Nut allergies and breatfeeding

[dashley111]

I cant seem to find any GOOD information on breastfeeding a baby/toddler with a severe peanut and tree nut allergy.  I am unsure how transmission works.  Does anybody have any good resources or links?

I just ate an almond nut cracker without thinking (we are new to this) and I am a little concerned.

[scsigrl]

As a nursing Mom, you should not consume anything your child is allergic to.

[bocbocboc]

My son had an anaphylactic reaction to almond butter I consumed 3 hours before nursing him. I avoid nuts and peanuts like the plague.  I too couldn't find any solid info other than a study that said that in half of nursing moms traces of peanut proteins can be detected if they consume it.  G'luck!

[dashley111]

Another mom from MDC, who did not post on this thread, told me a few things that were helpful.  Such as, allergens are present in breastmilk for up to 5 days after a mother consumes them, and also that they are present in the child for that long-  so reactions can be present for quite a while.

But yes, there is NOT a lot of info out there.  I searched for a while.  Even most doctors have limited knowledge.

[flightgoddess]

NOw, how do you know about the baby's allergy? From a reaction from eating or touching? or from a test.

And there are different families of nuts grouped under 'tree nuts'. My son is allergic to cashew, but he had been drinking almond milk and eating things with almond flour well before we found out about the cashew. ANd our ped said not to worry about anything except the cashew, reaction trumps everything else.

So do you know if it is all nuts or just specific ones? YOu may just need to avoid specific ones and source them carefully to avoid cross contamination.

[dashley111]

We went to an allergist and she tested positive for peanuts, almonds, and coconut. We were told to avoid all nuts since children who are allergic to more than one kind of nut typically develop allergies to other nuts after exposures. Also almonds don't have to be labeled specifically but are included in "tree nut" labeling.