Peanut introduction

Due to family history of allergies I was waiting until Julie turned 3
before introducing peanuts, however, yesterday at a Halloween party she
scarfed down several peanut-butter Ritz Bitz crackers before I
realized/could stop her. So, now that she's eaten peanut, should I
continue to offer it to her, or would there be any value whatsoever at
this point in not letting her eat it again until she's 3?
--
Cheryl S.
Mom to Julie, 2 yr., 7 mo.
And Jaden, 1 month

Cleaning the house while your children are small is like
shoveling the sidewalk while it's still snowing.

Generally first exposure to it would not be a problem. It's a
subsequent exposure that would cause a reaction. Has she ever been
exposed to peanuts before in any way? If it were me I would probably
wait until she's three since you've done it this far.

That said, I gave both my kids peanut butter at 18 months or so,
despite it being an allergy risk (I didn't know any better then). I
was lucky and both are OK with peanuts, although they don't get it
often. Youngest is still only 2. However, I found about the whole
allergy risk thing the hard way with a severe reaction with 3 yo dd to
walnuts at christmas time.

#3 is on the way and you can be sure I will follow all the
allergy-risk guidelines this time!

On Thu, 30 Oct 2003 09:48:02 -0500, "Cheryl S."
wrote:

Due to family history of allergies I was waiting until Julie turned 3
before introducing peanuts, however, yesterday at a Halloween party she
scarfed down several peanut-butter Ritz Bitz crackers before I
realized/could stop her. So, now that she's eaten peanut, should I
continue to offer it to her, or would there be any value whatsoever at
this point in not letting her eat it again until she's 3?

"Cheryl S." wrote in message
...
Due to family history of allergies I was waiting until Julie turned 3
before introducing peanuts, however, yesterday at a Halloween party she
scarfed down several peanut-butter Ritz Bitz crackers before I
realized/could stop her. So, now that she's eaten peanut, should I
continue to offer it to her, or would there be any value whatsoever at
this point in not letting her eat it again until she's 3?
--
Cheryl S.


You're over thinking - quit it! Lol.

If she ate it and she's fine, I'd let her have it now.

JMO.

"Cheryl S." writes:
| Due to family history of allergies I was waiting until Julie turned 3
| before introducing peanuts, however, yesterday at a Halloween party she
| scarfed down several peanut-butter Ritz Bitz crackers before I
| realized/could stop her. So, now that she's eaten peanut, should I
| continue to offer it to her, or would there be any value whatsoever at
| this point in not letting her eat it again until she's 3?

There is considerable value in waiting to introduce peanut butter
again. Allergies develop through exposure; no one is ever allergic to
something the very first time they encounter it, so the fact that she
didn't react this time proves nothing. The fewer exposures she has to
peanuts at a young age, the less likely she is to develop an allergy
to them.

Delayed introduction doesn't work for every allergen, but it does seem
to work for peanuts. I'd wait.

- Cindy Kandolf, mamma to Kenneth (9) and Robby (3)
****** Bærum, Norway
Bilingual Families Web Page:
http://www.nethelp.no/cindy/biling-fam.html

"Cheryl S." wrote in message
...
Due to family history of allergies I was waiting until Julie turned 3
before introducing peanuts, however, yesterday at a Halloween party she
scarfed down several peanut-butter Ritz Bitz crackers before I
realized/could stop her. So, now that she's eaten peanut, should I
continue to offer it to her, or would there be any value whatsoever at
this point in not letting her eat it again until she's 3?

From what I understand, (matthew is peanut allergic) the first exposure
isn't the one that would react. It's exposures after that. Peanut is in a
lot of places. Unless you've been reading labels *religiously*, there's a
good chance she's had it in some form to this point.

Even the white rice at a chinese restaurant has traces of the oil in it.
Peanut flour is used as a filler in a lot of foods. I never actually gave
Matthew peanut flavored products, but I wasn't reading labels. I always
wondered why he would break out in hives after eating sometimes. Didn't
occur to me that it could be a peanut product in whatever I'd given him.
Since we discovered and confirmed the allergy I've been very strict about
reading labels, no asian food, limiting homemade food from unknown sources
and he hasn't had hives once since June.
--
JennP.

mom to Matthew 10/11/00
remove "no........spam" to reply

Cheryl S. wrote:
Due to family history of allergies I was waiting until Julie turned 3
before introducing peanuts, however, yesterday at a Halloween party
she scarfed down several peanut-butter Ritz Bitz crackers before I
realized/could stop her. So, now that she's eaten peanut, should I
continue to offer it to her, or would there be any value whatsoever at
this point in not letting her eat it again until she's 3?

