Daddy`s Toolbox

One Daddy Helping Another and Sharing His Stories

Jul
25

Our Peanut Scare!

Posted by Toolbox Dad on July 25, 2008

Peanut butter is a semi-solid and so can hold ...Image via Wikipedia

Today everything was moving along fine. The kids had spent the night at Mama and Papa’s house (my parents) which gave mommy and me a nice evening out with kidless friends to have an “adult dinner”. It was very enjoyable!  My wife and I were able to sleep in a little longer than normal as well! How nice that was!

Happy Day turns into Stressful Morning

My wife, Cathy, and our two year old daughter, K-bop, were out and about driving around running errands and stopped to pick up additional sales tags for an upcoming children’s sale at a local assisted living community. She had taken 2 packs of dip-able crackers and peanut butter for the kids to snack on. She had already dropped off our son at his daycare, K-bop was staying home because of some “loose poopies”.  Anyway, K-bop ate the crackers and most of the PB. By the time they got back out to the SUV, a reddish rash was on K’s lips. My wife just thought it was a minor rash from the PB being on her skin and wiped it off.

Panic Sets In

Even before the car seat belt was strapped on K-bop, the rash had worsened and white bumps were showing up around her lips and the rash spread down her next.  This is when Cathy started to panic and called the pediatrician who told her to go get some Benadryl and give it to our daughter and to take her to the ER if she started to have difficulty breathing or wheezing. Yikes! Now my wife calls my cell and I don’t understand her at first, then she clearly says, “K-bop is having an allergic reaction to Peanut Butter!”

We had given her a “taste” of PB last week and all seemed OK. But today was the day her body rejected the peanut butter and “told us” in the most frightening way, by an allergic reaction! I remember telling my wife on the phone to “call 9-1-1″ as I don’ take chances with my kid’s lives, which leads back to my post on “Why Can’t I Relax?”. Also, I am about 25 minutes away from there location so I’m starting to get nervous and freak out as well.  My voice on the phone went from calm, to confused, to loud.  My coworkers looked at me with a scared look on their faces (I would have done the same) and said, “GO!” I was out the door and back on the cell to get an update from my wife who was trying to drive to a friends house to get the Benadryl.  I remember that I said rather loudly, “CALL F’ing 9-1-1!!!”

To my Wife: Sorry for being so loud and upset on the phone Sweetie, but I get so scared when I’m not close to you and the kids and something bad is happening. hope you understand.

She did finally call 9-1-1 and they dispatched an ambulance to our friend’s house. My wife had arrived a few minutes before the paramedics did and our friend had called her neighbor who is a pediatric nurse. I had been calling every 5 minutes for status updates while trying to figure out the quickest way to their house.

By the time I arrived at the house, the ambulance had left, and K-bop was laughing and being her crazy self! that was very reassuring to see after the 25 minute stressful drive!

We are going to be planning to take a Child CPR class to be safe, my wife already moved all “contains nut products” to the top shelf in the pantry, and we have a prescription for an Epi-pen for dire emergencies and let’s HOPE THAT NEVER FREAKIN’ HAPPENS!

If anyone that reads this has a child with a nut allergy I would appreciate a comment on how you have adjusted your food purchases and feeding of yourself and other children.  Our 4 year old son LOVEs PB & J and is one of the 3 food he actually eats. Not sure how well handle that but we’ll figure it out.

Oh, maybe you are thinking “why did she have peanut butter?”  Well no one in our family, extended as well have a nut allergy. Our pediatrician says, “you can try peanut butter if no family history”.  Ok, we did and oops!  Won’t do that again.

So I’m heading home now and can’t wait to hug everyone again!

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About Me

I'm a husband and father of two children, a son (2004) a daughter (2006). I try to find humor in everything my kids do and therefore blog about those situations.

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Comments (Comments)

Comments from Other Parents...

Viewing 24 Comments

    • ^
    • v
    I have 5 children. While on a family vacation we discovered by accident, my 16 mo. old was allergic to peanutbutter. She mearly touched a spoon I had dipped in PB earlier (it had no visible PB either). Everywhere she touched her face was 2x its normal size.

    14 months later I gave birth to my son. I had him tested immediately for nut allergy, through a blood test. He cannot have nuts either.

    They are 12 & 11 now. Their school has a "No Peanut Environment," which disallows nuts in their school. They have never consumed a PB sandwhich, they eat soy PB (this contains no nuts). Be aware that ice cream places DO NOT WASH their scoops. Their nut toppings drip into their sprinkles. Popcorn at social events may be popped in peanut oil. See an allergest and carry an epi-pen at all times. This is a growing allergy. More kids have it now than even 20 years ago. Research this. Good luck
    • ^
    • v
    thanks again for this great comment! i appreciate the information.
    • ^
    • v
    Your e-mail is being processed. Please allow 24 hours for a response.

