Food Allergies - Woonsocket,RI

Hi C.,I don't think a child with a peanut allergy will grow out of it but on the other hand more children grow out of dairy allergies.Try to hang in there and who knows maybe both the kids allergies will go away!!!!!!!

From C.

Goodluck

C.,
As far as I know- and I've worked with kids with food allergies- they don't outgrow peanut allergies. I think it's the same for eggs as well. Lactose intolerance can be outgrown, but not true milk allergies. Your body builds up its response with each exposure until it reaches a threshold, then you have your allergic reaction. I would talk to your allergist about it before thinking of taking any kind of risk exposing your kids. The doc will know much better than me or anyone here what your kids' chances are of outgrowing these. Many blessings to you, and so much luck as you move through keeping your kids safe!

I just want to note that some of the responses here are talking about lactose intolerance, which is not the same thing as a milk allergy. I am lactose intolerant (I developed the intolerance as an adult, which is much more common than having lactose intolerance as a child). Both of my children had milk allergies as babies. I was lucky to have both of them outgrow their milk allergies between the ages of 1 and 2. The symptoms for lactose intolerance are not usually the same as milk allergies. I discovered I was lactose intolerant when I started having terrible cramping and diarrhea after eating dairy products. My children had blood in their stools and mild eczema from their milk allergies.

C. - I wish you the best of luck in dealing with your children's allergies. I don't know too much about peanut allergies but I think people are correct in saying that allergy is unlikely to be outgrown. I was told with the milk allergies that most babies outgrow them by age one and those children who don't outgrow it by age one are likely to outgrow it by age three. So there is hope for that. Best wishes for you and your children!

K.

Hi, C..

My son has been going for allergy testing. We have had to tear rugs and replace with wooden floors. We have to avoid being in homes that have pets or that are not especially clean. He is allergic to dust and dust mites besides cats and dogs. We know that even being in school he is exposed to these allergens just through children and teachers having pet dander on jackets and clothing. We have been trying to convince the school that carpeting is not the best choice for circle time. We even volunteered to purchase vinyl seating cushions.

Allergy meds do not seem to help that much so I find it frustrating but we just keep him home when he even gets a little cold. It is not worth hospital time on a resperator with his lungs collasping and praying for him to make it through.

I wish it was something they out grew. I know that he has done better as he has gotten older but I think it is becasue he can tells us when he feels his throat restricting before it gets too serious.

Sorry this took this long but I wonder how much the meds affect his attention span and being able to sit without squirming.

Thanks for your response. I wish there was a way to know what was best all the time for our children. We have a child in our school that has a peanut allergy and I respect the no peanut products to the fullest. We make sure to ask when inviting children over about allergies and make sure our enviroment is friendly for that child.

Have a good day.

P.

I so know what your talking about, my 2 year old is allergic to the top 8 and about 30 other foods and persivitives and red dye #40. My son tested a 6 out of 6 for peanuts they said it was the highest #'s they had seen.so you prob allready know he will never out grow peanuts but maybe the cow stuff eventually but it has almost been 3 years and my son is still allergic to everything. So believe me I know exactly what your going threw. I go on a bunch of web sites that I find helpfull: Allergy kids, FAAN, and there is a bunch of others maybe you can find different reciepes and crafts on the site. I am more limited than you are my son can eat 6 foods safely, apples, bananna, carrots, brocoli, pork and green beans, oh and he can have blue lollipops from my bank lol I raided their pops for holloween, I had to give him some pleasure. If you know what I mean. Ok Good luck

Hi C..
I will answer your question to the best of my ability, but I'm afraid you may not like it. My only qualifications are that I am a mom, and a nurse. It is possible, but not probable that your kids will outgrow this. The peanut allergy in particular is pretty severe. It's something you would never want to "test" (without the advice of a doctor). Usually, people find out quite by accident that their allergies are better (or worse) than they thought. For example, someday your daughter could eat cake made with eggs and feel fine. Dairy "allergies" often present similarly to lactose intolerance. I was the kid who was very strongly encouraged to drink my milk, and would suffer the consequences of horrible stomach cramps afterwards. But that's a decision she can make for herself when she's older. A little lactaid may make a bowl of ice cream a whole lot more appealing. Sounds to me like you are doing a great job though. Keeping your kids healthy is a #1 priority, and you're right on top of it. Keep it up.

