Advice for Infant Newly Diagnosed with Food Allergies
Our 7-month old was recently diagnosed with allergies to peanuts, tree nuts, soy, and eggs. No one in our family has food allergies so this is new for us. She seems to be touch sensitive to at least peanuts and we now carry an epi-pen everywhere. We are working with an allergist at the Allergy and Asthma Medical Group (AAMG), but were hoping for some advice from other families with infants and young children who have food allergies. We are about to start daycare at a nut-free daycare but we are concerned about soy and eggs, as well as cross-contact with nuts. We would love advice on how to work with daycare staff and other parents to make daycare a safe environment for our daughter. We would also really appreciate advice on what to do when eating out, traveling, visiting friends and relatives, and any other tips. Thank you!
Parent Replies
Hello and welcome to the world of parenting a child with allergies!
Our child was diagnosed at about 6 months with the same set of allergies yours has as well as milk and wheat. Working with daycare wasn't too much of a problem and they were very willing to work with us. Fortunately, he's since outgrown the milk, egg, and wheat allergies so now he's left with peanuts, tree nuts, and soy.
At our daycare, we provided all of our child's food and when meal time came, he was seated at his own chair with tray adjacent to the table the other kids were at. Then he'd stay there until the staff had an opportunity to sweep up any crumbs and stuff left from the other kids.
As far as medication, the school was comfortable administering an epi-pen if needed--fortunately that never occurred. In the two day cares he's been at, one was comfortable administering OTC meds (benadryl) for mild break outs, the other was not.
For day to day life, you kind of just slowly adjust. We check ingredients on everything. When eating out, we mostly stick to places with fresh ingredients. What you'll soon find is that soy and soy lecithin are in EVERYTHING. My wife found soy in the ingredients for her tea because it was a part of the lemon flavor. Most packaged breads have soy as do most ice creams. However, we've found that fresh bread and ice cream shops where they make their own ice cream are usually safe. Depending on how severe your child's allergies are, you might be willing to chance it once in a while. Our child's reaction to soy is mostly hives and luckily (knock on wood) nothing has caused anaphylaxis. We just make sure to keep benadryl on hand in those rare cases he breaks out.
Our child is now two and has come to understand that some foods "make you itchy" so doesn't put up much fuss if told they can't have something.
Hopefully this was helpful. Please let me know if you have any other questions.