9-month-old possible legume allergy?

[atlantafemme]

My LO started eating and liking peas around 6 months. Two months later, he became violently ill, twice in one week (Monday and Saturday), both times occurring one hour after dinner during which he consumed peas. He was vomiting so frequently (9-10 in the hour) that he became dehydrated and almost unresponsive and we rushed him to the ER where he got fluids and underwent testing.

Blood tests and abdominal ultrasounds/xrays revealed nothing. The docs didn't think the peas had anything to do with his sickness but they were the only common denominator between both episodes.

Needless to say, I stopped giving him peas and he's been fine since. Last week he ate some earth's best "green bean casserole," loved it and had no reaction. I gave it to him, thinking green beans were a veggie, not a legume... Then I tried giving him cooked green beans this week and he wasn't crazy about them. But apparently he ate one because it came back up today, probably about an hour after he ate it. It wasn't as violent as his other episodes--this was just one bout of heaving--but this last experience has me worried that he has a real legume allergy (once I realized that green BEANS are legumes ).

My questions are:

Do I need to take him for allergy testing?
Do people with food allergies ever only present with vomiting? (The hospital docs kept telling us that vomiting is not associated with food allergies.)
Should I refrain from giving him all legumes? (We're vegetarians... )
If I do give him any other legumes, should I do so in the parking lot of the hospital? (I'm only half-kidding.)

Any and all wisdom would be appreciated. Thanks!

[kjbrown92]

He may have a pea allergy or intolerance (you can have vomiting with either). He may or may not be allergic/intolerant to all legumes though. My DS was intolerant, after 2.5 years off green peas, he can now have them again as long as it's only once every 4 days (rotationally). He also reacted mildly to peanuts, and he's very intolerant to soy, and he reacted to green beans, but he can have chickpeas and some other legumes. You can get him allergy tested (skin prick, most likely) but under 2 years of age, the tests aren't that accurate either way unfortunately. However, I wouldn't be giving him any more green peas any time soon. And I'd defnitely start a food journal so you can track any other issues. And be very diligent about trying one food at a time with a few days in between each food.

[tanyalynn]

Peanuts are a legume.

DS vomited after consuming milk, I didn't see other stuff--no rash, no breathing issues, like that--and I think it's an intolerance. But the reaction you're describing sounds more severe, and being in the same family as peanuts, I'd probably want to do real testing to rule in or out an IgE allergy.

If legumes are a big part of your diet, I'd want to figure out sooner rather than later what's going on.

[FireWithin]

For now, I would remove all legumes.

DS was food intolerant to all legumes, we were eventually able to get all back except chickpeas and peanuts (haven't tested peas yet) by helping his body process certain foods better. I think it had to do with his ability to process sulfur foods.

Before I would consider that though, you would need to see if he is truly allergic or if it is an intolerance.

[atlantafemme]

Thanks everyone! We're going legume-free for a while and probably going for allergy-testing when he's older.

I've also read that red, rough cheeks can be associated w/food allergies. He gets these pretty randomly though--not usually after eating--and often wakes up with them. Are red cheeks ever associated w/ food intolerance?

Thanks again!

[kjbrown92]

Red cheeks can be from food intolerance, or from a salicylate sensitivity. You might want to start a food journal and see if you notice any trends/correlations with foods. My kids don't have sals sensitivity but DD2 got the red cheeks from apples, and DS got them from soy.

[atlantafemme]

So we had another incident-- my DS has been eating all kinds of new things lately but no legumes...until I gave him a couple bites of my Trader Joes mushroom ravioli. He vomited about 6-8 times starting about 45 minutes later. We checked the ingredients and found "pea fiber" and "pea protein isolate."

I'm still confused as to whether or not to get the IgE test that my ped recommended. I don't want to put him through the trauma of a blood draw if the results can't be trusted anyway. But I also fear that he could have other legume problems (like peanuts!) that I won't know about until he gets a bite of something w/some random peanut byproduct. (Obviously I won't be feeding him nuts any time soon.)

Should I just be diligent about keeping ALL legume products away until he's older (like 2) and test then? Or test now?