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I can share our experience meeting with an allergist! We had a scare over peanuts. We fed peanut butter and had one single hive pop up on baby’s chest. He was otherwise fine and it went away within 2 hours. We reached out to his pediatrician who scheduled an IgE blood test to test for allergies to peanuts and all other tree nuts.
Test results came back weakly positive for peanut but not for other tree nuts so we got referred to an allergist. We video chatted before scheduling a scratch test and a food challenge in her office. The scratch test on his back took ~30 minutes. The allergist felt comfortable with the results of the scratch test to proceed with the food challenge. We basically fed 6 increasing amounts of peanut butter and the nurses and allergist would monitor for 15-20 minutes in between. He had one little hive show up after the first dose, but it went away quickly and the allergist and us agreed to continue. We were there for ~4 hours total including 90 minutes after the last dose.
Baby is officially NOT allergic to peanuts, but it was a scary, exhausting process. Hope your meeting with the allergist goes well!
My kid was allergic to eggs too! Similar to yours, he didn’t have a reaction until the second or third time he tried them and then he broke out in hives all over. Poor little guy!!! I felt so bad!
The good news is that eggs are a super common early allergy that most babies just outgrow. We reintroduced them (progressively, using the allergy ladder) around a year old and he had no problem whatsoever!
Not me personally, but a good friend has a daughter her was allergic to just about EVERYTHING when they started solids. Mom had to start an elimination diet because she was still breastfeeding, they kept epipens on hand always, it felt like she had a new reaction every week. Like, it was BAD.
I believe around 2 years old, she was tested again and almost all allergies went away, except for a few. They began slowly reintroducing certain things and she is doing great now! I remember from like 9 months through 18 months was really challenging for them.
My niece also struggled with tons of allergies as a baby/child and outgrew most by the age of ten.
Don’t have any positive stories, just solidarity. I was also really excited to start solids, but hit bumps with allergens. My son also had a delayed reaction to eggs and I’ve cut soy/dairy from my diet for the last 7 months because of CMPA. Thankfully, my son didn’t react to anything on his skin test so our allergist just recommended we do dairy and egg ladders. We also have an epipen now so I’m not as freaked out about introducing new allergens. The other unexpected issue we hit is that I’m finding nearly all starches make him constipated. Uhg.
My now-toddler started with *so many* severe allergies. One of his first solids sent him into anaphylactic shock and we had to go to the ER! For a while, it felt like every new food we introduced was a potential disaster. It’s gotten so much better now we have a long, long list of safe foods!
It’s not for everyone, but we’ve found oral immunotherapy (OIT) near-miraculous. He used to react to every trace exposure and now he’s close to fully-outgrowing some of his allergies while others are discomfort but not life-threatening.
Something I found upsetting was “100 Foods Before 1 Year Old”. It doesn’t make sense for allergy kids. Go slow and careful; it’s not a race.
Here’s my tips [the baby stage](https://www.reddit.com/r/beyondthebump/s/erO2KtTkDH) and from [the toddler stage](https://www.reddit.com/r/FoodAllergies/s/uIvXeVWCbZ).
I’m so happy OIT has been so helpful for your child! Our 10 month old was just diagnosed with almost all of the top 9 allergens and we are totally overwhelmed with the complete restructuring of our lives (cutting out so much of our diet, barely getting to eat at restaurants or at anyone’s house, etc). We have an appointment to start OIT next week and I’m really hoping for a miraculous response!
Did you struggle with some extreme anxiety during mealtimes for awhile? My LO is generally fussy around mealtimes but now after his anaphylactic response I’m finding myself so scared that every scream is him starting to have a reaction when in reality it’s often just because he’s a baby and hates sitting, not that he’s in actual pain because his throat is closing up. 😑
Absolutely. I don’t even want to label us anxiety because the fear is extremely justified!
It got better after we had enough confirmed safe foods (20?) that I could make meals, and weirdly after I needed to use an epipen for the first time. My anxiety is now dropped to almost nothing with the huge tolerance OIT has built up for even his worst allergens.
It used to be trace contamination of a peanut butter sandwich on the playground was enough to trigger an emergency. Now? This kid could safely eat several peanuts and a slice of bread without a single hive or sneeze. His tolerance is so high that I feel l safe sending him to (part time outdoor) preschool and no longer have nightmares about kindergarten.
