So, because of the eczema and the egg allergies, we knew that our little could be of higher risk for other types of allergies. Her doctors warned us to be very cautious when introducing peanuts and tree nuts but to do it as early as possible. So we did. We started with small amounts of peanut butter and increased them gradually over time. And we introduced almond butter and almond milk pretty soon after with no reaction. Parental high-fives all around. Thank goodness, no nut allergies to worry about because all nuts are the same. Right?
Wrong.
Two months after her first nut exposure I had a hunch that we needed to try introducing other types of nuts, just to be sure. In truth, I was not worried at all and decided to slip a bit of walnut butter to my little one morning at breakfast. Within seconds of licking a speck of walnut butter from my finger, my poor wee one threw up the contents of her stomach all over the counter. My husband and I checked her for hives and noticed she was developing a small number of round hives on her back within a few minutes of throwing up. ***I'll say it again, do NOT do what we did. Call 911. Trust me.***We rushed over to her paediatrician's office after giving her an antihistamine and by the time we arrived, less than ten minutes later, she was fine.
We were told to monitor her at home for any secondary reactions (yeah, they do that. Act fine and then bam, there's another reaction that's worse than the first one. That's why you call 911.) and our paediatrician put in a rush call to an allergist for testing. The last thing she said before we left was, "She didn't eat any wheat, did she?"
She did. We were in trouble. So, test confirmed no tree nuts (except for almonds) but we couldn't get a true answer about wheat and a few other highly common allergens. We just had to keep feeding her and hope for the best.
Enter weeks and weeks of anxiety. Three meals a day, plus snacks.