My Son Has Nut Allergies. Where Do I Start?

Hi. My kids don't have any "nut" allergies --at least none that I am aware of. I do know though that there are whole food stores and places like Trader Joes tht have foods not processed in facilities with other nuts. I would contact the allergist that did the test and see if they have any good websites or handouts they can give you. I know that my daycare has had a "no nuts" policy before when there were kids with nut allergies. Sometimes they will seperate the child at snack and lunch time and at other times they ban all foods containing nuts. It is very frustrating, but not impossible. Good Luck to you.

S.,

I know it is a big of a different thing but my 21 month old is allergic to dairy and soy. We eat primarily a "whole" food diet. The closer it is to its natural state, the less likely it contains something my son cannot eat. We eat lots of meats, beans, potatoes, rice, veggies, and fruit. And, yes, I send all of his food to daycare. And yes, I've had to learn to plan ahead and cook because my son can't have any convenience foods - almost all of them have dairy or soy in them. My daycare provider (in home, licensed) is wonderful but I'm just not willing to put the responsibility of my child's health in someone else's hands.

Peanuts are actually a legume (like beans and peas) not a nut. It is very, very possible to be allergic to tree nuts and not peanuts and vice versa. Of course if your child is highly allergic to tree nuts, for your own peace of mind you might want to avoid peanuts because nut allergies (including peanut allergies) can be deadly.

I hope you get some good specifics from the nut allergy crowd but I just wanted to chime in and say that although food allergies area pain in the butt, living with them is do-able.

Good luck,
T.

My suggestion would be to find a daycare that is nut free (nopun intended). My daughter is attending preschool in the fall and it is nut free. My daughter isn't allergic to any foods. However, I think that it is great the school takes this precaution as the nuts don't have to be ingested to cause a reaction. All the best to you and your little guy.

Hi S.:

My daughter is allergic to cashews and walnuts. She also has to avoid all tree nuts. However, her allergist told me that peanuts were fine, so she eats peanut butter all the time. In her case, she can have a severe reaction (so I always have 2 epipens with her), however her test scores were a 3 (on a scale of 6). This means she isn't ultra-sensitive. She can eat food in shared facilities, but I avoid any label that says "may contain tree nuts." Find out from your allergist what your situation is! Another cuisine we're avoiding is Chinese food because the woks aren't cleaned between people and a lot of tree nuts are used. Also bizarre: is your child allergic to cashews? Then you should be avoiding mangoes as well. They're in the same family!

There's an excellent webite on the internet for children with allergies. I believe it's called FAN (Families with Allergies Network). Just google it! It is the website to go to!

I hope this helps. It's overwhelming at first, but it just becomes a way of life. If you have any questions, please contact me!

C.

Hi S.,
I know this is a difficult, and often discouraging process. IF at all possible, it would be good to figure out if you really need to cut out those foods that are labeled something like, "Processed in a facility that...." because for some kids, these foods are okay, and for others, they are not. Fortunately for you, there are quite a few options out there as the whole nut allergy thing is so prevalant these days. Companies are required, now, to include allergen info on their labels, making this easier for you. I believe that regular Cheerios are safe. With Trader Joe's be careful as there are a lot of items processed on machines that process nuts. To replace peanut butter try sunflower butter (sun butter), soy butter, and I think there are a few others. Remember that there are tons of foods: fruits, veggies, dairy, meats, soy, tofu, etc. that are still safe. It's the snack-type foods that you have to be more careful on. I know there are great websites out there, though I don't know the exact ones, but feel very confident that if you search online, you will find a ton of helpful information. My children's former school sent home a list of nut-free snacks. I'll see if I can locate it for you.
Good luck and remember, once you get over this initial period of learning which foods work, shopping and such will get easier,
L.

Hi Sydney, what i would do is avoid peanut butter sandwhiches, no Honey Nut Cherrios, things like, Mac & cheese
spagehtti, fruits, avoid cookies with nuts, saltines, ritz, rice chex cereal is good, I'm a daycare provider, and i have had one child allergic to nuts, and one strawberries, your provider shouldbe able to find enough foods with out nuts. 3 year olds love chicken nuggets, can his allergic reactions be fatal? if so your frovider may request that you provide all his meals and snacks while in daycare. J.

Try looking at the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network website. It has loads of helpful information, as well as recipes, and alerts. You can google it.

And yes you should send all of his snacks, as I'm sure you wouldn't want an accidental nut ingestion. In fact your daycare provider should wash hands well before handleing your sons food.

My son had a peanut allergy which he outgrew - initially he tested negative on his blood test but possitive on his skin test. He also had 2 reactions to peaunuts before being tested. You'll be surprised at how easy & second nature it will become reading labels and getting to know food products. I do believe Cheerios are fine, just check the label. Also as far as cookies go, Oreo's are okay, at least the last time I checked. You also have to stay away from small name companies, as they don't always provide complete list of ingredients. The website above has lots of helpful information!

Good luck!

