Does anyone have a child with a food allergy? How did you find out about it? Did you have to do allergy testing? And do you do anything other than completely avoiding the food in question?

As you can tell I'm just starting my research on this. I gave my almost-1-year-old a little of his brother's peanut butter sandwich this weekend, and within 30 minutes he was covered in hives from head to toe.

I'm trying not to panic, but it was pretty scary. His pediatrician says they try not to do allergy testing until around 18 months.

My one year old had an allergy to peaches, of all things. Back when he was about 8 months old, daddy fed him a baby food container of peaches and just like your little guy, within half an hour, he was covered from head to toes! Daddy rushed him to the pedi, who asked what new food had been introduced this week, and peaches it was! Needless to say, peaches have been scarce at our house since then.

We recently found out that my 16 month old is allergic to CHICKEN. Of all things.. Her pediatrician sent her for an allergy test last month and they came to the conclusion that it was chicken causing her problems. She has eczema so the food allergy was causing her to be miserable. Her little face kept breaking out around her mouth and now it is clear!! YEAH!! We have to avoid chicken totally as of right now. For us that love chicken it is really hard..

Hey Sarah you could try Sunflower Seed Butter. I read on the article that Stacey provided on another thread that it's a good substitute for kids w/peanut allergies.

Wow, chicken of all things!

Our daughter, now 14, was allergic to milk products, red dye, tobacco (even though we never smoked) and dust mites. We kept her away from dairy and removed all carpeting and curtains. We gave all her stuffed animals and beanie babies to charity. We covered her bed and pillow in special plastic. She saw the most wonderful and giving allergist: Dr. Punja behind NFRMC. He gives free samples whenever he has them and has us call him when the primary care physician can't see our children quickly (he'll prescribe what our children need). Our daughter has outgrown all her allergies, thank goodness.

Our son, now 8, had a severe allergy to beef, dairy & dust mites. He had to drink formula that cost us $22.95 every 2.5 days (and we couldn't afford it back then...thank goodness for a horrible credit card!). Our son's skin would blister if we placed a piece of cheese up against his cheek for even a few seconds. For years, he went without beef and dairy. Again, Dr. Punja saw him thru it all and continues to see him.

He has been tested twice (needles on back). Our son...who's scared of most things, handled it quite well...to our SHOCK. He is now allergic to only dust mites (it's a severe allergy like mine, for which I get an injection every week). He outgrew the beef and dairy allergy around age 5, which was predicted by Dr. Punja. It took over a year for us to get our son to eat (and like) beef and dairy. We had to use yogurt with spinkles to ease him into dairy. And he still is not a huge fan of beef; he eats it in small quantities at nightly family dinners, but won't eat it otherwise.

Allergies in children can be a huge hassle and they can be SCARY. An allergy attack in our daughter at age 3 landed her in a hospital emergency room with a face the size of a basketball and huge "growth-like things" all over her face. It was the scariest night we've even had with her. We learned she had a reaction to red dye, something she hadn't been tested for.

Good luck to you and your child. I am SO thankful we are thru the worst when it comes to allergies. Most children outgrow most allergies, so keep your chin up.

It seems like more and more children are having allergies these days. I don't remember so many children having allergies when I was younger, but maybe I just didn't know about them.

I've been very lucky in that my daughter hasn't shown to be allergic to anything, and I hope it stays that way! (crossing my fingers)

I'm glad to hear your little one is doing OK, Sarah. How scary!

It is really scary. Peanuts seem to be a common one. I heard they can develop allergies from getting solid food too soon but I don't know if that's true or what is "too soon." My lactation consultant at N. Fla. Reg. Med. Cntr. has a son allergic to all dairy, wheat and soy products and then some. She's thinking about starting a website devoted to allergies in children and she really should!

Well, we got an update on our peanut situation this morning. Basically, it sounds like there's nothing we can do yet. (I am unhappy about it to say the least, but I'm not sure what to do.)

Apparently my 1-year-old is too little for allergy testing, and he's about 10 pounds too light to get an epipen, which is what many friends suggest we do. We were told just to avoid peanuts, and in 6 months or a year, we'll see if he needs to be tested.

If he has another reaction, because he eats something we don't know has peanuts in it, we just have to use Benadryl, bring him into the office or call 911, depending on the severity.

Oh Sarah I'm sorry. I hate when you spend time waiting for a solution only to hear that you just need to wait it out...

I haven't had to deal with food allergies with my girls. I thought I would because I had several as a child, (milk and carrots stand out the most), but so far so good.

There are so many foods with peanuts or cooked in peanut oil these days I can't imagine all the label reading you must be doing!! Good luck and I will be keeping your beautiful baby boy in my prayers, (I know he's beautiful because I looked at the birthday pics you posted )

Karen

I know a little about peanut allergies. My two nieces are allergic to peanuts, when ever you go to eat out, make sure you ask what type of oil they cook with. Their cousin on their dads side died at the age of 11 while on a trip to Tenn. because they didn't know 1.she was allergic to them and 2.she ate something that was cooked in the peanut oil. I don't want to scare you though! You are well aware of this being a possible allergy so I would just keep a watch on what your little one eats. Most packages now will tell you whether they contain peanuts, peanut oil or if it was processed with peanuts. CHOCOLATE is! So no chocolate!

I know how you feel about the waiting though Sarah! My son is old enough to get tested for allergies, luckily no food ones, but he had to get tested for penicillin allergy, which was positive, just as we thought. I asked the specialist if we could also test for bug allergies because my husband is deathly allergic to bee, wasps, scorpions, spiders and so forth and she said no, there is no need to test him now, if he gets bit and has a reaction then they will test!! My point was to find out if he is so that we wont have to take that chance!

The funny thing is the kid had a cupcake with chocolate icing on it for his birthday (there was nothing about peanuts on the label). He was fine. He got one little spot on his chest that I thought was hives, but my husband told me he just had to scrub him extra hard after the cupcake got everywhere -- and that's why he was red. I wasn't totally convinced though.

I thought I posted this to this thread, maybe not or maybe to another thread...but!

Sarah, have you taken your son to see a speciality for allergies? You may want to consider this. Ask his Ped's about it. When Tim was young, I think we were living in Maryland still; and he saw an allergist. they tested him for everything to see what he was allergic too. From food to dusts, etc...

just to be on the safe side, all kids should be tested. In this day and age with the way things are made now, better to be safe then to be sorry later.

Sarah, My sister thought that little spots her daughters were from the heat, new clothes not washed first, laundry soap and so on! until they had the testing done! He may not have as sever allergies as my nieces though, but those little spots could be a sign also.

Dee, they don't start testing until they are about 2-2 and a half. And I was told that they wont do any "unnecessary" testing. If we didn't have a problem with some thing, such as a reaction to a bug bite and so on, then they aren't going to test. They said that we have to wait until something happens, which I didn't like one bit!