So Stressed! I Have NEVER Had Anything EVER Happen To A Child In My Care!

[Live and Learn]

Oh my goodness!
sending blessings your way...pass them on to lil DCG.

[Live and Learn]

OH MY. My own eyeballs are deathly allergic to bananas! I've only known one other person like that.

I used to have a dck who was allergic to bananas too! I never heard of that before either.

[Missani]

I see you are answering a lot of posts one by one. Suggest you use the multi quote function just to the right of the Quote button. it looks like this (") Click on it in each post you want to reply to. then click on the the big "Post Reply". It will contain aff of the post quotes that you can comment on in just one reply.

Wow! I didn't know this either. However, I guess I'm not the smartest tonight because I still don't understand how to do it. I don't see anything to the right of the "Quote" button. Any further explanation? Sorry if I'm being an idiot!

Not to get off topic, though, very scary! It could have been the peanut butter, too, sometimes the reaction doesn't happen the first time the child is exposed. I hope they find out what it is so it doesn't happen again!

[DCMomOf3]

there are four buttons at the bottom right of any post: EDIT QUOTE "+ and pen/paper
The square button to the right of QUOTE should just be "+
check the small box at the top right off all the posts you want to quote, then hit the "+ button

[DCMomOf3]

allergic reactions are one of the scariest things, especially if it's not you/your child. I do hope she is ok and they can deduce what happened. big hugs to all of you!

[Missani]

Thanks, I see it now. I think I wasn't logged in before, and if you are not logged in then there are no buttons after the quote button. That must be right because my DH didn't see them either-now we both do. Thanks for your help, though.

[momofboys]

I had to call a dcm today to come and get her child immediately and take her to hospital RIGHT NOW!! I have never in over 25 years ever had a situation where I felt a baby needed to be seen by a doctor immediately!

This dcg has been with me since she was 7 months old. She is now 18 months old so she has been with me for over a year. Great mom and dad, sweet beautiful little girl but OMG she gave me close to a heart attack today. I was so scared!

Nap time is from 1-3 30. I put all 6 children to bed. The 3 babies who sleep in the same room all went to sleep right away. At 3pm these 3 were all awake and I began to get them up. One by one I got them up, changed them and got them into their highchairs for their snacks. All was well. Each child had a snack. Whole wheat vegetable crackers which I ran out of so I also gave each child a 1/2 of a peanut butter Nature Valley granola bar and a sippy cup with grape juice. All children ate their snacks, drank their juice as they watched a baby Einstein video. All was still well. After snacks were eaten I began to remove cups and highchair trays washed the children's hands and faces. All was still well. One by one I started to take the babies out of their highchairs so that they could go and play. When I got to 18 month old daycare girl her face and chin were so red & swollen and covered with what I am almost positive were hives, her right eye was blood red and watering. All this in less than one minute! I don't know what happened. Some type of allergic reaction I know! But to what? She has had everything that I gave them today for snack. I have given her the crackers before as well as the same peanut butter bars before. The only thing a bit different was the juice. She has had blueberries at home and both mom and dad said she eats them by the fist full.

I could not believe what I was looking at! I was so worried and upset. She only had this reaction on her face. My dh and I checked her whole body which was fine. I never changed laundry detergent or fabric softener so can't be the sheets/blankets/facecloth I used to wash her with. Maybe a dye or something in the juice? I just feel horrible. Dad picked her up at about 410 about a 1/2 hour after I called mom. Mom called me tonight at 6 30 and baby and dad ares till at the hospital and have to stay for another 2 hours. They think it is an allergic reaction as well.

I guess I just needed to tell someone about this as I am so worried and still very unnerved by this right now. It was just so scary and I have never experienced anything that ever felt like this before.

It is nice to be able to come here for support. Thanks everyone.

I'm so sorry that happened to you! You had to be terrified!

Even if she had had PB before it still could have beem a reaction to it. Sometimes it takes the body eating something new a few times or many times before you can become allergic or have a reaction to it (I have a BIL who can no longer eat seafood, he swells up with hives & he used to eat it regularly with no problems). That is what our allergist has told us (my son has a peanut allergy). I strongly suggest you mention that the parents think about doing allergy testing. Not being judgmental but do you really feed PB products to kids so young? I wouldn't want to risk it personally b/c peanut allergies can be fatal. What happens is this child had this sort of reaction & possibly if she has the same thing again her reaction could be worse the next time. Sorry you had to go through that. I imagine it was very scary.

