5 year old has never had peanuts/nut products - am I nuts?

[monkeybum]

I have a very real allergy phobia, and I have not given my 5 year old any nuts or nut products. Am I nuts? (No pun intended!).

I have lived the last 5 years behaving almost like he has a nut allergy, when I don't even know if he does. He got hives from eating shrimp at age 2 so my doc gave me an epi pen to carry around and that kind of freaked me out, though he had no other symptoms. I have a friend who had a very scary severe nut reaction in her 3 yo the first time she gave them to him, so that started my real phobia. You hear so many scary stories about nut allergies that I've just avoided them all together. He eats "may contain trace" items, but nothing with actual nuts in them.

I spoke to an allergist, but she said she didn't want to test him if there was no real reason to believe he has an allergy as there are apparently false-positives and she said if I got a positive, (false or otherwise) I'd have to act like he has a life threatening allergy. She said that given no prior history, I'd be better to go straight to an oral challenge as that's the only real way to know if he's allergic.

I plan to take him to sit outside the Emergency room to give him nuts the first few times, but I can't bring myself to do it. I am petrified that I will be giving him something deadly.

The fear is somewhat unfounded and irrational as there is no "peanut" allergy history in our family, but my mom does have mild allergic reactions to hazelnuts, so does my aunt, (they say their tongues "feel weird" and they just "feel not quite right"). My sister is very allergic to penicillin and DH (DS's father) is allergic to hornets/bees.

Am I crazy? Does anyone else have a 5 year old who hasn't had nuts? I want to know if he has an allergy in a safe environment rather than finding out by him sharing a snack at school or at someone's house! But I can't bring myself to feed it to him!!! Any thoughts??? Am I totally crazy?

[mamajama]

Are you sure he has never had nuts? What do you say if people offer him food? What do you tell him to say? Have you personally overseen everything he's eaten? I find it kind of mind boggling to imagine doing that when there's no allergy!

[nalo]

I understand the fear. But I think you can try nuts now. Don't start with peanuts. Try almonds, walnuts, other nuts first - it might make it feel less scary for you. You have an epi-pen and you have a plan but try not to freak your LO out in the process, yk? Can you guys just be "going for a walk" near the hospital while eating a nut snack or something (as opposed to "here, eat this while I wait for you to stop breathing". not that you would say that but he'd pick up on your feeling/fear - especially while sitting in the car outside the ER)? I know this feels scary but there is probably no need to worry so take a deep breath and give the kid some nuts.

[Theoretica]

Ok mama I am going to be really honest with you.

I think you need to see a counselor to work on your phobia. I can hear and feel the anxiety you have about giving him nuts. I don't have ANY doubt you are serious about this. But it's irrational...and your anxieties either already have or potentially could transfer to your child unintentionally.

You said there is no medical indication that he's ever been allergic to nuts or that there is any family history indicating risk. He's fine. He's probably had nuts or nut containing products at a friend's house. And if at five he's NEVER eaten food outside of your immediate control then that seems a bit overbearing on your part as well.

I realize your intentions are good. You clearly have his health at the forefront of your mind. Please consider seeing someone a few times to help you normalize the risks involved with this.

Good luck mama

[mbbinsc]

I have a friend who did sit in an ER parking lot the first time she gave peanut butter to her DC. All went well and they just laugh about it now.

[4Blessings]

Originally Posted by Theoretica

Ok mama I am going to be really honest with you.

I think you need to see a counselor to work on your phobia. I can hear and feel the anxiety you have about giving him nuts. I don't have ANY doubt you are serious about this. But it's irrational...and your anxieties either already have or potentially could transfer to your child unintentionally.

You said there is no medical indication that he's ever been allergic to nuts or that there is any family history indicating risk. He's fine. He's probably had nuts or nut containing products at a friend's house. And if at five he's NEVER eaten food outside of your immediate control then that seems a bit overbearing on your part as well.

I realize your intentions are good. You clearly have his health at the forefront of your mind. Please consider seeing someone a few times to help you normalize the risks involved with this.

Good luck mama

I don't think she is being irrational or overbearing. She looks pretty well educated about the risks. Her child does have a STRONG family history of allergy risk...

* Child's reaction to shrimp
* Father allergic to bees/hornets
* Aunts/Grandma with nut allergies

Specific allergies are not inherited. ALLERGIC TENDENCIES are inherited.

That being said, unless your child has not eaten any processed food and/or you are calling companies about shared lines/cross contamination there is a pretty good chance that your child has been exposed to at least trace amounts of peanuts in the past. I think it would be reasonable to trial peanuts in the hospital parking lot!

s to you!

[Astromom]

Originally Posted by Proud2BeAnAmerican

I think it would be reasonable to trial peanuts in the hospital parking lot!

I agree, I don't think this would be unreasonable.

Am I the only one who thinks it's a little strange that the allergist won't just go ahead and test him for it though?

