Overwhelmed

My son is 11 months old, and unfortunately allergies have completely dictated his entire first year of life thusfar. It is terrifying when you first learn of your child's allergies, but the right support and education are extremely helpful. I'm sorry this comment is so long, but there's so much I wish I'd known when we were first diagnosed with our allergies. He has a milk allergy (FPIES) and we were diagnosed with a peanut allergy at 6 months old.

  • Finding the right provider for your care. If you can, I highly recommend you work with an allergist whose practice is predominantly children (e.g. a local Children's hospital), bonus if they work with a lot of kids 2 years of age or under. We switched our care to a local hospital's children's unit and it has truly made a difference for our son in managing and preventing allergies. If anything feels off about your care, or the practice is not as responsive as you like, don't hesitate to make a change.
  • Consider seeing a nutritionist who specializes in working with children who have food allergies. Ours has been so helpful in guiding us as we transition to table foods and good alternatives to cow's milk.
  • Skin prick and blood tests are unfortunately just that - the only real way to know if your son is allergic to anything is through ingestion, so any screening for other allergens, although helpful, won't necessarily mean he won't react. (This was our case for peanuts - negative on skin and blood tests, but immediate hives when ingesting small amounts).
  • I would ask your provider what other allergens he could be more likely to develop an allergy to, and ask about whether any changes to your baby's diet could help prevent developing an allergy to said ingredient.
  • It is still early, and as baby's body grows and changes your son's allergy may change too. Sometimes it may be worse, but sometimes it gets better or even outgrow it. As an example, our son reacted when he was 6 months old to peanut; he screened in for a food challenge and at 11 months old he passed. Kids with peanut allergies usually have a 20% chance of outgrowing it, which I understand to be pretty low, but by some miracle I am now feeding my son peanut butter.
  • Lastly, our doctor explained to us that there is a complex interplay of how bad your baby's eczema is, how much of a specific allergen you as a family ingest, and how much of an allergen a baby eats in general. So for example, if your baby has severe, uncontrolled eczema, you eat a ton of food containing peanut as an ingredient in your household, and your baby gets very little peanut exposure in his diet, he may be more likely to develop a peanut allergy. Our doctor recommended reducing our consumption of a specific allergen in the house if our child was not ingesting enough of that allergen orally, and mentioned that it would be useful to always wash our hands whenever handling our son's skin or his belongings, and to be especially careful about managing any broken, open skin. This includes washing hands before and after diaper changes if he has any broken skin from a diaper rash.

Depending on who your provider is, they may or may not suggest these specific things to you (our first one did not). Please speak to your provider about these points; I've found that some providers are not as thorough as others, and these are things I wish they'd made extremely clear to me from the beginning. I learned about these things through educational materials online from reputable sources, and/or from others who are living with allergies.

  • If your son does have a serious reaction and you have to use your prescribed epipen, call for an ambulance as soon as you can. I wouldn't bother trying to get to the ER yourself. An ambulance will allow you to cut through traffic and/or any obstacles, and medical professionals will be there to support you and explain to you anything that's going on. Those extra pair of eyes and hands are key in an emergency.
  • Carry 2 epipens at all times. If your son does not react to the first epipen in about 10 minutes, administer the second. Also, always better to err on the side of caution and give an epipen shot as early as possible.
  • I've like having the Auvi-Q specifically, as it is very easy to use and gives voice instruction when you remove the cap. I often practice using the trainer they included in the box on my son so that if I ever needed to use it, it would hopefully be automatic for me in the moment.
  • Ask your provider to demonstrate to you the best position to hold your son while administering a shot. We were shown the best way to do so at our food challenge (laying down, immobilizing a leg and grabbing a chunk of fat) and it was extremely helpful.
  • If your son does qualify for a food challenge in the future, I'd recommend doing it in a hospital setting. I felt much better doing our challenge at a major, reputable hospital, and the food challenge in a clinical setting we were originally going to do ours at did not sound as thorough or as well thought out.
/r/FoodAllergies Thread