    Thank you,

    Chris Hebert
    www.webdazzling.com
    chris @webdazzling.com
    • ^
    • v
    Glad to hear that K-Bop is well and that things have calmed down after a stressful day! You t least now can say that you know, and can be diligent with the no nut rule. I wouldn't have even worried about it either based on what you had said. You may want to talk to the pediatrician about alternatives to nut spreads that may appease your son. You may also find the your youngest grows out of the allergy over time as well... hard to say. Good luck!
    • ^
    • v
    Thanks, yes it was scary. We are going to be most diligent when it
    comes to knowing ingredients in all the food we buy. We tried to give
    our kids sweet potato fries. Read that again...sweet po-ta-to
    fries...BUT, they are made in the same plant as tree nuts, specifically
    pine nuts. So she probably shouldn't have those yet.

    We are meeting with an allergist who will give us more info!
    • ^
    • v
    Glad all is okay now. My son never had peanut butter and I asked the special ed teacher if she had an epi-pen and she did not know what it was. I said she could not be trying new foods on the kids than and I reminded her he had not had it yet. Now he has and all is okay, but people do need to be educated.

    I wrote an article on my site awhle ago about this:

    Peanut allergies should be taken seriously

    http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art38121.asp

    I would advise to get that Rx filled so no wait time just in case. Good luck
    • ^
    • v
    thanks for the comment and the link over to your post! yes, Anaphylaxis
    shock is nothing to take lightly! //Anaphylaxis//
    <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaphylaxis>
    • ^
    • v
    Allergies are scary. My niece and nephew have milk allergies and it can be scary when they have a reaction. My nephew has the allergies so bad , he breaks out in hives by just touching a dairy product!

    An epi-pen is a must to have, we have one in our house for when they visit.
    • ^
    • v
    John, thanks! We now have the Epi-pen JR for any emergencies. I've read
    over how to use it. I think by plunging the lancet into your child's
    thigh that will open up the airways with a LOUD scream!!!
    • ^
    • v
    Hey there "J" - just popped over from our Tweet team - my son have severe peanut, tree nut and cinnamon allergies. BEST advice to a newbie on this - JOIN FAAN (The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network) http://www.foodallergy.org/ and sign up for their email alerts for food recalls. Email me privately I can send you my BOOKMARKS of other great sites and we can chat about stuff to do to keep your daughter safe. We found this out when our son was 2 and now's he's almost 6. Also JOIN MEDIC ALERT and get your daughter the allergy bracelet and never, ever let her take it off. Carry your epipen, benedryl and food allergy action plan wherever you go, no exceptions, period.

    And take a deep breath. You will get good at this and she will be safe.
    • ^
    • v
    CPA MOM, thank you so much for the comment! appreciate the link to Join
    FAAN, going to do that right now!! We do have Epipen and Benadryl with
    our 2 year old daughter all the time. Luckily we have our first
    appointment with the allergist tomorrow so we will get her tested and
    find out the severity of things! We've been reading labels on
    everything. Found out the Chick-fil-a uses peanut oil. UGH!!! also,
    was going to buy some pancake mix tonight, nope, made in the same
    factory as products with tree nuts. she liked both CFA and pancakes.
    No nut warning on Bisquik boxes.
    • ^
    • v
    I've been there, that's for sure! My 5-year old son is allergic to peanuts...NOT fun. I have pretty much gotten rid of all peanut products. Sometimes, I do get peanut butter for me three other little ones. I keep it on top of the refrigerator, and my nut-allergic son has his own jar of jelly that is only for use with HIS sandwiches, to eliminate any cross-contamination.

    It's a little easier for us now that he KNOWS he can't have these things, or his life could be in danger. It will be even better for us once he can read, so he WON'T eat the Peanut Butter granola bar that mysteriously makes it's way into the house ....ask me who's lips were swollen like a duck's bill last week!