[Chinese Pistache]

OP, I think you've been really wise to avoid nuts until now. Your ds's immune system is much stronger now than when he was a toddler, so it really is the perfect time. Can you have another adult with you when you trial, even a mom whose familiar with food allergies. It might make you feel stronger. Good luck!

[Chinese Pistache]

Originally Posted by Astromom

I agree, I don't think this would be unreasonable.

Am I the only one who thinks it's a little strange that the allergist won't just go ahead and test him for it though?

Yeah, even if the allergist doesn't want to do a blood or spt, it's pretty common to do an in-office oral challenge. OP, maybe tell your allergist that you want to do that??

[Ophelia]

Originally Posted by Chinese Pistache

Yeah, even if the allergist doesn't want to do a blood or spt, it's pretty common to do an in-office oral challenge. OP, maybe tell your allergist that you want to do that??

I don't think this is a bad idea either. And like someone else said, start with a nut that isn't high on the allergy list. Peanuts are probably the highest even though technically they are a legume. I have reactions to walnut for sure and think I have eaten a small bite of almond w/o reaction.

I'm allergic to nuts/peanuts (I just stay away from all) and DS has not had any yet. We are getting a RAST test and see if anything shows.

[monkeybum]

Part of my rationale for waiting (other than being unable to bring myself to purposefully give him something that could harm him...) was that I had heard that often children outgrow nut allergies by the time they are 5, so I figured I would just wait until he's 5 so that there was a better chance that if he'd had one, he may have outgrown it.

I know he has had almonds as we took him off dairy at about 13-15 months and tried almond milk, (which he didn't really want) he also had a bite of an almond cookie at my inlaws around that time, (which he didnt like) but no other nuts and none since that time. We know he's had products that indicate "may contain trace" amounts of nuts, but I'm sure he's never had peanuts or nuts other than almonds as - as strange as this may sound - he's never been away from DH or I other than at daycare, and his day care was nut-free.

He's only ever eaten food made by us, or in our presence, or at daycare. He has never been alone at a friends or relatives, and all my friends/family know that we were waiting on all nut products until age 5 so they always ask me before they give him anything. They all think I'm loopy, but they do it!

I told the allergist that I was thinking of doing an oral challenge in the parking lot of the hospital, but asked if she could do it there as she would know more what to look for and how to react. Her response (she was a b*tch to be honest) was that it would be safer to do it in the parking lot myself as it's closer than her office, that we'd have to wait for the ambulance at her office and it would take longer. She said most people don't worry about it and just give it to them, and she wouldn't normally spend her time doing oral challenges in her office if they hadn't seen a history of a reaction already.

I was thinking of doing the blood test at my naturopath, but it's $300 and can have false positives/negatives so I'm not sure I see a point. We did the test at another naturopath where they put the vials in my hand, had me hold my DS hand, and then she pushed on my other hand to see how much strength I had in the hand with the vial, and nuts came back negative (no allergy) but I'm not sure I bought it...if it really worked, how do I know that wasn't my reaction not DS's?

I called another place that does allergy testing and allergy "cures" through some electromagnetic field thing. It was like $200 for the test and several hundred for the treatment (cure), but when I asked for clarification on proving the allergy is cured and for some references, she hung up on me and wouldn't return my calls.

I have actually convinced myself that I've made DS MORE likely to have an allergy now since the friend who's son had the horrible reaction, (the ER doc said it was the worst nut reaction he'd ever seen) was told by the doctor that it was so bad because he'd had so many "trace" amounts of nuts that it had built up this very strong allergy. Now I'm terrified that's what I might have done!

[emilysmama]

I waited until five years old. (That was just a couple weeks ago.)

And I had even less reason than you. Mostly mild reactions other allergens.

Allergist told me to wait until 3 years old for peanut exposure, so I decided on my own to wait until 5 years old, and same for tree nuts.

One reason was that I figured that the allergy might have been out grown by age 5. The other, more important reason, is that I figure a 5 year old will be able to report symptoms. With a toddler, or even a 3 year old, it's a guessing game of whether any itching or funny business is going on. The 5 year old can tell describe what's going on just fine, I think.

But still, nuts and peanuts are everywhere, so my reasoning is that if my dd had a bad peanut or tree nut allergy, it would have shown up by now in spite of my vigilance. That's very comforting to me. I avoid peanuts and tree nuts, if listed on the ingredients, but I haven't avoided the "may be processed" foods and we go to restaurants where I'm sure peanuts and tree nuts sneak in spite of my attempts to question the restaurant staff. So I think my daughter would have had lots of unexplained reactions if she were allergic to peanuts and tree nuts, and that keeps me pretty calm.

As I said, a couple weeks ago I tried one almond at home. The next day I tried two almonds, but there was a mild reaction. So we are stopping the almonds for now, I guess.

All the same, I don't think that there is anything wrong with trialing in the hospital parking lot. Your doctor brings up a good point. It would be faster do to the trial in the parking lot than at the doctor's office. And by now, you certainly know what symptoms to look for.