Peanut Allergy - Contact only so far...how cautious to be???

[jillybeansmith]

Hi, a few months ago, I had toast and peanut butter. 20 minutes later, I kissed my son's belly, he broke out into a rash everywhere my mouth touched.

My dr said that it sounds like he is likely allergic to peanuts, but they cannot test until he is older, so just avoid.

My husband a week ago had peanut butter cookies at his parents house not thinking, came home later and kissed ds on the cheek, he ended up with a lip-shaped rash where he had been kissed.

He is almost 11 1/2 months old.  He is now in daycare, and they are trying very hard to avoid peanuts, however, it is inevitable that he will be in contact with peanuts or peanut butter. 

How serious is a contact allergy to nuts??? How cautious should we be???
Anybody have any experience with this?  When can they be tested...what precautions should we take???

[carolyn]

I think you need to be very diligent.  And make sure the day care knows.  I would ask your doctor again about the testing and ask for a second opinion.

We have a friend whose son is allergic and they found out in the same way you did.  His grandmother was eating peanut butter and kissed him.  They said within minutes he was swelling and having trouble breathing. He ended up at the ER.  I know he was younger then 12 months at the time, proobably 8 or 10.  They were able to have him tested within a few days.  He turned out to be allergic to peanuts, nuts, and eggs.  They have no food allergy history in their families.

[Noelle]

Yes, be VERY careful and make sure people are aware.  My good friend Kayna (another BW here on the site) her son is allergic, she can give you lots of info - hopefully she'll see this and respond, or you could PM her 

[Sandrine]

I woud say that if it by contact, that it's more serious than we all think. DD2 is allergy to Dairy but she doesn't have contact reactions. I'm avoiding it completely but because she doesnt' react by contact, my dh can eat and drink dairy.

[Livvismum]

I would definitely try and see your doc again and ask about testing. They don't like to test on young ones because sometimes the results can be misleading however in this case where a contact reaction is involved I would say the test will come out quite high and that there will be no doubt.  The fact that he is reacting in this way mean HE HAS got an allergy, it's simply a matter now of establishing how severe it is and confirming if it is peanuts.

If your doc is not very helpful then def seek a second opinion or go straight to an allergy specialist.

hth
Sara

[galaxie81]

Not a matter to take lightly and also becareful of chocolate too.

One of my friends has an allergy to nuts and chocolates and all he has to do is touch a spoon with nutella on it and he swells, has trouble breathing and needs a shot to help with it.

An allergy caused by nuts and chocolate, eggs, etc is it is given too early.  Websites have said to hold off in this area until LO is at least 3 years old 

[Kayna]

Hi, I'm here Noelle, thanks. Yes, your child can and should be tested at his current age. My ds was tested at a slightly younger age than your ds in fact.
If they do the skin prick test they can determine just how "allergic" he is to PB. But knowing that he has a reaction to contact alone tells you it is very serious.

A peanut allergy is the most dangerous of food allergies but it is also the most easy to detect and avoid (limited ingredient). Our son is four and we have yet to have another incident. We do need to carry the Epi-pen Jr with us at all times but it's pretty much second nature now. :roll: We have a medical bag we carry for him at all times because unfortunately often children with a peanut allergy also have excema and asthma as well. :cry: So our bag contains....epi-pen, benedryl, flo-vent, albuteral, and claritin.

Another thing we did was type up a sheet of information and gave it to all of his care takers (grandparents, aunts/uncles, preschool, daycare, etc. and one for his med. bag as well). With this we included all important phone numbers (dr.s, er's, cell, etc), ingredients to look for in processed foods, directions on how to administer the epi-pen, and other pertinent info.

It's a lot to digest at first but you will get very good at it. Once you get a handle on it your nerves will calm slightly (but never completely) and he will just be your beautiful, perfect little boy with a peanut allergy.  :lol:

I have done so much research on this so please feel free to ask me any other questions or pm me. Good luck and welcome to the food allergy board. :roll:

[jillybeansmith]

Thanks for all of the info...We have his 1 year dr appointment in a week and a couple days...I'm going to ask her further questions about it..Since it happened the first time, we've banned nuts from our house, however, the sitter is being diligent, but it is still a concern...especially if one of the other kids has peanut butter for breakfast then kiss him or whatever...(it was 20 minutes after I had kissed him, and 1 hr after dh had kissed him, I assume the oils stay on your lips...)

