How I Learned My Child had Food Allergies
I had always joked I could never have a child with a peanut allergy. I just loved peanut butter too much. That is, until I loved my own child more (it’s been years since I have had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich). I am a Registered Dietitian and at the time was working in a school nutrition program helping other families manage their student’s allergies and had a tough time picturing how families manage allergies throughout their child’s life. I never pictured having a child with food allergies myself, until fast forward 5 years later.
Everyone always asks me, “how did you find out he had food allergies?”. It was clear to us within the first couple of weeks of offering him his first food as a baby. Although, looking back I do wonder how much else of his sleep issues and spitting up was related to his allergies. His very first food was mashed avocado we offered at 6 months. He didn’t love it, but tolerated it. The next time I gave him food was a half of a banana. We were practicing baby led weaning and avoided the traditional first food of rice cereal.
The third time I gave him food was a baby yogurt. He was undressed down to just his diaper and I noticed red spots developing on his neck and upper chest. I figured the yogurt was irritating his skin from touching it. I wiped him down and noticed how the redness continued to spread all over his mouth and face, and then from head to toe including his abdomen started getting streaks of pink and red. We immediately called the on-call pediatrician. My husband got him into a bath to wash him while I spoke with our doctor. They recommended getting children’s benadryl and monitoring him. I sent my husband to the pharmacy, which thankfully was still open. Eventually the redness faded and we decided not to give yogurt again. The guessing game continued after we introduced more foods and hives and redness would continue to appear. We decided to hold off on solids until we could get into the allergist to help us determine his allergies.
We finally saw the allergist when our son was 8 months old and the doctor conducted an initial skin prick test for the top 8 allergens because despite keeping a food record we couldn’t determine what exactly he was allergic to. He tested positive for peanuts, treenuts, eggs and milk. I was exclusively breastfeeding at that point and suspect he was reacting to some of these allergens in my milk, although the allergist told me I did not need to eliminate his allergens myself (though eventually I did to resolve his eczema). We were given an epipen, given a brief instruction on how to use it and sent on our way. They wanted to see us back in 6 months to try baked egg and baked milk food challenges to see what he may be able to tolerate (spoiler alert, he failed both).
Despite my years of training and working as a Registered Dietitian, nothing prepared me for having a child with a food allergy (multiple allergies at that). Honestly, I’m still shocked how little I understood about food allergies despite being in a profession focused on food and nutrition. That is what motivated me to share our story and lessons learned with others. If I, as a nutrition professional was overwhelmed understanding the ins and outs of managing life with a child with food allergies, how were other parents and families to understand and do it?
I don’t pretend to be an expert and I am still learning something new everyday with these food allergies, but I do hope to pass along the bits and pieces we have discovered to help make managing life with food allergies just a little bit easier.
I hope you will join me!
I would love to hear from you in the comments. How did you find out your child had food allergies? Did it come as a shock to you too?
