DD (2.1yrs) allergic to egg - any advice welcome

[SofaSal]

DD is allergic to egg, we are taking her for blood tests this week to confirm but the doctor seemed to think it was definitely egg and that we need to avoid it completely from now on.

Can anyone advise of what products I need to avoid that maybe I wouldn't realise egg is in? I'm worried about giving her things where it wouldn't occur to me egg is an ingredient.

How should I explain to her that she can't have certain things anymore? Can anyone recommend a story book that explains it.

When she starts preschool in September are there any special things I need to do to try to make sure that she isn't given the wrong foods? Maybe a phrase I need to teach her if someone gives her food?

Thankfully, the reaction is mild but the doctor frightened me a little saying that food allergies often suddenly get worse and that we really do need to be careful.

I think at 2 she's a little young to be responsible for choosing what she eats - preschool will have a form for you to fill in with any dietary allergies etc and they will make sure she has no egg/nothing with egg derivatives in. I'd just tell ehr that egg makes her tummy poorly and she mustn't eat egg. Keep it simple for now. (My dd is 7 and dairy intolerant.) Have a look at kidshealth.org/teen/food_fitness/nutrition/egg_allergy.html - says here that most kids outgrow egg allergy by age 5 so hope that's the case for you!

She is definitely too young to choose for herself what she eats. I'd been advised to keep her away from nuts because we knew she had an allergy but didn't know what yet (now narrowed it down to eggs) and I found her eating a fruit and nut cereal bar at toddler group. I know to watch what she is given at snack time but another mum, that I don't know, had given it to her because the other little girl was having some. I'm now a bit worried about what she will be handed to eat when I'm not watching, particularly when she starts preschool because whilst I assume the carers will know not to give her anything, I'm not sure about other well-meaning mummies!!!

My ds is allergic to nuts and egg white. He was allergic to eggs when your dd's age but it has resolved and he can now eat well cooked egg.He's 8 now .

When he was little it was harder than it is now cos he was too young to tell people. I got him a medi-alert bracelet to alert people and to teach him how to talk about it by encouraging him to tell people about the bracelet and what he was allergic to.

Toddler groups were hard because quite often cakes were offered and lying around enticingly. I needed to watch him like a hawk. Nursery school were great , kept him away from egg if they did any cooking wiht it.

Can't think of any story books for her age group -would have loved that for ds...maybe you should write one?

Foods to watch out for -pasta,egg noodles,some ice cream the obv cakes, meringues ,pastries .

It does get easier

It isn't that she gets a poorly tummy, she swells up around her mouth/face and neck so maybe need to tell her it makes her face poorly?

Thanks so much ggirl - what type of bracelet was it? A metal chain type? I think I've seen those.

yes metal one from here as he has eczema
he still has same one now but it is getting tight

I think it's important to teach allergic kids to talk about their allergy and be confident about talking to strangers and friends about it. Helps for when they grow up and you're not there.

There is a good chance your dd will outgrow her egg allergy , but I do know that it is really worrying when they are so young.

I taight ds to always ask before he ate something outside the home . He asks if it safe to eat. At nursery and school he knew to ask his teacher before he ate anything.Really hard at first but I had to drum into him not to eat at toddlers without asking mummy first. You can get stickers to put on their clothes to remind well meaning adults who pass out food to toddlers.here

Thanks, we'll have a look at those bracelets. I'm hoping she will outgrow it, just need to keep her away in the meantime!

Can't see it mentioned above but some vaccines are made using egg so just double triple and quadruple check that your GP/nurse etc is aware.
AFAIK there are alternatives to the eggy ones although I acquired my DCs after they had been through routine vaccs etc.

My friend's child had an egg allergy. She is now 7 and has totally outgrown it in the last couple of years. Quite miraculous really - just a couple of years ago she couldn't eat biscuits with egg in and now she eats whole eggs! She never reacted to vaccines either fortunately though she was given MMR in the hospital as a precaution. For your dd I would say biscuits are likely to be the biggest problem in terms of things she could be offered without you seeing or being there but ask for a dietician appointment to get some comprehensive advice.

Thanks for all the info.
She did react badly to the vaccines she has had but none of the nurses I saw at the time suggested an egg link so its only now that that makes more sense IYSWIM

I think you're right, its most likely to be small, innocent looking cookies and cakes that people bring in when its their childs birthday or something.

I'm thinking I might get her an 'egg allergy' bracelet to wear, just in the hope that someone might see it before handing over some contraband! Mostly she is never out of my sight, but sometimes a well meaning mummy at toddlers hands a treat out without asking. I will have to make them aware when we start school/preschool.

Hopefully in 5 years or something she will have grown out of it.