Introducing allergens to subsequent children.

[krasota]

6yo DS reacts to egg on contact, but not aerosol.  As a result, DH and I do cook and eat eggs for ourselves.  We haven't not given them to 18mo DD because she's still very mouthy and we don't want her to chew on his toys after eating eggs.

So when do y'all introduce allergens to subsequent kids?  I'm not worried about the second kid reacting, of course, I'm worried about spreading the allergen and endangering my older child.

I prefer to expose her to these things while she's still getting breastmilk (I'm still pumping) so that she at least has that protective benefit and there's probably some element of risk in delaying *too* long.

I'm not worried about giving her cashews or pistachios--we just don't have those in the house.  Egg and mango are the two I'd like to offer her when it's safe to do so, I just can't think of how it will be while she's still a toddler or even a preschooler.

[SilverLining]

For us it was a bit different because it's me that has the fa's.  My son would vomit anything he didn't like the taste, texture, smell, or colour of.  So, feeding him my allergens was risky to me.  He was given it when I wasn't around.

Does your son visit grandparents or anyone for a few days at a time? 

[twinturbo]

My youngest has far more allergens. We have various protocols for eating and washing up. There are some forms we have and some forms we don't. Nothing powdered, spreadable. For egg we just don't have the powdered form in the house, anyone who eats it washes up after, brushes teeth or no kissing DS1.

It's sort of a shared responsibility. Eat at the table, don't wander with the questionable food, wash up after, person allergic to what other ate is careful to keep fingers out of mouth and wash hands when necessary. With egg and milk it's also possible to feed a form high heat treated unless you're really keen on feeding low heat treated overt egg constantly. In general we assume responsibility for guiding the kids on how to deal with it. If it's beyond their current abilities we don't set them up with expectations beyond reason. In other words I don't really make one kid responsible for the other directly but they do have to follow the rules of our guidance in order to reduce risk.

[eragon]

I have four children the eldest two have not got any food allergies, its our third that developed food allergies.
However he showed clear signs from birth, eczema , poor weight gain and poor sleep pattern.
The 3rd child did not show any signs at a young age, so we gave her every type of food with out really being worried. We followed guidelines, and gave new foods individually just in case.

at 2 she developed mild eczema, and showed a sensitive skin rather than any food issues. Now a teenager has food intolerance problems and possibly a ige food allergy. Allergies can start at any age, and with our genetic history some form of allergy is common.

our first sons have mild hay fever, one with possible dust mite allergy, but as an adult does not want to bother with getting formal diagnosis.  our youngest daughter also has environmental allergies that need daily antihistamine, like our 3rd son.

So my advice is not to stress too much about new foods, keep simple food rules in the home.
During our children's early years  every mouthful of food was eaten at the table, hands were washed before and after meal time. If the older children were given a treat that was unsafe for their brother, they soon learnt not to touch anything and wash hands quickly after wards.  They also corrected other adults who forgot our family rules.

[Macabre]

There have been some studies published about this in the last six months I believe.  We've tweeted them. The AAAAI has a question/answer blog, and I'm guessing this had also been addressed there.

Is girlie still having issues with dairy?

[Macabre]

This doesn't match your situation, but what I see here that might be applicable is testing a certain food in a 10 month old before introducing it. Since you've been eating eggs, she already should be sensitized to them since you are BF.

http://www.aaaai.org/ask-the-expert/infant-with-food-allergy-and-difficulty.aspx

But maybe the answer lies there with egg and bf, actually. She's not having symptoms after having what you pump, right?

[krasota]

I'm not worried about her reacting to egg.  She's still young enough that I can control what she spreads by touch or clothing, but I cannot control what she puts in her mouth (everything). 

The kids don't go away for days at a time. 

With my contact reactive allergens, DS was not exposed until he was much older (3-4yo).  He was old enough to go a few hours without nursing, so he could have wheat/gluten or low protein soy ingredients while playing with Tom at the park, wash hands very well, then they'd change and go to the pool or sprayground and he'd drink plenty of water and brush his teeth before coming home to nurse.  When we tried it at a younger age, he couldn't go long enough and I'd react when he nursed.

DD reacts to dairy when I eat it, yes.   I transmit proteins in my breastmilk, so my kids definitely get/got exposed/sensitized via my breastmilk.  I'm not going to pump forever, though.  We hates it, we do.

I don't know how long after eggs is long enough for saliva to not be a worry.  I have both kids all day every day, so I don't really have a chance to give her egg when he's not around.  And she's at that wee toddler mouth everything/give kisses stage. 

The deal is that I have an 18mo who weighs 16lbs and I'd like to make sure she has a varied diet and also get some extra protein into her.  Eggs are an easy way to do that, but I don't know how old she needs to be to do it safely with her brother's allergy in mind.   At 6yo, he can eat dairy and be mindful of *her* needs, but she's 15-18mo and can't do the reverse.

DS has reacted to breads/baked goods made with egg in the (distant) past.  So DD isn't getting *any* form of egg given her walking crumb vector stage of development.

[SilverLining]

I don't know how long after eggs is long enough for saliva to not be a worry.

I know I can react a few days after DH eats my allergens, from his sweat.  I would assume if he's sweating it out, it could also be in his saliva a few days after he eats it.  Maybe not everyone releases the protein that way....but I don't think there's a way to tell.

[CMdeux]

Baked egg is probably low-risk enough at this point, yes?

That is, even most highly allergic people over age 6 or so tolerate some amount of highly denatured egg protein, so I would think that you might be able to do that with your DD and not leave your DS at high risk from her mouthing objects.

On the other hand, that may simply be much more trouble than it is worth since I'm not sure you'd get enough protein/calories into her to make much difference.



I don't really see a clever way for her to get more pure forms of egg without increasing environmental contact risk to your DS.  Not until she's done mouthing objects, I mean.

[booandbrimom]

I don't know if I ever told the story about how we introduced solids to my daughter. Our doctor told us to be very cautious since our son had so many common allergens. So, we had decided to wait until 6 months and then introduce each food with long periods between.

Took her with us out to a Mexican restaurant. I turned my back for ONE SECOND and she had shoveled a fistful of my dinner into her mouth. Rice, beans (to which my son is allergic), cheese, sour cream, CHICKEN! She managed to swallow it all and then broke into this huge smile. She was a much bigger baby than my son and clearly did not want to wait!

Just saying - every kid is different. The current thought seems to favor earlier introduction of solids. If there is an environmental trigger that causes food allergies, waiting to introduce them may give more of a window. My daughter has no food allergies at all and I've often wondered if it was at least partly because she literally took matters into her own hands.

[twinturbo]

I think krasota meant how to feed #2 child something #1 is allergic to without spreading it around in a way that #1 reacts to. Aside from my first post, the other way I can think of is child #1 challenges high heat egg then both eat the same thing. That's the lowest maintenance I can think of and both are eating the least allergenic form.

[krasota]

A high heat challenge is not on the table.

[booandbrimom]

Oh, sorry, Krasota...misread your OP. I'm not a good one to ask because we were very casual about contact hives.

[twinturbo]

lol, yeah.  We did change our tack to switching on the Zyrtec as the filter for further alarm otherwise we had daily hives. I'm not sure I'm casual about it but it did beat me down from immediate Benadryl.

[booandbrimom]

lol, yeah. 

I am trying not to read that in a negative way.