infant food allergies, specifically peas

[atlantafemme]

**I posted about this in the allergy section a while back but hope to find feedback here from other mothers of infants.**

So, my son landed in the ER twice around 7.5 months due to severe vomiting and dehydration, both times about an hour after eating peas for dinner. Prior to these episodes, which were 5 days apart, he had eaten and loved peas for several weeks.

The docs did lots of tests b/c they did not believe peas had anything to do with his vomiting. We cut them out anyway and haven't had any severe episodes since. He did eat a green bean and promptly vomited that up several weeks ago, but again, this was after enjoying green bean mush for a week or so. But that was it--I decided not to offer any legumes whatsoever for a while.

He's 10 months now and last night, he wanted some bites of mushroom ravioli. He took a few tiny bites and 30-45 minutes later he began vomiting. Perplexed, we looked at the ingredient list and found pea fiber and pea protein isolate. After vomiting on and off for 2 hours, we were able to get some pedialyte in him and avoid the ER.

Here's are my questions:

1. My ped offered blood allergy testing. But from what I've read online, it sounds very unreliable. Anyone think it's worth it?

2. I realize that he may not be allergic or intolerant of all legumes but I'm afraid to take any chances!! Should I wait 6 months and give him a single lentil and pray he doesn't vomit? I'm really not a gambler...but we're also vegetarians so the idea of avoiding legumes is so foreign to us.

So far vomiting is his only symptom--no skin rashes, diarrhea, etc. Anyone else gone through or heard of allergies like this?

Thanks!!

[Masel]

DD1 tested positive to peas with a skin test. I knew she didn't like them but she didn't seem to notice them mixed in with other veggies. She also was + for peanut allergy. In retrospect it was probably the peas that was causing her eczema after we eliminated milk from her diet. No vomiting as I recall.

We did do blood tests but I think it was most useful for seeing the levels change over time, not for the initial diagnosis.

Peas get no respect as an allergen. People would laugh when we mentioned it. Neither DH or I like straight peas but once we started label reading they are persistent little critters. One of the most annoying was finding a canned soup for those icky days in winter when you just need soup. We'd carefully look for her other allergies but somehow miss the peas on the ingredient list (and in the picture on the front.) Doh. Then they'd be there grinning at us when we opened the can.

Sorry about the pea rant.

[Kmama2]

It sounds like you have an allergy to me. I have a dd with a peanut allergy.
You lo can/ could be allergic to legumes and sounds to me as if he is. Vomitting is a sign of an allergy and he might not have reacted intially because sometimes they dont react right away but after they have been exposed to it a bit. I would avoid them and see an allergist. Anything serious enough to send you to the ER is serious enough to see a pedi allergist. Can they skin test for peas??? I would do both skin and blood and just see what you get. It can't hurt and its minimally invasive.
But yeah... avoid them for sure!

[kdtmom2be]

My DD is allergic to milk but it takes a week of daily ingestion to show any symptoms. It's like she has a threshold of consumption and then she reacts. (and she eats other dairy products without any issues that I can tell.) DS vomits after eating dairy products, about an hour after or so. I'd avoid them for a few months before trying again.

[ScootchsMom]

DS just had a reaction 2 weeks ago to eggs, no vomiting, but explosive diarrhea with in the hour. He also broke out in welts where the eggs touched his face and bright red cheeks all day. On-call Ped "doubted" it was an allergic reaction, but this was the second time it had happened.

[atlantafemme]

Thanks, everyone.

The reason I'm hesitant about doing the allergy blood test is b/c we went through 2 blood draws in the ER that were HELLISH. Granted, he was dehydrated both times so that couldn't have helped, but imagine your baby screaming at the very top of his fear/anger threshold while nurses pin him down to a table and stab him with needles.... I tried to comfort him by rubbing his head and talking to him but I really wanted to beat the nurses back, scoop up my baby and run.

But it sounds like we do need to do some kind of allergy testing. But what happens next? If he shows an allergy to legumes, do I have him retested later to see if he's still allergic? Or do I try to feed him peas again in a year in the hospital parking lot? Will the test cover all legumes? Aren't there a lot of false-positives and false-negatives with these tests?

[fido]

I'm so glad that i have found another mother who's kid is sick after eating peas.  All the forums I have gone on the kids have gotten rashes...now I know that I'm not crazy. Both my girls have had a reaction to peas. My first would get severe diarreha moments after eating peas. my dr. said to keep introducing them every couple of months. She is fine now and does not have any sort of peanut, soy, or legume allergy and she's 3.5. Last night I fed my second daughter (7 months) peas.one hour later she was projectile vomiting...on and off for a good hour or two. Called the nurses line...she said to avoid all peas. I thought peas were supposed to be on the safe list?

I make my own food so I guess i have to be extra careful. What are the odds that both girls have had a reaction?

[mariagarcia495]

DD of my dear friend also has a allergy of milk. Whenever she drinks milk she vomits immediately after that. Now this becomes a biggest issue for my friend.