What to do - peanut avoidance whilst breastfeeding, just eaten some peanuts by mistake (hidden food)

[moonstorm]

Due to family history, I was advised to avoid peanuts in every pregnancy and during bfing. Now I know that now they say avoiding them is the worst thing you can do... but was advised to avoid again this time round as well (eczema/ hayfever etc.).

So... have just eaten some by mistake... and am bfing ds2 who is 10 weeks. Should I continue avoiding/ start eating them so ds isn't only exposed to just a minute amount? Not really sure.

If I were on my first pregnancy again, I would eat them, but feel awkward doing different things with the boys - ie if one ends up with an allergy and one doesn't, i'd rather know I did the same things with each IYSWIM.

Any advice? (I'm panicking a bit)

Thanks

what can you do? Do you own a TARDIS? Please don't be under the impression that this is simple cause and effect, allergies are very complex and no-one really knows why some people have them. Just live your life, stop worrying about it all so much! Happy new year.

I'm pg with dc2 and eating peanuts (not right now) (although hmmm) and do have the odd twinge of guilt because I avoided with dd1. But I don't have a history of allergies etc.

My friend is a GP and says there is no conclusive proof either way.

If your ds2 has an allergy he will surely display it pretty quickly? Just keep an eye on him - someone will hopefully know for sure but I'd imagine if he was to develop an allergy it would have been in the womb?

As you have now had some, I think it is probably pointless avoiding from now on? I know you are panicking but there's nothing you can do now.

No-one knows for sure what is the right thing to do - or allergies would be non-existent - so please don't worry. Hope it's all ok.

Do what you can live with best and if that means not eating them, then don't. I avoided them when pregnant and breast feeding all mine as I have asthma and DH has hay fever. the kids can eat peanut butter with no problems, not that they do a lot.

I'm in same position as you and totally avoided them them with DD1 in 2006/07 but then, as you're probably aware, NICE or similar issued an urgent instruction to the Food Standards Agency to withdraw that advice. Since then i've fed DD1 as much peanut butter as i can!

Apparently in some cultures babies are weaned on to groundnut soup and nut allergies are pretty much unheard of. Given that the official advice is now not to avoid nuts, I've been eating them all the way through pg and breeding DD2. My HV says should still be avoiding them but I've just been assuming that she isn't up to speed with the latest advice. Certainly my midwife said it would be ok given the advice has changed. Am pretty sure you don't need to worry and can eat them now

the guidance changed in 2009: Revised Government advice on consumption of peanut during pregnancy, breastfeeding, and early life and development of peanut allergy

i avoided peanute when pg and breastfeeding and HEY! my dd has nut allergy, she is nearly 8. in israel where children are all given peanuts as part of their daily diet nut allergy is almost unheard of....if i had ever fallen pg again i would be stuffing them into my mouth :)

i have four children, and only one has the nut allergy, did avoid peanuts during the last trimister of last pregnancy, but this was 12 years ago!

we are a high risk for our children developing allergies, as atopic diseases with us, and both our extended family.

however, 3 out of my kids dont have the allergy. all breastfed for years, btw. but dont believe that breastfeeding protects from what i suspect is a inherited immune disease. esp in our case.

youngest has mild flare ups of ezcema with occasional hives to skin products, only displayed contact reactions to these, and none at all to food.

allergic child had ezcema and is now just a dry skin person.

one had until 5 the classic small patches of ezcema on children, which faded.

3 /4 have haver/tree pollen. the allergic childs is severe, one is mild enough to ignore, one just needs daily antihistamine. severe child needs added eye drops, nasel sprays and environmental control.

i have ibs, mildly intolerent to milk and wheat. asthma, ezcema
hubby, asthma, hay fever.

my allergic child is a multiple allergic child, so even if i was the type to completly avoid nut traces in food, and i am not a great nut eater, i would have found it impossible to be aware of and avoid all the other food he is allergic too.

also, the there are three main symptoms that breastfed infants display if they have food allergies.

for a breastfed infant, under 3 months,
ezcema, (my son was diagnosed with this at 15 days old.)
poor weight gain, (with breastfeeding going well)
poor sleep pattern (inability to sleep for long periods, for my son that was a 20 min cat nap in the day, or 2 seperate hours a night)

if you dont have any of those, then dont worry!

I avoided peanuts when pregnant with DS1 (now 10) and asked MW if I needed to avoid other nuts as well. She said No, only peanuts. So I carried on having my kormas (almonds) and another lovely curry Safeway used to do which had cashews in it. (I don't like nuts other than peanuts but I do like curries.)

DS1 was born and before too long had horrendous eczema. It was clearly mainly due to cows' milk, but he was obviously an atopic person.

I discovered to my horror that the cream we were using on DS1's severe and bleeding eczema had peanut oil in it when he was 5 months old. This is before it was publicised by the medical profession that some creams had peanut oil in with the suggestion this practice be stopped, but it wasn't rocket science to work out it wasn't a good idea. So when he was tested for allergies after a severe reaction to milk, the positives coming out as: milk, egg, peanuts almonds and cashews were not a surprise.

When I was expecting and BF DD I avoided all nuts. I found a curry house who agreed not to put nuts in my occasional takeaway curries. When she was about 2 I found out that this was balls - they had just "not put nuts on the top" - all the curries I like have a nut base. DD is not allergic to anything.

The exact same thing happened with DS2 - but with a different curry house. I know it sounds stupid, but I was assured: "yes madam definitely no nuts in this one" then a few months later "Er no madam, of course it has nuts in, he must have just meant he wouldn't sprinkle nuts on the top" aaaargh. DS2 is not allergic either.

So it would seem to me it's all a matter of luck as to whether your child develops allergies or not. I think if they are going to be allergic, with the best will in the world, it is almost impossible to stop them being so.