Toddler went blue, floppy and unconscious - and nobody seems to be investigating!

[Creamandhoney]

On Sunday, my 19mo DD had eaten an oat bar that she’d never had before (may or may not be relevant). About 30 minutes later she did 3x large vomits, and my husband brought her to me. I thought she looked very pale, and within about 30s she had gone completely floppy, grey / blue around the lips and in and out of consciousness. She was breathing shallowly throughout the whole thing. Obviously we called an ambulance, which arrived within about 5 minutes. Just before the ambulance arrived, she perked up and just went completely back to normal!

We went to A&E and they said they weren’t sure, but it was likely a rare allergy called FPIES which can present this way (although rarely with shock, and normally with profuse vomiting). An ECG was normal. No bloods were done. She was discharged.

On Monday, she was totally normal and completely well.

Yesterday, she began vomiting profusely from waking, not even able to keep down sips of water. Bizarrely, in between vomits she was also completely well and wanting to play with her toys etc. No fever, no diarrhoea, not showing signs of pain etc. We took her back to A&E who gave her an antiemetic (ondansetron) and discharged her again. Again, no bloods / other investigations performed. Diagnosis was a vague “virus”, unclear if related to Sunday or not.

Today she is totally well but refusing to eat and vomiting again. I’m just at a loss. I don’t want to take her back to A&E only to be discharged with no answers again.

my main worry is:

1. What is causing this? I’ve never heard of a stomach bug presenting this way

1. I was reasonably happy with the blue and floppy episode when I thought it was likely to be related to FPIES, but now that they seem to think it’s unrelated should it not be investigated further?! They suggested that we wait and see if it happens again and if it does then they’ll consider investigating.

I just have an awful feeling that there’s something very wrong, but I think I’m not being taken seriously because she is so well in between these things happening.

I would love advice on if I should be taking her back to A&E, if I should be pushing for a referral, and if so to which specialty?

sorry for the essay, I’m just beside myself with worry.

FPIES was what jumped out to me before I got to the point in your post mentioning it.

Oats are in the top 14 allergens and will be in bold or underlined in ingredients. May contains or made in the factory or unsuitable for those with allergies are misunderstood generally. These are not mandated statements and are completely voluntary. There is no separate between being on the same site, sat in seal bags next to one another on the same shelf or made using the same equipment with or without adequate cleaning between runs. One company could declare a may contain because two products are stored in sealed bags next to one another but another company could decide to not declare a may contain and they use the same machinery so potentially a higher risk of cross contamination.

I would hold off oats for now and keep a food diary and all symptoms.