[Abigail]

Do you have a menu where the parents get to see what you serve? I would definitely create one and stick to it. If you change what is on the menu for the day then change the menu BEFORE you serve it. This way, if anything happens again you will already have specifically what you fed written down and not have to think about everything the child ate when you're scared and heart is racing. I sure hope she is okay. I don't know much about young toddler feeding, but I think a lot of kids that age have a PB and J sandwiches so I'd think they were already exposed to it at 1.5 years.

[nannyde]

My vote is on the peanut butter. She can have it before and not react. Nut allergies are really serious. Please require them to have her tested for it immediately. The facial outbreak could be your last warning shot before she has a systemic reaction.

I don't give peanut butter until the kid is two to three and the parents have given it at least ten to twenty times.

[boysx5]

I don't serve peanut butter either I do have one with a peanut allergy and I also delevop a peanut allergy in my 30's after my fourth child was born and I swelled like a ballon it is very scary

[Little People]

Here is hugs for you, hope the little girl is doing fine. Please let us know how she is doing and how you are doing.

[dEHmom]

I agree with what was said about the peanut butter allergies. My doctor always told me do not give any child peanut butter until they are at least 2 yrs old, but preferably 3 yrs old. I never listened, but I got lucky. She said they can eat the peanut butter many times, even daily but because they are so young it is more likely they will develop the allergy over time if introduced early. They could be 5 yrs old by the time they have the reaction.

Also, my parents used the same laundry detergent my whole life, never changing it once. Then one day I had an allergic reaction to it. Over time, the products do build up in your system. Or sometimes maybe you put a tad bit more soap in the load, or a few less items into the load, making the soap concentration higher. Not likely the suspect, but i broke out in hives everywhere that the soap touched. If it didn't touch it, I was fine and hive free.

Unfortunately with children, it's not fun to determine the cause of an allergy. But if you have a likely culprit, like the peanut butter, then she should definitely get checked for AT LEAST that. More than likely this is what caused it.
I know that all the schools around here are now nut free schools and some are even egg free! Allergies are everywhere now. At least where I live.

[SilverSabre25]

Oh come on, don't flame her for giving peanut butter to the kids before they go to kindergarten! There's enough conflicting evidence out there on peanut allergies and when peanut butter should be introduced that it's a silly debate in the first place. Years and years ago when peanut butter was introduced MUCH earlier, there were WAY fewer allergies. YES there were a lot of other factors as well that could have been at work. But the facts don't lie...the later we wait to introduce peanuts/peanut butter, the more allergies to it we keep seeing.

Recommendations on when the "highly allergenic foods" should be introduced have changed recently anyway--and peanut butter was included. The AAP itself changed the recommendation and admitted that there is NO conclusive evidence that delaying exposure to peanut butter, shellfish, and eggs beyond 12 months does ANYTHING to prevent allergies, and may in fact be causing more of them. Instead, the recommend discussing it with a pediatrician and exercising common sense--if a child has a family history or self-history of severe food allergies, use more caution when introducing something like PB.

[SilverSabre25]

LINK to the AAP's statement revising it's stance on when to introduce highly allergenic foods. Scroll down to the section entitled, "Role of Introduction of Complementary Foods on Atopic Disease"


From the summary:
-Although solid foods should not be introduced before 4 to 6 months of age, there is no current convincing evidence that delaying their introduction beyond this period has a significant protective effect on the development of atopic disease regardless of whether infants are fed cow milk protein formula or human milk. This includes delaying the introduction of foods that are considered to be highly allergic, such as fish, eggs, and foods containing peanut protein.
-For infants after 4 to 6 months of age, there are insufficient data to support a protective effect of any dietary intervention for the development of atopic disease.
-Additional studies are needed to document the long-term effect of dietary interventions in infancy to prevent atopic disease, especially in children older than 4 years and in adults.

And also from the article, the definition of "atopic disease" for those who don't know (I didn't, but gathered it was allergy related from context)
-Atopic disease: Clinical disease characterized by atopy; typically refers to atopic dermatitis, asthma, allergic rhinitis, and food allergy. This report will be limited to the discussion of conditions for which substantial information is available in the medical literature.

[MommyMuffin]

That would be very scarry and it could happen to any of us. Just remember you did the right thing and called parents right away and the child is ok. The parents may not say it but I think you did a great job looking over the child and being so aware of new foods she had been introduced to. Could happen to anyone.