with an allergy problem.

just throwing that out there.

[EmmaPr]

Girlsyearapart - my heart goes out to you too. How awful it must be to see your child suffering like that at night when her eczema is bad and on such a regular basis. Does she suffer with asthma aswell? - I know it goes hand in hand. DD1 (age3) has a severe nut allergy and gets wheezy, but very mild eczema that's not a real problem. She's only ever been into hospital once with her nut allergy. The wheeze is scary though when it gets bad - again it's watching your child suffering and being totally helpless. But, a word of hope, DD1 grew out of egg allergy at the age of 2 and her obscure sudden covering of the body with itchy hives seem to be reducing in occurance. Nut allergy can be controlled when they're young at least. DD2 is allergy and asthma free. No logic to it.

[girlsyearapart]

Yes then dd2 is allergic not intolerant. Her reactions are mild to severe worsening of excema, hives and swelling of eyes and face. No tummy upsets as far as I can remember but there was projectile vomiting of aptamil formula about once a day when she was on that.
We have cut dairy, soya, wheat, tomato, banana and plum out. Waiting for tests for egg which she has proven RAST 3 allergic to but has never actually eaten. Am so hoping that she will grow out of it all before she goes to school as I can't bear to think of her being teased because her worst area in her face.

[Pitchounette]

Message withdrawn

[lilacclaire]

I 'read' somewhere (one of those you can't quite remember where), that exczema could be cured by avoiding 'everything from the cow'.
I've never suffered from it, so don't know how much truth there is in it or whether its just an old wifes tale.

Funnily enough I developed hayfever in my mid twenties, the same age as my mother developed it, genetic?

I do think that there is a lot of people saying they are allergic to things they are just mildly intolerant to (no offense to those who truly are allergic or very intolerant to certain things). Tuna is mine, I love it, but it doesn't love me (doesn't stop me eating it though, I just know im going to be in discomfort for an hour or two afterwards).

[girlsyearapart]

Yes we went to the GP (every one in the practice!) about ten times before being referred to dermatologist then saw her 3 times before seeing dietitian.
She took one look and said cows milk protein allergy. Since we've realised it's mainly food related we've cut out other 'reacty' foods. I put allergy/intolerance because I don't mean an anaphylactic allergy but I do thinkthe dietitian said allergy. How is your ds1 now and how old? Only wish we had seen dietitian before she started on solids..

[Pitchounette]

Message withdrawn

[girlsyearapart]

Yum. Thanks x

[BlueBumedFly]

Loving the hijack too, you are great!

Wine on its way.....voila!

[girlsyearapart]

Thanks. Didn't read peanut thread am in pre nut allergy denial! Yes some of the foods dd2 has tested RAST negative for still make her react. The dietitian said even if she tests negative on rast and skin prick but still reacts she is intolerant/allergic doesn't matter what tests say. I love my dietitian she's the only one who has really listened and helped. Egg challenge and skin prick coming soon!
And no OP I don't care that I've hijacked your thread.
p.s- White wine please bbf.

[BlueBumedFly]

Oh bless, well good luck then and I am 200% sure eczema is food related. DD3 has had skin prick tests for wheat and eggs and they were pretty much negative so the hospital told me I was mad. If I give her really wheaty things like pasta, weatabix, shreddies etc she comes up in really nasty ezcema 'islands' that then infect and if I give her eggs she vomits.

I am Mummy, I know best, I will control her diet thanks anyway!!! We are desperately hoping no nut allergy for DD3, however, if you have seen any of my threads SDD2 has been desensitized to peanuts so there is sooooo much good news on the horizon for allergy sufferers.

In the meantime I will pour you a glass of vino !

[girlsyearapart]

Yes exactly. MN has been my saviour nice to know others out there with same problems. I could rant for England about it so you're not alone!
I'm sooo hoping she will not be allergic to nuts or have any anaphylactic reactions but only time will tell.
She's asleep atm but we didn't wet wrap her tonight so could be in for some itching later..

