Please help! Baby with hives...

[Pansy]

Not sure how old baby is, but bathing in colloidal oatmeal works great for itching problems (allergy to Pennecilin, spent days it seemed in the bathtub and this was very soothing - many years ago and with the allergies you probably should check first - if he is old enough for a small pool you could just dip and pour it over him to help. Hugs to both of you!

[Grace&Violets]

Hi all! Just an update. I eliminated all peas and peanuts, since it seemed to be the easiest to do. It's been at least 3 days since he's had any. Coincidence or not, today almost all of DS's hives are gone. Just a few really small ones on his face and a couple on his arm. (knock on wood!) For a controlled test, if this keeps up, I'm going to give him a little peanut butter in a week and see if anything happens. Thanks for all of your wonderful advice. Hopefully we have this thing figured out, but I did print out this topic in case I have to refer to it again in the future.

[goatherder]

I'd be very careful about giving the peanut butter. If it is a peanut allergy, he could have a severe reaction that would be life-threatening.

[Mother]

I agree GH. Peanut allergies are nothing to fool with. He might just have hives next time but then again, he might have a more severe reaction. Most allergist reccomend that children don't even have peanuts until after two years of age simply because of the possibility of allergies. If the hives don't recur then you will know that's what caused it, that and the peas. If they DO recur though, that does not mean that peanuts weren't an allergen for him. It might just mean there's more than one allergen. Please reconsider the peanut test until he's older at least.

 

By the way, often an allergist will reccomend that if there is one nut allergy, you don't try others until after two also. Even though peanuts are legumes and other nuts are tree nuts they can cause the same problems.

 

You might try sunflower butter. You can make it yourself in a grinder or food processor and it makes a good substitute for peanut butter, even in cookies. I make mine in a small Bullet blender and add a bit of sunflower oil to make it smoother (you can use any oil but not peanut oil. It keeps pretty well but I store it in the refrigerator between uses. Adding a bit of honey or maple syrup is a nice taste treat too. Grinding it with dates is even more tasty though it takes a bit of scraping.

 

Good luck G&V It's really difficult to be mother to an allergic child.

 

HUGS