Both of my teens have had/have food allergies, nuts/peanuts, beef,wheat,fish,pork,eggs,dairy...to name a few...
here are some tricks...
for a milk allergy try frozen cool whip in place of ice cream, it even comes in chocolate flavor now. It is non dairy. My boy oved it and you can scoop it out like real ice cream.
rice crispy treats saved the day for me many times as well. Put gummies on them or in them shape them like cookies. My girl made a "pizza" out of hers with drizzled white chocolate for the cheese and gummies for toppings.
as for outgrowing it, some allergies can be outgrown with the longest period of abstincence possible. My son outgrew his dairy allergy at 6. My daughter outgrew wheat at 7. Your allergist will do a food challenge, usually at the hospital. They feed your child a tiny amount of the allergen every half hour, gradually increasing the amount. If no reaction occurs, they then try the actual food. Teh longer the food is avoided the better the chance of outgrowing...

Hello, My 2 year old is allergic to peanuts! They say that those alleric to peanuts do not grow out of it. Not good for parents like us. It is so scary. You have to watch everything. I just read an article on a little girl out shopping with her mom. They stop at the same sandwich shop and get their usual sandwich and about an hour later the little girl passed away b/c of some kind of peanut product in her sandwich. This is a sandwich she has eaten before without problems. I was so scared after reading that. You ask if peanut products are in food and you trust what food servers are telling you. It is so scary. I hope you live in an area where there are peanut free schools. I am not sure about the dairy allergy. I hope she does grow out of it. Good luck with your little ones! They are the most precious gifts anyone could recieve.

L.

My daughter is allergic to peanuts. They thought she had a strong possibility of growing out of it b/c it was abnormal but not highly abnormal, no such luck. I don't think there is any timetable for it.

The AMA measures allergies through bloodwork and the highest number for peanuts is 100 (according to her doctor) - she is 100 so I can sympathize with you about parties, etc. We took her Halloween candy away from her too. All she wanted was her SpongeBob gummies but they were processed on machinery that may contain nuts.

She is almost five so she gets why she can't have something but some days it breaks my heart to see her cry because she can't be like the rest of the kids and have cake at a party.

She was also allergic to broccoli and eggs but grew out of them by the time she was 2. She was first tested when she was 9 mos. old.

Good luck.

I have a daughter with an anaphylactic allergy to peanuts and a daughter with an allergy to tree nuts. We too have to send homemade cupcakes, take away some of the Halloween Candy, it stinks, but its life. I have read that about 30% of people with nut allergies outgrow them. I don't know how accurate that is, but that's the information I have gotten. As for your daughter I am not really sure, I think it has a lot to do with her body. My neice has similar allergies to your daughter, milk, eggs, peanuts. My sister in law brings her to a hollistic (sp?) medicine doctor and she has seen some improvements with her environmental allergies. Next they are planning on working on her food allergies. I understand that they will expose her to the allergens, put some milk on her arm and see how she reacts, usually hives wherever it touches her skin. And each week they move it closer to her mouth, up her arm, her shoulder, her neck, eventually her cheek and then her lips and in the future she will ingest it. My sister in law has spoken to many other moms who bring their children to this doctor and they have all said that it works, things kids used to be allergic to, now they can eat it. Also, on her own, my neice has gone from a 5 on her allergy to eggs down to a 3. They are planning on challenging her when her numbers are down to .1 or .2 I don't really know if I answered your question, but I hope some of it was helpful. Good Luck.