    I have a TON of great links with info, if interested....
    • ^
    • v
    That scares me. I have heard many peanut butter stories and know some friends that have a child with the same allergy. I will probably go to the emergence room before I even let my little daughter try peanut butter!
    • ^
    • v
    I can totally relate. But it gets easier each day, each week, each month. But the first few months are the most difficult as you learn to adjust, read labels, try to manage the anxiety, etc. I write about our experiences on my blog Peanut Free Mama (http://peanutfree.blogspot.com). Stop by if you have a minute, and if you need any help or have any questions let me know - I may be able to help!
    • ^
    • v
    thank you. we've cleaned out the pantry of all nut stuff. and i love
    walnuts on my salads. oh well I love my daughter more! I'm going to
    read your blog and subscribe to your feed. thanks again for the comment
    • ^
    • v
    I'm having an anxiety attack just reading that! You guys did exactly as we have done as parents in th past....no one in our family has a nut allergy so we gave it to our oldest...although I don't remember how old he was at the time. After reading your story, I think I will hold off giving Carter any peanut products until he is definitly older. Thank you for sharing this with us!
    • ^
    • v
    McMommy,
    yes, please hold off with Carter. Our allergist said that nut allergies
    are NOT inherited and that they can strike at anytime. Beware that most
    candies (M&Ms) have traces of nuts. Also, we found out that our
    daughter can't enjoy our weekly stop at Dunkin Donuts, Dairy Queen night
    or Chick-Fil-A. I think we'll manage but wow what a total family
    lifestyle change. It's all for the better though!!

    I would wait until 3 yrs old. How old is your youngest? ALso, our
    allergist mentioned a new article that came out this month about Mommies
    eating PB during pregnancy and that it seems to lead to increased
    allergic reactions and asthma.
    • ^
    • v
    what a scare!
    hope everything turned out ok for you!
    just dropping by from your twinners team...

    daniela =)
    • ^
    • v
    well we had the first appointment with her new allergist last week. It
    didn't sound too reassuring but we have testing in a few weeks. then
    we'll know more..

    thanks for the comment
    • ^
    • v
    My neice has a nut allergy and it is terrifying when she unexpectedly has contact.

    Hope you all adjust quickly.

    Here in the UK everything has to say if it was produced in an environment that may have had nuts in so her parents are ultra viligant about that.
    • ^
    • v
    I'm glad to hear the UK also has to have food labels for "made with nuts or
    in an environment that may have nuts". That law was passed in the US a few
    years ago. I'm sure it has saved many lives and stress for parents and
    people with allergies.

    thanks for the comment and good luck with the allergies, be safe!
    • ^
    • v
    I'm so sorry this happened and that you weren't there. I think there's nothing worse than that helpless feeling a parent experiences when something like this happens to your child.

    My son is not allergic to peanuts (that I know of) but he's starting at a new school in September and one of the papers we were given to read beforehand is their policy on NO NUTS. They have declared the school NUT-FREE and no one is allowed to bring nuts of peanut butter of any kind due to the high number of children with peanut allergies.

    Why is this becoming more prevalent? I don't recall knowing anyone that had a peanut allergy when I was a child and lately it seems that every other kid is experiencing this...I'd love to hear more on this.
    • ^
    • v
    I have some info from our allergist on reasons why he and the Allergy Board
    think but allergies are becoming more prevalent in young children. One, is
    the fact that in the United States we roast the peanuts and other nuts. In
    China, where there is a very low % of nut allergies, they boil the nuts.
    have you ever had a boiled nut? It's NOT that good.

    Another reason that just came out in a medical journal, which I'm going to
    try and find more info on, is that pregnant moms who eat peanut butter may
    cause the newborn to have higher levels of whatever it is that causes the
    allergy. Also can lead to high percentages of asthma.

    I'm going to be researching more on this topic now that we have to live with
    it. I'll be posting more articles at that time.

    thanks for the comment :-)
    • ^
    • v
    Mislabeled products, especially if it contains a common allergen, is an automatic Class I recall (high risk to public health, mandatory and every drop of it has to be accounted for). My boss's youngest is allergic to several foods, including nuts and soy. He is 4 now and totally knows what he can and cannot eat. If he is not sure he will often ask if something has nuts in it. I guess there have been several times that he would take a bite of something and spit it out and it turned out to contain something he is allergic to. I think that is pretty interesting, I wonder if it is the taste or if he gets a sensation from the allergen reacting with immune cells in his mouth, either way it has saved him from being exposed to a greater amount of the allergen.

    Oh and it is somewhat common for the first exposure to not cause a reaction, it is referred as priming, the second and subsequent exposures cause the reaction. I hope she outgrows her allergy(s)!

    She told me an amusing story the other week. Besides the food allergies he is also allergic to cats. He was begging her to get him a cat. She told him that they cannot get a cat because he is allergic to them. His response went something like, "I just want to pet it, I'm not going to eat it!" In a "you are sooooo dumb Mommy" tone.
 

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