So frustrating..

[mamato52011]

Hi I am new to this site but have been dealing with my children's egg, peanut, and shellfish allergies for about 9 years now. Now my eight month old has had two bad reactions to rice and oatmeal, both she vomitted numerous times and then would fall into a deep sleep after.  She has also had really bad excema since she was about 8 weeks old and has always spit up alot.  I breastfeed and have taken myself off of milk and rice and oats but am frustrated by this.  I think she is also allergic to milk because she has exploded into hives on a couple of occasions when her siblings have kissed her with it on their lips.  I was just wondering if anyone else has seen this type of reaction to the grains and if it might be a GI issue and not an allergy? 

[scsigrl]

The first reaction you mention (the eating, throwing up and then falling asleep) sounds like a FPIES reaction.  How long after she ate did she get sick?  Any diarrhea with it?

As for being kissed and getting hives, it could be an allergy or intolerance or baby skin.  You said you are off dairy though, was the skin issues the reason for that?

[FAmom]

When my third son was about 7 months old he had a reaction like you describe, vomiting then falling into a deep sleep.  It was after we fed him rice cereal for the first time.  The cereal was the boxed variety made for babies, which includes soy lecithin (or soy oil.... but I think it was lecithin... it has been awhile).  Since we have two other food allergic kids we went on to just handle things in a certain way when it came to food, introductions, etc..... and after a try with soy milk, and a very clear, more typical reaction (facial hives, splotching, etc), we decided to get him tested for soy.  Which was done by our allergist, and confirmed.

What I would say is that both of my other kids did not have first reactions like that one.  The vomiting and deep sleep is extremely scary.  I still feel conflicted about not taking him to the ER.  

But, at this point, just to continue on, I breastfed him forever as a main source of "food", and introduced things very slowly, and he is almost 2 1/2 now, still breastfeeds 3 times a day (morning, nap, bedtime).  We haven't done more allergy testing yet for the other major allergens, but given his skin (eczema problems), other reactions after breastfeeding when I've eaten things, we will likely test him for dairy, nuts, eggs, and soy (again)... and shellfish (he had a bad reaction after breastfeeding when I had crab).

For me, check your ingredients on the grains..... if you used just straight rice and oats..... or if you used those baby ones that have other stuff in them.  It was really a surprise to me, in an odd way.  I had never even thought about the possibility that something like baby cereal would be the way we discovered yet another food allergy for us.... 

[mamato52011]

Thank you so much for replying..it helps alot to hear that other mom's are dealing with these things also!  I am mom to 5 great kids, I have a 10 year old that is allergic to peanuts, tree nuts and shellfish and a 6 year old son who is eggs, peanuts, tree nuts,shellfish.  The baby, who is 8 months has totally thrown me because I had never seen a reaction like this...She started with horrible excema at 8 weeks old (they put her on a steriod cream that helped) and has always spit up like crazy and been very gassy.  I exclusively breastfed her and was super careful about what I was eating but the spit up continued so we tried zantac but that really did not help.  Now the spit up has gotten better and so has the excema but they are still present a little.  You are right about looking into the soy because i do think she has an issue with cow's milk and i know that milk and soy go hand in hand.  We have an appt with an allergist in 2 weeks t6o do the testing so I guess i will have more answers then. 

I wanted to pick everyone's brain also beacuse I know that with a normal allergic reaction it is usually the second or third exposure to the food that causes a reaction.  My daughter reacted on the first try with oatmeal ( the baby cereal type)?  Has anyone else seen that?  This makes me think maybe it is the soy in the cereals as you mentioned. 

Also are there any moms out there who's kids have outgrown FPIES or egg allargy? 

[FAmom]

All 3 of mine reacted to their allergens on the first exposure.  DS#1 was to peanut butter.  DS#2 was to egg.  DS#3 to the soy in the baby cereal.  First time exposure.  All of them young.... under one year.  All breastfed, self weaned (the third one is still nursing in fact!).

I agree with you on being thrown by the vomit/deep sleep reaction too.  My other kids were the typical hives/splotchiness.  And, all 3 have had eczema too, which always seems to complicate things.  Our second DS ended up with skin infections, the poor thing.  I think we went through just as much trying to get his eczema figured out, and cleared up, as we have managing all the food allergies!

[scsigrl]

You don't react to the first exposure in a typical (IgE) allergy.  Your body has to be exposed and start producing antibodies agains the offending food.  It may have been the first time they ingested it but you have to be exposed oat least once prior (during pregnancy and nursing included!)

FPIES isn't an IgE reaction but I am not totally sure that the same doesn't hold true.  I never though of it before.  I don't know if BM/pregnancy exposure is also a factor in FPIES.

Good news, typically FPIES is outgrown by age 3 (I have read 5 for some things like rice though.)

[FAmom]

Okay.... ingestion.  My kids were definitely exposed while I was pregnant & through breastfeeding to their allergens.  Their first ingestion resulted in a reaction that was typical.  Not that there weren't symptoms that could have been mistaken for a whole host of other issues before their first ingestion.  For example, eczema flares, gassiness, etc.

Sorry for the semantic error.