[15milner]

He needs to be tested.  We have a no-nut policy at school.  It is stated in the school prospectus that we have children who are nut allergic and for all our safety we need to keep nuts out of harms way. We have epipens for a number of children in case of anaphalactic shock.

I hate to say it - we have had some children who only need to be near the nuts and not even be in direct contact and thier eyes could potentially start to run.

as well as chocolate, you will have to watch for all products even if you might not think that it should have nuts in.  Lemon meringue pie? - nuts sprinkled on top to give a better colouring.


I don't want to alarm you,and I hope that I haven't  but it is definately something to take very seriously.

alex

[sunshine88]

Contact can be very serious.  In fact, there was just an article in today's paper about a boy who ate peanut butter and then kissed his peanut allergic girlfriend.  She died.  I don't mean to freak you out but, I do think you need to be very careful and inform everyone of his allergy.  I don't think my son responds much to contact and he is quite allergic so this allergy does sound severe to me.

My son is allergic to peanuts as well.  In time, you start to get a little more used to it and get more comfortable with what they are eating and knowing what to avoid.  We also carry an epipen everywhere as well as benadryl and reactine.  If you do not already carry an antihistamine, I strongly suggest doing so as it can buy you time in case of an allergic reation.

Right now I am a SAHM but I will only put him in daycares and schools that have a peanut ban in the future.  Too many people don't know how to read labels.  Often people assume that if there are no visible peanuts in something that it is fine.  I will also need to educate my son well on what he can eat and what he cannot.  He already knows that he cannot eat peanuts but I know he would trust someone if they told him there weren't any.
 
You definitely need to be seen by an allergist.  My son had a reaction to peanuts at the age of 1 and he was tested as soon as we got in to see an allergist.

[Mommy Moo]

You need to be really careful.  Just read this news article that was on Yahoo today:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051128/ap_on_re_ca/canada_deadly_kiss;_ylt=AsrJZ1DQruxq_dTYrl1Xm3Ss0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3ODdxdHBhBHNlYwM5NjQ-

Scarey hey?

[LukasMom]

Oh, nut allergies are quite unpredictable.  My allergist warned me that they are the most unpredictable kind of allergy.  I have a mild allergic reaction to most nuts and he told me not to eat any nuts at all--ever!  He said that a nut allergy can get really bad when least expected and not to toy around with it. 
I'm sure that's what most doctors will tell you too.  Avoid all contact.  Including Baskin Robbins, because they have peanuts there.

[jillybeansmith]

Thanks for the info..

We had another 'incident' last week...I got a call from the sitters to get him to the doctor, that his eyes and face were red and his eyes were watery and puffy...He then had a nap, by the time I picked him up to take him to the e.r. he looked a little better.   When he was examined, he had a rash all over his body...They thought maybe he had a virus and prescribed eye-drops...I didn't bother getting the prescription, it just didn't seem likely to me...

I called the sitter to let her know that he would spend the rest of the day at home...She mentioned that 2 things happened...one was that they had him in the highchair, away from everybody and a couple of the little kids had peanut butter sandwiches, when they were done, they throroughly washed their hands and face and their eating surface, then let the kids play...The 2nd thing was that an outdoor cat snuck into their house, but they had cleaned.

He continued to have symptoms of runny eyes, hives, rash and I could tell he had an itchy throat and was scratching his tonge on his teeth...He cleared up over night, then got set off again the next morning....I gave him a bath, he cleared up, then we were at daycare for 2 minutes and he broke into hives and his eyes watered again...They gave him benedryl all day, and he seemed fine..

I washed everything that was at daycare (his lovey, coat, hat, etc), and has been fine since...

I think it was the kids eating peanut butter, then having some residue on them, then playing with ds and they tend to like to help dress him too, so could have got some of the residue on his coat...

Talked to my ped today about it, she suggests at 2 she weill send him for testing.

[15milner]

I think then it's time for the sitter to ask the other parents not to send peanut butter sandwiches as a precaution and in consderation of the fact that your son appears to be allergic.

Dont know how things work with allergies (might be worth asking the rest of the allergies board), are you able to get him tested before the age of 2.  That still leaves you 1more year of not knowing.

Alex

[jillybeansmith]

So, here's an update..last week, we got Connor tested finally...he has a peanut allergy...anaphylatic risk...We have an epi-pen now...glad I was as diligent as I was...