Monday, February 25, 2008

Pea-nut, Peanut Butter... NO!!!

Well, as my friend, Nichole, keeps saying about herself... I'm officially out of the running for "Mother of the Year."

After several months of keeping family and friends from giving Caroline her first taste of peanut butter, I finally decided to give it a try. For those of you who haven't been a parent of a toddler in the past ten years or so... the current recommendation is to wait until age 3 to introduce peanut butter. I'd kind of been holding to that, but in light of the number of my friends' kids that are eating it (I know, how awful that I gave in to peer pressure) and the fact that Caroline isn't much into eating meat, I gave in.

Let's just say - Caroline won't be having any peanut butter eggs in her Easter basket this year - or anytime soon.

I took this picture early on, when just her under arms, neck, and belly button were turning red. By the time we got to see the pediatrician, she was all red. She looked like she had a sun burn. Thankfully, her breathing was not affected... otherwise, we would have been in the ER.


On the plus side, 3/4 teaspoon of Benydryl meant that she napped through most of the ordeal.

Caroline is doing fine this evening. We have a two day Rx to prevent any delayed allergic reaction and should be scheduling an appointment with an allergist soon. I don't know if they'll want to do full blown testing, or what.

Just further proof that Caroline was a SPECIAL ORDER. I've been saying for awhile that she somehow ended up with every recessive trait that Kevin and I have in our DNA (red hair, likely left handed, longer second toe than big toe) . Recently, I've come to realize that she was a special order just for us. God was doing lots of extra special packaging with her and that's why she came on God's time table and not ours. I love this little girl of ours. As I hear her splashing water all over the bathroom with her Daddy... how blessed am I!!

7 comments:

Marianne said...

That is horrible! I am so glad she didn't have a real serious reaction. You are the best mommy . . . Caroline told me herself!

Kate said...

Poor baby! I'm glad it didn't escalate past the rash (still not fun).

Nichole said...

Oh sister !!!!! Glad you have come over to my side of the party of mommy hood =)~ I bet this was really scary for both of you. What a blessing that it didnt effect her breathing. Luckly peanuts are a common allergy... they have tofu butter and veggie butter that you could use for protein. You are an awesome mommy !!!

Anonymous said...

Wow, I've never even heard to wait til age 3, I always heard 1. Seth's not even 3 yet and he's been eating it for a long time. Does this mean she can never have peanut butter or anything with peanuts in it?

Debra said...

How scary! DON'T beat yourself up about the 3-year thing. With all the overkill precautions out there, who hasnt't done something that "might" be risky for a small percentage of people. You are right - Caroline is so special! I'm just so glad that she is all right (and that I'm her granny :>)

Anonymous said...

Ha ha...well, you can only learn by trying things out! I'm glad she's ok.

loni said...

I am so glad to hear that her first reaction wasn't too bad. Know that if a child has a severe allergy (like with peanuts) they are not likely to outgrow it, no matter how long you wait to introduce the food.

It's funny. Alexis isn't a redhead, but she was most certainly brought to us on God's time, she is very much a lefty, her second toe is longer than her big toe, and she has a severe tree nut/peanut allergy.