Nut Allergy Question

My sister's daughter had really bad excema so they tested her for allergies and she was allergic to nuts. And so our pediatrician advised our kids to stay from nuts until age 3. But my nephew who was 2 at the time had some ice cream, only the vanilla part but it did have peanut butter cups in it. And he had a severe reaction and now has an epi-pen.

We knew that we would get our daughter tested for allergies eventually since they run in the family. However, before we could get her tested (she was four yrs old), we found out about her tree nut (not peanut) allergy when I gave her a walnut (for the millionth time) and she started breaking out in hives and going into anaphylactic shock. She'd been eating nuts of some kind or another her whole life with no reaction at all (and I was pretty conscious about monitoring it because my son has peanut allergies and I know what to look for), but for some reason, that time it finally triggered an allergic reaction and could have been life-threatening. We were at the mall when it happened and luckily it's close to home, so I rushed her back and gave her a dose of Benadryl. It kicked in after about 1/2 hr and everything was alright, but she was starting to get a runny nose and start coughing about 15 minutes after eating the walnut. The doc later said those are the initial stages of anaphylactic shock and without the Benadryl she could have really been in trouble. When we had her tested for allergies after that, it turned out she was allergic to tree nuts (severely), cats, dogs and some grasses (no big surprise there). We now carry around an Epi-pen with us just in case. It was so weird to me how she could eat pecans and pistachios and even walnuts for YEARS with no problem, then BAM, allergic reaction! Doc said it sometimes happens that way...so I guess there's no real way to tell if your child has a nut allergy until you get tested for it. If allergies run in your family, you should get your kids tested anyway, their chances go way up if you or their father have allergies. I wish I'd gotten my daughter tested sooner and avoided her near-miss. She'd also been around dogs without reaction, too. My son is allergic to milk, but has no outward physical reaction to it (he does get grumpy and it wreaks havoc on his digestive system). I would never have known of these allergies if I'd never gotten them tested. My other daughter did get tested for allergies a couple of years ago and everything came back negative. Well, we had her tested again two weeks ago, and found she'd developed seasonal allergies (grass, pollen) and an allergy to cats. She tested negative for cats 2 years ago! It's hard to keep track of, but basically, if you have allergies of some kind, chances are your kids do too. Good luck!

Try rubbing a little peanut butter (or other nut product) on the lip or chin first, and see if the skin gets red or breaks out in hives or a rash. That way, he doesn't actually ingest any, and if he has a reaction, you'll know to tell his doctor and have some testing done. However, that won't mean that he really is allergic, his skin may just be sensitive. But at least you'll know that there's a possibility before ending up in the hospital for it. Good luck.

our ped. told us to wait until a year...she started having peanutbutter around then. I was watching...no problems. I developed a deadly allergy to walnuts about 3 years ago--the doc said it probably was there mild for years. I used to break out every year at christmas in a rash, we now wonder if it is connected? anyway I have an epi-pen for that now. Go by the regular food intro like when doing solids when they are a baby. only introduce one nut at a time and with foods you already know they handle well and monitor it for a week or so before introducing new ones. Do watch for signs of a cold because that was how my allergy started, and another mom posted that runny nose etc can be a simptom. also watch for a rash. any of those kinds of things. document when you first try them so if symptoms come up you have info to back it up when you go in to the doctor. and definitely if any symptoms show up like a rash get an allergy test. they didn't do that regularly when I was a kid at least not where we lived--some allergists won't test a kid that young, because it is hard to know what allergies are going to stick around as the kids immune systems are developing.

I found out that my child had severe peanut allergy by having the peds take a blood test to do an allergy test. She was having severe eczema on the face and nothing was working. I found out she was allergic to alot of other things. If you are not sure if you want to try them alone I would recommend talking to the peds about an allergy test.

We did give our son peanut butter. After several days he started getting hives. At 3 he was finally diagnosed with severe allergies. Even with that family history, the allergist says it's not a big deal that our little guy has them. We let our little one (21 mos.) have nuts and nut products occasionally, but only since he had allergy tests run and tested okay. Many people recommended we try almond butter, etc., but I never did and now am grateful as our older one is actually more allergic to tree nuts than to peanuts. If you have a concern, talk to your doctor. That way if you introduce the foods and it doesn't go well, you have his support rather than criticism. It usually depends on family history. My kids are at risk for allergies even though neither my husband or I have food allergies, we both have other things that are related. Hay fever, eczema, and asthma are all the same gene dislayed differently. GL!

Hi J.,
My kids started eating peanut butter at about 2 and whole nuts, in small amounts, at about that time also. Beyond allergies, the 2 things that my docter always stressed were, (1)choking, be careful with the size of nuts and the amount of peanut butter. (2) the fact that nuts are very hard for human systems to digest, particularly toddlers, so limit the amount of whole nuts because they can cause stomach aches and intestinal cramps if the child eats too many.