How do I introduce peanuts

[Tillysmummy]

How do I introduce peanuts to see if dd has an allergy or not ? She is now 18 months. I have bought some peanut butter and was going to try that but am too nervous ! How did everyone else do it. One thing that has crossed my mind is to make her a peanut butter sandwich and drive to A & E so that she can eat it outside, just in case ! If they do react what happens ?

Tillysmummy - I read up on this coz I'm prone to mild food allergies which coz asthma and skin flare ups (hives). Excema and asthma both run the in the family so I was told to be extra careful. If I remember correctly I read somewhere that you were not supposed to introduce peanuts until the child is 3 years old!! Because of the extra hereditory risk to ds I was told to avoid it as much as possible until he was 7 !! I thought that was a little hysterical though.

Peanut allergies tend to be very severe and life threatening. It causes a massive allergic reaction called Anaphalactic Shock (sp??). This cause swelling in the gullet which can prevent air getting into the lungs. It's the same reaction as if you are extremely allergic to a wasp sting for example.

It's a weird one though.... I've often looked at peanut butter and thought it would be perfect for ds (21mths) at nursery for lunch, but have been too scared to try it 'just in case'. I'll be interested to read the inputs from Mums on this thread.

Nigella Lawson apparently gave her kids peanut butter sandwiches whilst sitting in the doctors surgery waiting for an appointment. Although that wouldn't work in my case as you seem to have to wait 2 hours to see anybody

Your child has probably already been exposed to nuts somewhere along the line if she has eaten any ready-prepared or restaurant food. Remember, although serious, nut allergies are very rare so I would introduce a little peanut butter sandwich or on toast if you want to.

Mum2Toby, I am afraid of her having a bad reaction because she has eczema and my mum has asthma.

Prufrock, that's why I wanted to drive to Watford General and sit outside A & E - lol - I think i'll be doing that !

CAM she has eaten out a lot and eaten some ready prepared stuff, mainly from M & S the kiddies meals. I am just so worried I guess I could just try the tiniest scrape. What I really want to do is to know what to do if she does have a reaction.

If there is a reaction, it will be fairly instant(swelling around the neck and face, wheezing etc). I think it would have to be straight to the A & E.

But as CAM pointed out it is extremely rare to have a reaction this severe.

I have been worried about this as well, ds is 3.5 and has not had peanut butter yet - dp has eczema and asthma but is not allergic to peanuts. I have avoided giving ds any food with nuts clearly in but he has eaten food with the nut trace warning on without any problems - I guess as CAM says, if there was to be a reaction it would have occurred by now,
Prufrock - I remember reading that about Nigella as well, can understand the concern but it made me laugh picturing doctors surgeries full of children with peanut butter sandwiches!....Can you imagine what the receptionists would say!

Tillysmummy - I think your dd is too young to being introduces to peanuts as mum2toby said. There is absolutely no reason to introduce them yet as they are not a vital part of your diet.
My neice had a very severe reaction to nuts (almond actually) when she was 2 and had to be admitted to hospital. She carries an epipen for the times that she eats a food that is unknown to contain nuts.
By the way a lot of foods say they may contain nuts whether they do or not just to absolve the manufacturer of any responsibilty.
Nut allergy is life threatening and it is not worth introducing them at such a young age.

Sorry to be a prophet of doom, but another thing to consider is that fact that allergies can strike at ANY time. I developed a rather severe (not life threatening) allergy to Tomatoes when I was 17 years old. I'm still allergic now and have to take anti-histamines daily. Nobody is born with an allergy, they develop along with the immune system.

Medical knowledge about the cause of an allergy is a very grey area. Nobody really knows what triggers your body to have such a massive over reaction to perfectly harmless substances. I find it all very fascinating though and studied immunology as part of my degree.

mears, what age would you advise introducing peanuts? The advice seems unclear to me. I would also like to introduce peanut butter to ds (15 months) but haven't yet - though he has had hazel and almond butter with no problems, and that probably contains traces of peanuts. He has mild eczema (like at least half the babies I know) but we don't have particular food allergies in the family.

Here you go folks.... have a look at this link. I hope it works. It's very interesting and there's loads more on the net. Just type in Peanut Allergy in your search angine. Have read some stuff that's quite worrying.

The message seems to be.... the longer you wait before introducing peanuts, the less likely it is that your child will develop a reaction, severe or mild.

