If You Give A Baby A Peanut Part 2

When Scarlett was diagnosed with a peanut and tree nut allergy last year we started counting the days until her retest in a year. We were hopeful that she would be one of the kids that outgrows their allergies. Her allergist explained to us that less than 15% of kids outgrow their allergies, but we were hopeful. We read labels and tried to make sure she didn't come in contact with nuts of any form. There were a couple times where she accidentally ate something she shouldn't have either by our fault of not properly reading a label, or more recently when she started being able to grab things off the counter. We would immediately give her a Benadryl dose, and we thankfully never had to use her EpiPen Jr.

At the beginning of October she had her annual appointment and her doctor talked to us about the component testing they now have available for peanuts. How great would it be if her test results came back that she was only allergic to the part of a peanut that don't cause anaphylaxis? I took her over to the hospital for the blood draw, and she was a champ! She barely cried at all and was so good about holding still. They needed a lot of blood.

It was 2 weeks until we got the results back, but her test came back negative for all nut allergies. Say what?!?!?!?! Yep, she outgrew all of her allergies! We celebrated with peanut butter toast. She goes back in in December for a skin test to confirm a complete lack of allergy, but we were given the ok to let her have nuts is moderate doses. Bring on the Reese's cups and Chick-Fil-A!!

I know every mom who has a child with allergies worries about what they'll do when their kids are out of their supervision, at a friends house or at school. You can't expect everyone to be as cautious as you are about your child's allergy. You hope they will be, but if they aren't in the habit of avoiding allergens, it doesn't always come easy. What about that kid who offers your kid a Butterfinger but doesn't realize it has peanut butter in it? It is such a relief to not have to worry about these things as she gets older. 

She gets to go trick or treating this year without us having to worry about what treats she's getting in her pumpkin. We will still be putting out a teal pumpkin and allergy friendly treats this year, because even though we don't have to worry about her allergies anymore, there are so many other kids who still do. I'm thankful for our experience because it has made us more aware of what other families of children with food allergies go through.

You can read more about the Teal Pumpkin Project here.

When You Give A Baby A Peanut Part 1