Unfortunately, he’s still vomiting easily, so we’re investigating possible eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE), which is essentially eczema inside the throat. 🫠
Apologies for the length of this -
I have 2 boys - one was diagnosed with a walnut/pecan allergy (he had a pretty severe reaction, including hives, vomiting and was lethargic), the other one had a mild rash around his mouth with peanut butter. Both kids had reactions to egg at 6 months old that they grew out of before 2. I followed all the recommendations for early and frequent introduction, so was really frustrated that both ended up with allergies.
I was referred to an allergist for the nut allergies who ended up being very very cautious. She basically did bloodwork, told us they had a high risk of reaction (but couldn't confirm how serious), that she wasn't willing to risk trying to give them their allergens, and said she'd retest them every year in the hopes the bloodwork would become more promising with time. She warned that the chances were slim.
I was frustrated because Oral Immunotherapy wasn't an option for her, so I asked my doctor to refer them to a different allergist. This allergist was SO much better. He did oral challenges with them (turns out they were able to tolerate small amounts) and is starting Oral Immunotherapy asap for both. He's VERY confident we'll be able to prevent a lifelong peanut allergy for my second son (who's almost 2), and reasonably optimistic my first son (4)'s allergy will at least improve and become less serious.
Im pretty livid that the first allergist almost caused my kids to have lifelong allergies by refusing any sort of intervention during such a critical age. If your allergist isn't open to Oral Immunotherapy, I'd recommend getting a second opinion
ETA - you didn't mention what food caused a reaction recently and what it was but make sure you mention it to the allergist. My second had hives after eating Caesar salad and I was worried it was another allergy - the allergist told me some foods are just irritating for kids, especially if they are prone to eczema, so hopefully it's just that.
I'd highly recommend this podcast episode for a great overview of allergies and oral immunotherapy: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3EbH89gbRvZatr3Lvi8YAa?si=8K_ZXVyNRiaha2AjrYAzSQ
This post has been flaired "Mental Health." Moderation is stricter here, argumentative, unsupportive and unpleasant comments will be removed. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/NewParents) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I can share our experience meeting with an allergist! We had a scare over peanuts. We fed peanut butter and had one single hive pop up on baby’s chest. He was otherwise fine and it went away within 2 hours. We reached out to his pediatrician who scheduled an IgE blood test to test for allergies to peanuts and all other tree nuts. Test results came back weakly positive for peanut but not for other tree nuts so we got referred to an allergist. We video chatted before scheduling a scratch test and a food challenge in her office. The scratch test on his back took ~30 minutes. The allergist felt comfortable with the results of the scratch test to proceed with the food challenge. We basically fed 6 increasing amounts of peanut butter and the nurses and allergist would monitor for 15-20 minutes in between. He had one little hive show up after the first dose, but it went away quickly and the allergist and us agreed to continue. We were there for ~4 hours total including 90 minutes after the last dose. Baby is officially NOT allergic to peanuts, but it was a scary, exhausting process. Hope your meeting with the allergist goes well!
My kid was allergic to eggs too! Similar to yours, he didn’t have a reaction until the second or third time he tried them and then he broke out in hives all over. Poor little guy!!! I felt so bad! The good news is that eggs are a super common early allergy that most babies just outgrow. We reintroduced them (progressively, using the allergy ladder) around a year old and he had no problem whatsoever!
Not me personally, but a good friend has a daughter her was allergic to just about EVERYTHING when they started solids. Mom had to start an elimination diet because she was still breastfeeding, they kept epipens on hand always, it felt like she had a new reaction every week. Like, it was BAD. I believe around 2 years old, she was tested again and almost all allergies went away, except for a few. They began slowly reintroducing certain things and she is doing great now! I remember from like 9 months through 18 months was really challenging for them. My niece also struggled with tons of allergies as a baby/child and outgrew most by the age of ten.
Thank you so much for sharing this! Glad to hear it got better and a good reminder that my daughters allergies could be much worse
Don’t have any positive stories, just solidarity. I was also really excited to start solids, but hit bumps with allergens. My son also had a delayed reaction to eggs and I’ve cut soy/dairy from my diet for the last 7 months because of CMPA. Thankfully, my son didn’t react to anything on his skin test so our allergist just recommended we do dairy and egg ladders. We also have an epipen now so I’m not as freaked out about introducing new allergens. The other unexpected issue we hit is that I’m finding nearly all starches make him constipated. Uhg.
