Guess what?
Yeah, my son had another reaction to something he ate. *Pulls out hair*. I swear, I’m going to have to invest in benadryl stocks…
Of course, now I’m getting paranoid, so, naturally, I’ve been doing some reading on food allergies. Here’s what I’ve learned so far:
– It generally takes a few exposures before the body has an immune response to a food that was consumed (which explains why my son seemed fine the first time but then broke in to hives the second or third time).
– 90% of food allergies are caused by an item from the “top 8”: cow’s milk, soy, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, crustacean shellfish and wheat
– Don’t assume that a reaction to a certain food will always present itself in the same way (which means that “just” because my son has been breaking into hives, doesn’t mean his body can’t eventually have a more severe reaction like anaphylaxis).
– Symptoms might appear a few minutes (hives) after eating an offending food, or many hours after (eczema). This sent off a light bulb moment in my head. You see, my son has had eczema pretty much from day 1. Therefore, it is entirely possible that he’s been reacting to what I’ve been eating through my milk!
– If a parent has a personal history of allergies (seasonal allergies, eczema, food allergies, asthma) their child has a greater risk of developing an allergic condition. In our case, dad has no allergies but I have seasonal allergies and have developed an asthmatic reaction to cats when I was in my preteen years. It has mostly disappeared now, but I still keep my inhalers just in case. This surprised me, because I thought that he would only be at risk if either his father or I had food allergies, which we don’t.
– Many children outgrow their allergies to foods other than peanuts, tree nuts, fish and shellfish.
Now, I’ve been communicating with a couple of mommas on a food allergy board, both of which suggested that I get my hands on an epipen for my son after seeing how widespread his reaction was when we initially went out to buy some benadryl.
So, where does that leave me?
1. I need to call his pediatrician’s office again to see if she can write Little Dude a script for an epipen.
2. Keep up the food log and take note of the other more subtle signs of an allergy.
3. Keep a food log for myself and see how what I eat affects his eczema.
4. Call the allergy department of the hospital again to see if I can convince them that my son is more important than all of the other children that have an appointment before him to move up my son’s appointment before I run out of things to feed him.
5. Become “that annoying mom that’s always calling” until I get answers.
Sound like a good plan?
mommytrainingwheels 
Oh no, Sophie!! I’m so sorry, allergies are very troubling, and I imagine even moreso when it’s your child who suffers. 😦
Don’t you even think twice about whether you come across as being “annoying” – you have EVERY RIGHT to ask as many questions as you need to! When in doubt, ask.
I didn’t know about your son’s first reaction. What have been the foods to give him problems? Sorry, I missed the post.
Samuel has reacted to a few foods in my milk – chocolate, broccoil, jalepenos, and lemonade. I have reintroduced all of them once or twice, except the jalepenos, and he’s done fine (as a toddler). Now it’s ME who can’t eat chocolate because it gives me terrible headaches! ha
I didn’t eat any nuts until Sam was one year old because I just had this feeling like he might be sensitive to it, but when I introduced him to peanut butter at 13 months he did fine. 🙂
I have allergic reactions to things too…medications, coconut oil (but you knew that one), and I once smelled a magnolia pod from a tree and then broke out in serious hives!! I won’t go near those trees now, I’m so fearful! 😦
Anyway, big *hugs* to you.
P.S. I got your postcard a few days ago! Thank you!! I will be featuring it on Sunday
Oh I’m not worried about being “annoying” just annoyed that it seems to be the only way that something gets done around here. If you’re not annoying, your name just stays at the bottom of the pile.
So far my son has reacted to yogurt (both coconut and plain), tomatoes, something in the
fishcakes made (either the fish, red quinoa, egg or panko) and, recently, cantaloupe. As of right now, the only safe foods seem to be potatoes (both sweet and white).
The thing is, I’ve never removed anything from my diet because my son didn’t seem to react to anything. However, someone pointed out that he had quite some trouble with gas when he was younger and has had eczema since he was only a week old or so. This may or may not be an allergic reaction to something passed through my milk.
I am also allergic to a couple of medications. When my son had a reaction to the guacamole my mom made at their house, my parents told me that I had had the exact same reaction to one of the antibiotics I’m allergic to. So I don’t doubt for a minute that he’s reacting to the food he’s eating.
I actually did think at first that he might be allergic to the coconut, however he hasn’t reacted to the beeswax lotion I’ve been slathering on him for a few months (his eczema actually seems to get better with it) and hasn’t reacted to the “ice cream” that I made that contained both coconut milk and oil.
Solids are getting scary for me, but I suppose I can’t do any more than keep at it, keep a log and hope that my son’s appointment with the allergist can be moved up a couple of months…
Glad you got the postcard!
Oh, I just saw that you included a link to the post about his reaction…will read now…
Sorry you’re going through this! It’s never fun when you can’t figure out what’s making your baby sick and an especially huge pain in the butt when you have to wait for months for a doctor to pretend to care too! I would totally be the annoying mom calling all of the time so don’t be afraid to be her too! It can get results! I hope they can move you up so you can get answers and some piece of mind!
Just realized that I should have put “peace” of mind, not piece of mind but I’m just going to blame that on the fact that I only have a piece of my mind to work with nowadays. Oops. 🙂
Haha! I hadn’t even realized it! I guess I only have bits and pieces too. And you can bet that next week I’m going to be putting my annoying mom pants on 😉
😦 What a worrying thing to go through. Your post inspired me to go get some Benadryl – you never know when these things are going to surface. I have read your allergy posts feeling for you – I know how excited you were about BLW and him enjoying family foods and this puts a bit of a dampener on that 😦 I hope you find some answers …soon! October is ridiculous!!! I don’t know how things are where you are but I needed a paed back in December. My GP phoned the paed directly and explained the situation and told him to expect my call. I phoned the paed office and was told the next available Appt was in March – I quickly explained that the paed was expecting my call and surprise, surprise I got in two days later. Ours was a plagiocephaly issue which needed attention as there is an ‘optimum’ time period for treatment if required. She is due for a review next week but i dont trhink its necessary so i called to reschedule- october my appt is scheduled for. As im not worried i accepted it this time! Perhaps given the wide spread-ness of his allergies and not being able to pinpoint it you could have the person referring you put in a good word for you?! It’s hard – I guess everyone thinks their baby’s problem is more urgent than others but yeah I would be highly annoying and pushy!!! Over here in OZ we can just present at the hospital emergency department and this seems to be a way to fast track the system! Can you do this each time he has a reaction to start building a profile and perhaps getting him through the system quicker??
Benadryl is definitely something worth having; I hope you never have to use it! As for putting in a good word for me, I’m not sure the pediatrician would do that; she didn’t seem to comprehend how bad some of the reactions had been. However, the next time he has one, I may just bring him in to the ER. One thing’s for sure, I will definitely be calling the allergy department frequently in the next weeks.