I hate allergies!! They sure put a damper on things. LOL
Not really funny huh. Well as for the day care thing, i don't think you have to worry. I had my son in kindercare and they had a strict rule about out side food because of the nut thing. Very understandable because of the seriousness of the allergies that some people have.
You might try going to a health food store to find things with out nuts in them or go online and i bet you could find the alternative to some things you use now with nuts in them. Or call a dietician. Your doctor should kow also.
Good luck.
Take care
B.

My son started his nut allergy around age 2. He would get a rash on his body. Each time he had a "nut" accident, he would get worse. ex: tight chest, swollen throat, vomiting, hives. It was hard for a while because everywhere you leave him, your worried. But you just have to educate the schools, babysitters, friends, etc. They need to know that they can't just wipe the nuts off of the food and give it to him. He will still react to something that had touched a nut. You'll want to avoid sunflower seeds because they dust them in peanut flour. But as time goes on, you'll get to know what products he can't have. There are some websites that sell only nut free things like, "Rebecca's chocolate"? Now my son is 9 years old. And he is very responsible about not eating what he can't have when he's at someone else's home, etc. Also, I used to take his own snack in to school because other moms would bring in snacks and you don't want to risk him eating it. The schools are great about helping you out with this. We have an epi pen too but if everyone in his life is educated, you shouldn't need to use it. Also, avoid school lunches! Always have him take his lunch. I was terrified when he first had the allergy. But you will get used to things and it gets easier as your son gets older and more educated on the subject. The nut allergy never goes away. It will get worse with each exposure. I also carry Benedryl with me. I actually used that with some close calls. Some snacks they can have are: cheerios(not the honey-nut) fig newtons, oreos, graham crackers. I'm sorry your little one has this. But I just wanted you to know that it is something you will both get used to in time.

You can google nut allergies and I am sure a ton of sites will come up as food allergies are becoming more and more popular with children.

Go to your local Whole Foods Market or Henry's Marketplace or Sprouts and they will have a bunch of packaged items that are nut or allergen free. One brand that I use a lot (my kids don't have allergies, but I buy this product because it is cassein free and has no artificial sweeteners) is called Namaste. They make mixes for cakes, muffins, pizza crust, etc.

I do have some food allergies to things like chocolate, almonds, and apricots so I was a label reader from a young age. And now with my kids I read every label before I buy something packaged. Even if it says "organic", I am still checking the labels for Trans/hydrogenated fats/oils, high fructose corn syrup and other artificial sweeteners, aspartame, etc. You will also need to check the labels of anything you use in your home to clean with or personal hygiene items that anyone in your family uses as many of them will contain nut oils.

I think on the Henry's and Whole Foods website you can do a checklist of allergy items to avoid and then you can print out a list of items that you can buy at their store. I did that once for my friend whose daughter is severely allergic to almost everything.

To be safe, I would provide all your sons snacks/food whenever he will be away from you for meals. That way you know exacly what he ate and where it came from.

And be careful when you go out to eat. A friend of a friend has two children who are severely allergic so when they go out to eat, she calls the restaurant in advance and checks with the head cook/chef about the ingredients they use, then she calls the suppliers of the items all to make sure that her kids won't have an allergic reaction to the food.

It's a lot of work, but you have to do it.

You should also check out a food allergy support group. I know there is one here in San Diego and I am sure there are tons of them online.

Good Luck!

Hi S.,

Living Without Magazine is a great magazine that deals with food allergy issues and has a lot of great information and recipes in it. The Whole Foods Market in my town used to carry it but is no longer doing so, so I went on the Living Without and placed a 2-year subscription.

Since food allergies are a very big deal now days, a lot of grocery stores have made lists of foods that can be purchased in their store that are free of a particular allergen. If you frequent a particular store then you can either ask them if they have a list of nut-free products next time you go in or you can try to access the list, if they have it, by going on their website.

I would also suggest checking to see if there is a yahoo group specifically for parents of kids with nut allergies. You'll should be able to get a great deal of information from the other parents there about which foods are/are not safe so that you don't feel as if you are not recreating the wheel, so to speak.

Also, if you Google "nut allergies" you should be able to pull up the website for the national allergy association (I'm not sure if that is the exact name) and you should be able to get some really relevant information from there.

I wish you and your son well with this process!

L.

I have nut allergies to what I know is "all" nuts. I read labels carefully, but I have had foods where it is "processed" on equipment that processes nuts and things like that, but I haven't had issues unless I actually eat the nuts themselves or they are in foods. I have Epipens, Benedryl also in case of emergency. I can't have peanutbutter and my kids love it... however, I found Sunbutter at Super Target, and you can find it online. It is made in a nut-free facility, it is out of sunflower seeds and it tastes like peanutbutter to me. It's good, it replaces peanutbutter and it is a little better for you. You might tell your daycare about Sunbutter, they may be able to get it through their food program. You should also ask if you eat out in restaurants if there are nuts in foods you order for him, or if they use nut-type oils like peanut oil. It will take some time, but you will get it figured out. He should probably wear an allergy-alert bracelet or necklace... I'm allergic to nickel so I cannot wear the metal bracelets or necklace. Isn't that a good one? Good luck!