Learning, Sharing, and Teaching > Mini Money Mustaches

Kids with nut allergies

(1/4) > >>

Livethedream:
Just found out our 10month old boy is allergic to peanuts, almonds and egg whites. Saw a allergist and got lots of good information. He has an epi pen for the almonds and peanuts.

We got him a little backpack since he is growing out of his diaper bag anyway, in a bag zipper compartment we have an insulated holder for his epi pen, Benadryl, emergency contact numbers, and a patch on the outside noting an epi pen is inside.

Just wondering if there is anyone else out there that might have dealt with kids with nut allergies and any advice you might have.

kimmarg:
I'm not allergic but these RoadID's are great. You can even add a medic alert or penut allergy badge and set it up so there is more complete info available with the unique code.  I'm guessing it'll be a few years before even the kids size will fit though.

https://www.roadid.com/products/stretch-rugged-silicone-id-bracelet

lazy-saver:
My toddler has similar allergies.

A big thing is that we made the decision to assume he isn't sensitive to "may contain/made on shared equipment/etc." amounts unless/until proven otherwise and he's been fine. This doesn't seem any riskier than choosing to ever feed a child an allergenic food they haven't had before, and greatly reduces the impact on quality of life. This choice isn't for everyone. Some people are that sensitive, and at the extreme can only eat food from a limited number of manufacturers whose processes and labeling habits they trust. (You probably know those warning labels are voluntary so lack of them doesn't mean something wasn't made on shared equipment.)  And everyone's comfort level is different.

I've learned that allergy information doesn't stick in the minds of grandparents or other people who might feed him, so they need to be regularly reminded.

You say you talked to an allergist so you probably know that allergy tests have a high rate of false positives and that while egg allergies are less likely than nut allergies to cause serious reactions, egg reactions can be serious and nut reactions can be mild.

ETA: my favorite nut butter alternative is Trader Joe's creamy sunflower butter.

And if you can do baked eggs (many with egg allergies can, but talk to your allergist) it makes life much easier.

Bracken_Joy:
There are also car seat strap covers and seatbelt covers you can buy to note allergies and medical conditions for kids. Like this: https://www.etsy.com/listing/527771948/seatbelt-cover-medical-alert-for?ref=listing-shop-header-1 Maybe not useful for food allergies, but if he has any medication allergies or cross reactivity concerns, that can be valuable.

MayDay:
We had a close friend with the crazy cross contamination level of nut allergy. We basically could not let her in our house or car because we eat nuts, and astray peanut under a car rug could kill her, and we only fed her from a list a 4-5 prepackaged snacks that her parents knew were safe. It sucks. I hope you don't have to deal with that level of allergy!

I agree with the PP that no one else will remember. People just don't have it on their minds. Or even if Bobby's parents from daycare know, one day grandma watches Bobby and sends him to school covered in peanut butter from breakfast and with nuts in his lunch. For that reason there are actually fewer anaphylactic episodes at schools that allow peanuts but have penauy free zones- people stay more viligant vs assuming everywhere at school is safe.

I think you are at the hardest age now- he really doesn't know what he's putting in his mouth. You need to teach him never to eat anything that mom and dad didn't approve (including grandparents asthey do indeed seem to suck at this!). That will take a few years though. But most serious allergy kids do figure it out.

Best of luck and I hope it isn't serious!

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page