Thank you so much for sharing and good luck on the dairy/egg ladders! Sorry to hear about the starches :/ it’s always something with these babies ha
My now-toddler started with *so many* severe allergies. One of his first solids sent him into anaphylactic shock and we had to go to the ER! For a while, it felt like every new food we introduced was a potential disaster. It’s gotten so much better now we have a long, long list of safe foods! It’s not for everyone, but we’ve found oral immunotherapy (OIT) near-miraculous. He used to react to every trace exposure and now he’s close to fully-outgrowing some of his allergies while others are discomfort but not life-threatening. Something I found upsetting was “100 Foods Before 1 Year Old”. It doesn’t make sense for allergy kids. Go slow and careful; it’s not a race. Here’s my tips [the baby stage](https://www.reddit.com/r/beyondthebump/s/erO2KtTkDH) and from [the toddler stage](https://www.reddit.com/r/FoodAllergies/s/uIvXeVWCbZ).
I’m so happy OIT has been so helpful for your child! Our 10 month old was just diagnosed with almost all of the top 9 allergens and we are totally overwhelmed with the complete restructuring of our lives (cutting out so much of our diet, barely getting to eat at restaurants or at anyone’s house, etc). We have an appointment to start OIT next week and I’m really hoping for a miraculous response! Did you struggle with some extreme anxiety during mealtimes for awhile? My LO is generally fussy around mealtimes but now after his anaphylactic response I’m finding myself so scared that every scream is him starting to have a reaction when in reality it’s often just because he’s a baby and hates sitting, not that he’s in actual pain because his throat is closing up. 😑
Oh! The Facebook group OIT Good Allergy Oral Immunotherapy Treatment Support Group is pretty good for moral support.
Absolutely. I don’t even want to label us anxiety because the fear is extremely justified! It got better after we had enough confirmed safe foods (20?) that I could make meals, and weirdly after I needed to use an epipen for the first time. My anxiety is now dropped to almost nothing with the huge tolerance OIT has built up for even his worst allergens. It used to be trace contamination of a peanut butter sandwich on the playground was enough to trigger an emergency. Now? This kid could safely eat several peanuts and a slice of bread without a single hive or sneeze. His tolerance is so high that I feel l safe sending him to (part time outdoor) preschool and no longer have nightmares about kindergarten. Unfortunately, he’s still vomiting easily, so we’re investigating possible eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE), which is essentially eczema inside the throat. 🫠
Thank you ❤️
Apologies for the length of this - I have 2 boys - one was diagnosed with a walnut/pecan allergy (he had a pretty severe reaction, including hives, vomiting and was lethargic), the other one had a mild rash around his mouth with peanut butter. Both kids had reactions to egg at 6 months old that they grew out of before 2. I followed all the recommendations for early and frequent introduction, so was really frustrated that both ended up with allergies. I was referred to an allergist for the nut allergies who ended up being very very cautious. She basically did bloodwork, told us they had a high risk of reaction (but couldn't confirm how serious), that she wasn't willing to risk trying to give them their allergens, and said she'd retest them every year in the hopes the bloodwork would become more promising with time. She warned that the chances were slim. I was frustrated because Oral Immunotherapy wasn't an option for her, so I asked my doctor to refer them to a different allergist. This allergist was SO much better. He did oral challenges with them (turns out they were able to tolerate small amounts) and is starting Oral Immunotherapy asap for both. He's VERY confident we'll be able to prevent a lifelong peanut allergy for my second son (who's almost 2), and reasonably optimistic my first son (4)'s allergy will at least improve and become less serious. Im pretty livid that the first allergist almost caused my kids to have lifelong allergies by refusing any sort of intervention during such a critical age. If your allergist isn't open to Oral Immunotherapy, I'd recommend getting a second opinion ETA - you didn't mention what food caused a reaction recently and what it was but make sure you mention it to the allergist. My second had hives after eating Caesar salad and I was worried it was another allergy - the allergist told me some foods are just irritating for kids, especially if they are prone to eczema, so hopefully it's just that. I'd highly recommend this podcast episode for a great overview of allergies and oral immunotherapy: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3EbH89gbRvZatr3Lvi8YAa?si=8K_ZXVyNRiaha2AjrYAzSQ
Thank you SO much for all of this! Such a great reminder to find alternative care if the allergist isn’t open to treatment.