C.:
Your story sounds just like mine with my now 3.5 year old son Jonathan. He was diagnosed with dairy allergy at age one. I had to do total avoidance, or he'd break into hives even w/o digesting dairy, but just coming in skin contact with it. I was so sad for him and yes, as he got older packed his own cupcakes for parties, had to have alternative lunches for playdates and had to be on top of any kid with dairy so Jonathan wouldn't come in contact. Good news, I became quite good at reading labels, and found popular snacks that were dairy-free. Oreos, Teddy Grahams, animal cookies (NOT animal crackers), fruit snacks, and many dry cereals held him over. There are also some good soy products at the organic section of grocery stores like soy ice cream, ice cream sandwiches, and yogurt. Two of my favorite dairy-free companies were www.cherrybrookkitchen.com, and www.kinnickinnickfoods.com.

THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT AT JONATHAN'S THREE YEAR OLD CHECK UP, HE HAD A BLOOD TEST AND HAS OUTGROWN HIS DAIRY ALLERGY!!!!!! We are a whole different family now with different family activities. We love going to IHOP (something my husband or I had to do with the older child separately) and going out for ice cream (instead of having 'popsicle parties' at home!) So yes, believe the allergists, THEY DO OUTGROW IT WITH TOTAL AVOIDANCE!!!!

Another piece of GREAT news for you is that I wrote a children's fiction book that was published 2 years ago about a dairy allergy. It is whimsical and written just for your kiddo's age levels. It is called The Very Non-Dairy Christmas (so, perfect timing for the season!) is is available many ways. It describes a boy's dairy allergy and his thoughts on Christmas Eve while getting ready for Santa, as well as describes Santa's thoughts about HIS OWN dairy allergy on Christmas Eve. You can sneak a peek at it on it's publisher's website www.trafford.com (just enter the bookstore site and plug in the title) It is also available through www.barnesandnoble.com, www.borders.com, www.amazon.com, and www.target.com. Additionally, if you would prefer an autographed copy with both your children's names, please respond back, I would love to personalize one for you! I have sold copies to many allergist's offices as well as dairy-free bakeries around the US!
Best of luck and dairy-free days!
S. Foraker
____@____.com

I have a similar situation. I have two girls 4 & 2, they have nut, egg & poultry allergies so any time we go to parties, we have to bring our own cupcakes as well. You will find that once the parents know your childrens' situation they try to help out anyway they can. they may outgrow it but they may not. My husband actually grew into his, He could eat nuts, eggs & poultry up until about 8 years ago, so anything can happen.

well, my 19 month old girl has peanut allergies, our doctor has said to keep her away from all nuts, seafood, and eggs until she is 3, that that inproves her chances from keeping the peanut allergy and developing the others...chances are the nut allergies will stick...for both of our kids. Its annoying I know. My little one seems to get eczema/ hives from the nuts, not sure what would happen if she actually ate a peanut, never has. I dont know much about the milk allergy, however I have heard of people outgrowing it. I would definately try and sit down with an allergist, they will have more answers for you.

When I was about 5 I was allergic to grass, milk, and hoards of other items. I would break out in huge blisters every year. I had my last case of it when I was nine, so I do think it is possible for them to grow out of it. However, a peanut allergy might be something he may not grow out of. Best of luck.

Hi C.. Im curious if your children have had a reaction or have had just a reaction to tests,because my daughter is 3 and supposidly had peanut and egg allergies.It was her response to the tests.She has no allergies.I went the whole route of egg free and peanut free.I had family accidently give her peanuts,and she was fine.I started to feed her things with eggs baked in or mixed in.No problems.So i gave her scrambled eggs.Still no reaction.So I think alot of those tests are false.But they say by 3 you can give them peanuts and by 5 with eggs.I hope this helps because I wish someone had told me.I know all children are different and it is really tough to go through,and there are alot of really good recipes out there for children with allergies.I wish you the best of luck!!!