[BlueBumedFly]

Girls - I know I get too. I still find that a high percentage of people think we have some warped version of Munchausens (sp?) Syndrome by proxy and we do it for the bloody attention!!!!!!!

Sorry, about to start ranting.

Hope your DD is resting quiet tonight. At least with my SDD and her nut allergy we knew she was safe in bed and would sleep well. You must have gone to hell and back, nothing worse than sleep depravation mixed with stress of the highest level.

[girlsyearapart]

Thankyou bbf. It has been truly horrendous so I'm a bit when I see ignorant comments about allergies! I didn't know anything about allergies or excema before dd2 had them so definitely not following a trend. It hadn't even occurred to me that her awful excema could be related to food allergies untl we were referred to the dietitian and since diet change she's improving.

[noodlesoup]

interesting article about regional allergy differences

[BlueBumedFly]

girlsyearapart - good grief, my heart goes out to you honey. xxx

[bridewolf]

my son showed all the signs of classic food allergy before he 3 months old.

I dont think its the vaccines that cause allergies.

I do think that vaccines will cause severe problems for a small percentage of the population, but does not completely explain the sudden rise in autism and allergies.

for us its a herditory , my grandfather had life long ezcema as his wet nurse couldnt cover every feed, so he was fed wattered down evaporated milk.

allergies are globel, and so it points to our environment changing. spring comes very early these days!

the last 100 yrs has seen huge changes with infant feeding, as well as a vast chance in our food production.

a other cause could be the way our food is grown.
changing the structure of our food, and mixing it with others. changing protein as a cause is interesting, but doenst completely cover the vast rise in allergies.

avoidance does seem to be a cause of allergies, and explains the rise of non herditory food allergies in our new generation.

its too simplistic to give one cause, when is obviously has many causes. its not simple.

if it was a safe long term cure, or lifestyle change would be possible.

have to add, allergies are depressing , worrying and stressful.

[girlsyearapart]

It is an interesting debate about why allergies seem to be on the increase but the OP seems to think it is all made up! What a load of crap. I cut out the soft cheese and other recommendations whilst pg. Dd1 can eat what she wants dd2 has had horrific excema from a tiny baby.
She has proven allergies to a number of things.
Daftpunk if you think this is caused by parents being over protective/imagining things perhaps you would like to comfort a baby who is itchy 24/7, scratches till she bleeds, have people looking into your pram and gasping in horror at the state of her excema covered face, spend effing hours in the shops desperately searching for new foods, watching like a hawk to see if other children have left food behind, oh and not sleeping due to the fact that to get dd2 to sleep we have to hold her arms and legs apart to stop her scratching be my guest.
Now that we have cut many foods out of her diet she is much improved and even sleeps at night.
I wouldn't wish allergies and excema like this on my worst enemy.

[trixymalixy]

Ds did have the vitamin K injection at birth. I hadn't/wouldn't considered that as a vaccination.

DS has been vaccinated according to the normal schedule apart from the MMR, which we do intend to give him, just when he's a bit older so don't want to get into any debate about that.

[bruffin]

My Dad was from Cyprus and had allergies

[Pacita]

Devotion, I can't vouch for third world countries, but I can assure you that Greeks have allergies too.

[bruffin]

A lot of people take coincidence as fact. DS's mmr booster was late. If he had had it at the right time it would have coincided with when the weekend all his allergies started just before he was 5.

Have also spoken to someone on internet whose child was supposed to have mmr but was ill, so it was put off. That week she started to regress and became autistic. If she had had the mmr, the mmr would definitely have been blamed.

My osteopath tells a story of a a 5 year old he was supposed to treat who was suffering from sort of gigantism and also had never spoken a word. He had an appointment for cranial osteopathy on Tuesday, it was delayed to Thursday. That Tuesday he spoke is very first word. The osteopath now never makes any claims for cranial osteopathy.

[trixymalixy]

babybarrister, my Ds started showing signs of allergy to dairy, eggs and soya at 3 months as well, pre-vaccinations.

At one point i did wonder if there had been a link between vaccinating him and his allergies, but when i checked the dates, the allergy had definitely developed pre-vaccination.