I personally did not give peanut butter before my children were 4 years but that was because it was not a food I ever ate and only discovered it from another mum. I love it myself but it is ncredibly fattening. I don't think it is a particularly healthy food although it certainly is convenient. It is banned for packed lunches at out primary school because of the number of children who are allergic to it who might come into accidental contact. From what I have read, it is not recommended until age 4 I thought. Anyway, I personally would not introduce it till that age because there really is no need.

I agree with you Mears. It is more for convenience than anything else, so it isn't really worth the risk.

God how worrying. THank you all. I will wait. Not in any real hurry. Just dh eating peanut butter on his toast and dd always wanting some, guess he'll have to eat it elsewhere ! So when in restuarants unless they specify I guess I'll just have to take a chance ?

Most decent restaurants won't touch peanuts with a 20 ft barge pole if they can avoid it and should ALWAYS show clearly on the menu where there is a risk that peanuts are present. The last thing they want is a court case.

Just ask next time you eat out. I would also like to assume that anything on a childrens menu is peanut-free, but again I would ask just to make sure.

Leave them as late as possible - one body of opinion suggests that peanut allergies have become so common because of early exposure to peanuts, and that it is a susceptibility, which children grow out of if they haven't had the exposure by age 3 or 4.

Dh has a nut-allergy - esp. almonds and peanuts, so we have always been very careful with nuts in the house. However, I did deliberately expose ds1 to peanuts before he went to school (at 4.5), as I wanted to observe any possible reaction, rather than risk an unexpected crisis at a party or school or somewhere. (You do need to expose them twice, as a reaction will usually not occur the first time, but the second time after they have been sensitised.)

About the warnings saying "may contain traces" - these are used by manufacturers to protect themselves in case of contamination. DD's paediatrician told us that she has never known of a case where a contamination has caused a child to have a reaction, although children with confirmed serious nut allergy have to take special precautions. With a history of food allergy, we were told to avoid anything with nuts in the ingredients, but to let her eat the likes of custard creams.

I don't think its helpful of the food companies to do this

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I shan't allow dd to have peanuts until she's 40 - or maybe 4 ! Thanks for all the advice. Very helpful.

I introduced my eldest to peanut butter when she was about 11/12 months and I'm about to do the same with dd2. I made sure that she had something that she always eats for breakfast and then gave her peanut butter for tea, if she had a reaction then I would know what caused it. dd1 has asthma but luckily has taken to it fine. She even loves sitting on her daddys knee eating peanuts (she is not allowed to run around and only has one at a time)

mum2toby - can I just ask what anti-histamines you use? Came into contact with some Spaniels on Sunday and I could hardly breath. Really need soemthing reliable for the future and for the hayfever season. Thanks

I have food allergies in the family, so have avoided peanuts for the kiddies for the time being. My personal rule of thumb is to wait until I feel that ds and dd are old enough to communicate clearly to me that they are starting to feel a bit itchy (not really a concept that a 2 or 3 year old can convey).
I have to agree though about allergies appearing later in life. Both my father and then I, developed an allergy to squid in our early 30's. In my father's case it was preceded by itchiness that got progressively worse each time he ate them until he got a proper reaction of being completely covered in hives and rushed off to hospital. In my case, the first reaction I had was after eating squid for dinner I felt a little itchy before I went to bed. I woke up in the morning covered in hives with my eyes swollen shut. Luckily my throat had not swelled shut so I trotted off to the doctor's and got a shot of antihistamine.

Tinker, I use Clarityn for cat, dogs, hayfever etc. It works really well and doesn't make you drowsy.

Re antihistamine -ds has a number of severe allergies and I go NOWHERE without piriton. I give him a dose at the first sign of a reaction, this buys us time to get to hospital if necessary. It gives me piece of mind when we are out and he has a biscuit or piece of cake.

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Not sure this would work, but it is an idea that came to mind after listening to what happened to someone's little boy.....apparently he had bitten into a brazil nut, didn't like it & spat it out, he very quickly got a reaction & was rushed to hospital - but interestingly, where he dribbled onto his skin when spitting the nut out reacted also (came up in a rash). Rather than a bhild eating nuts for the first time, is is possible to know if they'd react by putting some peanut butter onto their skin and if they did react, would it be as bad a reaction (i.e. would they still have trouble breathing?)

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