It's been confirmed. N is allergic to peanuts. His reaction was mild, so there's hope he'll outgrow it. Until then, we've got an epi-pen and I've just ordered a medic-alert bracelet. They'll test him again next year.
And get a bottle of Aereas (sp?) for kids, it's better than benadryl for mild reactions (hives, rashes, etc.) and doesn't contain anything to make them drowsy.
And if N is not in your care 100% of the time (e.g. at a day care) you might consider getting a MedicAlert bracelet for him in case he has a reaction in the presence of someone who doesn't know he's allergic.
And brace yourself to learn just how little people without allergies know about allergies. You have to assume everyone's an idiot, because some of them are --- e.g. "No, there's no peanut in this dish". And later "Well, yeah, I put a tablespoon of peanut butter in, but I didn't think a small amount would matter".
Have you checked out the medic alert site yet? I ordered Mini's bracelet online. The site has more styles of bracelet. Mini is more inclined to wear hers because it's so pretty. N probably won't care if his is pretty or not, :) but there are some really nice velcro styles on the site that they don't have on the pamphlet that'll make Mommy go 'aw'. :)
I think I mentioned to you that I was a little confused by the options you can choose for peanut allergies, so we just chose "peanut products" I think. And there was no option to include the epipen, so I just added it in the "extra info" part on the form.
If it helps, the back of Mini's bracelet says: ALLERGIC TO PEANUTS AND PEANUT PRODUCTS NEEDS EPIPEN
With any luck, our little ones will be rid of these allergies when they get older. Until then, you and I and our kids can hang out in peanut free joints... Like sushi restaurants... for the safety of our kids, of course. :)
I just ordered a bracelet. Not from Medic alert, but the other place. They had pamphlets at the allergists.
@nenette: I decided to skip the velcro ones, thinking they'd get annoying if wet (much like my sport watch strap). Went for the plain chain. thanks for the advice on labeling though. I updated with the same for N.
@albert: I've read about the sunbutter but haven't picked it up yet. Might give it a shot.
The velcro ones have another drawback... they can be removed, which means they can be lost.
Number 2 wears hers literally all the time -- - she only takes it off for soccer, where no jewelry is allowed.
Number 2 already lost one of the chains a couple of years back --- there's no way she could have undone the clasp when she was 4 so we have no idea how that happened.
This year she snagged the chain on the edge of a door latch strike plate and broke it in three places. Because her father is a wizard with magical pliers I got it back together but the next one we order won't be the thin kids' bracelet, it'll be a small sturdier adult one.
You probably have a couple of years to go before N can snap his chain into pieces... :-)
Re: outgrowing the peanut allergy, the odds are against it. I'm rooting for either a vaccine or a routine to raise the tolerance. Our allergist says studies are underway that look promising, but didn't get our hopes up that anything will be available to us in the near future. Maybe by the time our kids are teenagers.
4 comments:
You may be interested in these:
http://www.sunbutter.com/
http://www.peabutter.ca/
And get a bottle of Aereas (sp?) for kids, it's better than benadryl for mild reactions (hives, rashes, etc.) and doesn't contain anything to make them drowsy.
And if N is not in your care 100% of the time (e.g. at a day care) you might consider getting a MedicAlert bracelet for him in case he has a reaction in the presence of someone who doesn't know he's allergic.
And brace yourself to learn just how little people without allergies know about allergies. You have to assume everyone's an idiot, because some of them are --- e.g. "No, there's no peanut in this dish". And later "Well, yeah, I put a tablespoon of peanut butter in, but I didn't think a small amount would matter".
Have you checked out the medic alert site yet? I ordered Mini's bracelet online.
The site has more styles of bracelet. Mini is more inclined to wear hers because it's so pretty. N probably won't care if his is pretty or not, :) but there are some really nice velcro styles on the site that they don't have on the pamphlet that'll make Mommy go 'aw'. :)
I think I mentioned to you that I was a little confused by the options you can choose for peanut allergies, so we just chose "peanut products" I think. And there was no option to include the epipen, so I just added it in the "extra info" part on the form.
If it helps, the back of Mini's bracelet says:
ALLERGIC TO PEANUTS AND PEANUT PRODUCTS
NEEDS EPIPEN
With any luck, our little ones will be rid of these allergies when they get older. Until then, you and I and our kids can hang out in peanut free joints...
Like sushi restaurants... for the safety of our kids, of course. :)
xo
I just ordered a bracelet. Not from Medic alert, but the other place. They had pamphlets at the allergists.
@nenette: I decided to skip the velcro ones, thinking they'd get annoying if wet (much like my sport watch strap). Went for the plain chain. thanks for the advice on labeling though. I updated with the same for N.
@albert: I've read about the sunbutter but haven't picked it up yet. Might give it a shot.
The velcro ones have another drawback... they can be removed, which means they can be lost.
Number 2 wears hers literally all the time -- - she only takes it off for soccer, where no jewelry is allowed.
Number 2 already lost one of the chains a couple of years back --- there's no way she could have undone the clasp when she was 4 so we have no idea how that happened.
This year she snagged the chain on the edge of a door latch strike plate and broke it in three places. Because her father is a wizard with magical pliers I got it back together but the next one we order won't be the thin kids' bracelet, it'll be a small sturdier adult one.
You probably have a couple of years to go before N can snap his chain into pieces... :-)
Re: outgrowing the peanut allergy, the odds are against it. I'm rooting for either a vaccine or a routine to raise the tolerance. Our allergist says studies are underway that look promising, but didn't get our hopes up that anything will be available to us in the near future. Maybe by the time our kids are teenagers.
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