Babysitter Gave 1 y.o. Peanut Butter--major Hives :O(

Reading one of your responses I just had to chime in--peanuts are NOT a nut. Peanuts are a bean. Just because a child has allergies to peanuts does not mean they will have allergies to nuts such as walnuts, or almonds and vise versa.

Peanuts being nuts is a common misconception. As a mother and spouse of sufferers of nut allergies the misconception is a pet peeve of mine.

Babies are prone to reactions to new foods.
The only way you can know for sure if your child suffers from an allergy is to be tested by an allergist. She could have had a reaction to any number of things.

Any allergy can be outgrown but....your child can also be allergic to other foods, as well. You won't know until the child gets the allergy tests or you observe her after she has eaten something. I'm sure you will introduce new foods slowly. I'm sure it was an accident that the baby sitter gave her the sandwich but is the sitter equipped with an epi-pen and benadryal in the event another incident occurs? Also, for the dr. to do allergy blood work, your child should be off of antihistamines for at least 24 - 48 hours or longer if possible. I know you say it was an accident but, she could have had the same reaction months from now - you just never know. You can't beat yourself up over it. Just make sure that the baby sitter is able to do her best to prevent incidences from happening like this. Especially if your daughter will eventually have access to some food or candy at her home. Good luck!

I just wanted to tell you my experience. I gave my son peanutbutter for the first time when he was about 13 months old. He had recently had his chicken pox vaccination and at that appt the doc said it was ok to give him peanutbutter, so we tried it. His face swelled up like the elephant man -- it was scary -- and he got hives all over his body. I freaked out and called the doc who gave me instructions to help bring the swelling down. My son didn't have any breathing issues. He wasn't the least bit bothered by the reaction at all -- just went on playing like usual. The doc told me to try peanut butter again sometime later, at least 3 months. I waited one year. The next time, he got just hives, no swelling. Eventually I tried a different brand of peanut butter and no hives. He will get hives from skippy peanutbutter but not from jiff. Also, over the years, we have found that he is sensitive to food coloring and to preservatives. So, it might not be the peanuts but something else in the peanut butter. Good Luck!

It's rare that a child outgrows a nut allergy, but it has happened. Your best bet is to keep her away from nuts altogether until she's at least five, then have her re-tested--that includes foods processed with nut products. As for severity, no matter what anyone tells you there is no such thing as a mild peanut allergy. From now on or until she no longer test positive for the allergy, the epi-pen should always be with her. My son only had minor reactions--rash, runny nose--the first few times he was exposed to nuts (always accidently by someone else), then all of a sudden one day after being exposed he went into anaphylaxis. It is the scariest thing I had ever gone through. Ten days later he had a re-bound reaction. Luckily, his dr. insisted that we always have the Epi and told us "when in doubt, pull it out". So we didn't hesitate to use it. We have heard many stories from other parents that stopped getting the Epi, because of the price & they felt they didn't really need it because it was a "mild" allergy. Other other parents have said that didn't use it soon enough. We were grateful for the education that we received from my son's ped & allergist forewarning us of these issues.

It's all very scary, I know. But it can be managed with your diligence. Check out www.foodallergy.org for a wealth of information.

Good luck!

20% of peanut allergies are outgrown. Please check out peanutallergy.com and read, read, read.

My son has a severe peanut allergy and we go to Children's Memorial in Chacago, even though it is an hour and fifteen minute drive each way.

Educate yourself, there is a lot of information that doctors locally are not giving out.