It Started with a Peanut Allergy...
We went to a corn maze and bought a bag of boiled peanuts to try. Even though my son was only 16 months old we figured a boiled peanut was soft enough for him to eat. Within minutes of eating it, he started fussing and crying. We thought he was just tired. We got home within ten minutes and noticed he was covered in hives. We still didn't make the connection to the peanut. We gave him Benadryl for the hives and he calmed down and napped. The pediatrician just told us to keep an eye on him and schedule an appointment with a specialist for testing. He was positive for peanut as well as some tree nuts. Now we know that a reaction like that we should use an Epinephrine injector.
We had a second anaphylactic reaction to an accidental ingestion of a snack with cashew nuts. We did not know the snack had cashews in in it and it ended up being a biphasic reaction.
Then There Was a Milk Allergy...
My daughter had what we thought was baby acne that wouldn't go away. She's scratch her face until it bled and we had to keep her in mittens at night to prevent this. Having experienced peanut allergy, we suspected an allergy, but the pediatrician assured us that it was dermatitis and eczema. After months of persistence, we finally got an appointment with the allergy doctor. Skin testing was negative according to the doctor but the blood test was positive. We switched practices and the new doctor performed a skin test and blood test and they both came out positive for Milk, Tree Nuts, and Sunflower seeds. Fast forward a few years, she too had an accidental ingestion of nuts and had an anaphylactic reaction.
The milk allergy had definitely been more of a challenge. Every birthday party or class party becomes a danger zone. I'm always looking for a good substitute treat for my picky eater.