Adventures in peanut allergies?

So it looks like Lorelai might have a peanut allergy. I'm not going to lie, I'm freaking out. Not only over what kind of potential changes this mean to us/her and her lifestyle from now on, but I can't help but think about my sweet baby going into anaphylactic shock and winding up in the hospital...or worse. PB allergies are no joke :(

This weekend while I was making Logan a PB&J, I decided I would go ahead and make a small one for Lorelai as her first experience with peanut butter. Since she has no other known allergies and no family history of allergies, we got the go-ahead from her pediatrician at 12 months to give her pretty much anything as long as it wasn't a choking hazard. (The AAP recently changed their recommendation on waiting till after 2 years to introduce peanut butter.)

I spreaded it thin with applesauce so it would be easier to eat and let her have at it. She ate a few bites and that was it—clearly not a fan. It wasn't until I noticed the red spots on the corners of her mouth when she got done with her goldfish crackers that I started to suspect anything. I washed her face really well and then we went to the pumpkin patch and Aidan's soccer game. By the time we got home from Aidan's soccer game several hours later, she had developed a rash on the back of her neck and some spots on her belly. I immediately suspected it was the peanut butter, but she wasn't having any trouble breathing, no swelling, or any other alarming symptoms, so I didn't think to give her any allergy meds for it (stupid, stupid).

We put her to bed (and checked on her a few times throughout the night for difficulty breathing) and all seemed fine until the morning when her rash had gotten way worse. It was all over her trunk, neck, scalp, and face. She had a few spots on her arms and legs, too. And she was itching like crazy.

It was Sunday, so I had to wait for a call back from the doctor. Amongst all the talk of which ER to go to if she started swelling or having breathing problems (freaking me out, of course!) they recommended 1tsp of Benedryl every six hours as needed. We were given instructions to bring her in on Monday if her rash didn't get any better, or started to get worse.

Fortunately, it did start to respond to the Benedryl, but it took until Tuesday for the redness to disappear from her face. Right now it's still kind of bumpy, but no rash anywhere else, other than a MEAN diaper rash on Tuesday and Wednesday. I guess we were fortunate to avoid any serious symptoms this time, but that doesn't mean that any future exposures won't be worse. Such a scary thought.

So...I guess we'll find out what to do next during her 15 month well visit on Nov. 1. I'm hoping for a referral to an allergist so we can find out for sure whether she's allergic, and if so, how severe it is.

In the meantime, I'm still holding on to a sliver of hope that it's just a coincidence and the rash was a random one-time thing. Fingers, toes and eyes crossed! I'll be sure to keep everyone posted.



Her world has been turned upside down. No peanut butter? Crazytown!