Peanuts, or peanut oils, are in so many things that I just can't imagine
that was her first exposure. If it were me I wouldn't worry about giving it
to her again. Of course, there is no harm in waiting so really, I would do
whatever makes you most comfortable :-)

--
Nikki
Mama to Hunter (4) and Luke (2)

I would ask your allergist. Maybe it's time for her to be tested for
peanut allergy. Until you're sure, I would continue to avoid nuts.

allergators.com
Food Allergy Apparel For Kids

"AllerGators" wrote in message
om...
I would ask your allergist. Maybe it's time for her to be tested for
peanut allergy. Until you're sure, I would continue to avoid nuts.

Why would she be tested? She hasn't had any type of reactions? In fact, she
hasn't had any reactions to any foods, right Cheryl?
--
JennP.

mom to Matthew 10/11/00
remove "no........spam" to reply

JennP wrote in message
news:2Vyob.54586$275.136867@attbi_s53...

"AllerGators" wrote in message
om...
I would ask your allergist. Maybe it's time for her to be tested
for
peanut allergy. Until you're sure, I would continue to avoid nuts.

Why would she be tested? She hasn't had any type of reactions?
In fact, she hasn't had any reactions to any foods, right Cheryl?

That's correct, Jenn - no sign of any alleriges at all, so far. I think
talking to an allergist is a good idea though. Given her family
history, she's almost certainly predisposed to developing allergies, so
I do want to make sure I do anything that has been shown to reduce her
chance of becoming allergic to nuts especially, due to their prevalence
and the potential severity of that allergy. OTOH, as you and Nikki
said, she probably had been exposed before that, through Chinese food or
foods such as plain M&Ms that say "May contain peanuts" on the label.
So I'm *kind of* reassured that she had no reaction to eating the Ritz
Bitz, though not so much that I'm not going to continue to be careful
for a while. I think I'll continue to avoid actually *giving* her
peanut foods until she's 3, but in small quantities and for an
occasional situation like the Halloween party I might let it slide.
--
Cheryl S.
Mom to Julie, 2 yr., 7 mo.
And Jaden, 1 month

Cleaning the house while your children are small is like
shoveling the sidewalk while it's still snowing.

"Cheryl S." wrote in message ...
JennP wrote in message
news:2Vyob.54586$275.136867@attbi_s53...

"AllerGators" wrote in message
om...
I would ask your allergist. Maybe it's time for her to be tested
for
peanut allergy. Until you're sure, I would continue to avoid nuts.

Why would she be tested? She hasn't had any type of reactions?
In fact, she hasn't had any reactions to any foods, right Cheryl?

That's correct, Jenn - no sign of any alleriges at all, so far. I think
talking to an allergist is a good idea though. Given her family
history, she's almost certainly predisposed to developing allergies, so
I do want to make sure I do anything that has been shown to reduce her
chance of becoming allergic to nuts especially, due to their prevalence
and the potential severity of that allergy. OTOH, as you and Nikki
said, she probably had been exposed before that, through Chinese food or
foods such as plain M&Ms that say "May contain peanuts" on the label.
So I'm *kind of* reassured that she had no reaction to eating the Ritz
Bitz, though not so much that I'm not going to continue to be careful
for a while. I think I'll continue to avoid actually *giving* her
peanut foods until she's 3, but in small quantities and for an
occasional situation like the Halloween party I might let it slide.


Something similar happened to Sage when she was just over 2 -- she was
given a peanut m&m against my expressed wishes -- and after that we
continued to delay the actual introduction until over 3. She is
currently not allergic, and is of course at high risk, so we consider
this a dodged bullet.

Lana won't have peanuts until she's probably 5. Tonight I even had to
clear out all the halloween stuff right away -- trade her chocolate
for hard candy, etc... get rid of all the peanut containing stuff.
Someone on our street actually gave out *peanuts*, alone, which really
surprised me.

Also, I wanted to say that even though you acknowledge that Julie's
had foods that 'may contain peanuts', this may have been her first
exposure regardless. A lot of those labels are there for the severely
allergic, and may only mean that peanuts are present in the same
building during processing, which can be dangerous for some people,
but I don't know if you can count that as an exposure.

Also, while most Asian restaurants (around here) are very food allergy
conscious, with signs about potential allergens, and a lot don't use
peanut oil as a standard anymore, many of the people who report
reactions in Asian restaurants are talking about contacting the
allergen through their skin, or inhaling particles (like on the
planes) -- not that this isn't dangerous for severly allergic people,
but I don't know if it's 'exposure' as in 'the first time' or becoming
sensitized.

I only add these things because we don't avoid restaurants, and while
we don't have any peanuts in the house (except for a few minues
tonight), and I haven't eaten peanuts since (early) pregnancy,
Solana's allergist disregards my belief that she hasn't been exposed
to peanuts. Like I wouldn't be doing everything in my power to keep
her healthy. It is possible to avoid peanuts fully, in my opinion.
That's all ; ).

I'm glad you're not taking this as a sign that she's definitely not
allergic, because that seems pretty risky -- which I know you're not
looking to be!

Tina.