Toy Contamination?

I can only say that my dd has not had this type of reaction. We always enforce that SHE needs to wash up before eating anything or putting her own hands into her mouth. There have been quite a few slip ups though.

My son was involved in many playgroups as a toddler. He had many little friends who were PB eaters (including his own sister--she continued to eat PB for a few years till we got rid of it). He frequently played at other peoples' houses (messy houses!). Also, in his kindergarten they ate in the classroom and there was no handwashing after lunch. In spite of all this, he has never had a reaction from contact in those situations.

He once got hives on his hands from a shopping cart when he was a toddler. He took Benedryl and they went away in minutes.

I have read of children having contact reactions, and if they get PB on their hands and put their hands in their mouth they could potentially have a reaction. The thing is, though, for me, this small likelihood is not worth making major lifestyle changes. As soon as my son was old enough, I began harping on him about keeping hands and toys out of his mouth.

I'm really glad I let him be around other kids and in other peoples' homes when he was little. I was able to see for myself that this was safe for him, and it made the transition to school SO much easier for me. If you're planning to send a kid to school, I think you really need to be able to see ahead of time that they can be around other kids and toys and books without major problems.

And if your kid is one of the unlucky few who is super sensitive and has constant reactions, better to find that out when they're little and you're right there with them, rather than having constant contact reactions at school when you're not around.

I remember feeling nervous about some situations when my son was little, but I just forced myself to sit tight and see what what would happen. I don't mean taking crazy risks, but just normal day-to-day situations that made me uncomfortable. Seeing over time that these situations were safe for him helped me so much and made me feel so much more comfortable.

I remember watching my son on the playground, playing YuGiOh cards after school with an older boy who was eating one of those ice cream cones with peanuts. I WANTED so much to make my son leave, but this was his BIG moment, an older boy willing to play with him. I just told him, be careful, that boy is eating peanuts. They played together (I was watching like a hawk from over on my bench!) and it was fine. It was actually good for me to see my son could handle it. He is very wary of peanuts but he did just fine.

Sorry for the long long story but yours is a good question and something I struggled with when my son was little, so it made me think about how my level of comfort has changed over the years. I think the toddler years are the hardest, right after you find out and everything seems dangerous.

Yes, my daughter ended up in the hospital one day during Kindergarten, having gone into full anaphylaxis during class. The kids were supposed to wash their hands coming in (after lunch) but the teacher wasn't strict about it. There were no other obvious sources of peanut in the room.

Because my dd had gone into asthma attacks after playing with toys in waiting rooms and such, I had come in and scrubbed all the Kinder toys before school started. (And they were gross!) After my daughter's hospitalization, I checked them again -- they were so grubby one could scrape the gunk off with a fingernail. The kids would have toy-time immediately upon coming to school at 12:30. Where did they think all this grime was coming from?

Kay

I was wondering about this recently too. My kids are going to a new school next Sept. and we are making new friends. One family we just met is wonderful and we would enjoy visiting with them in the future. However, they eat a lot of peanut butter and nuts. There are a lot of people in the house- extended family. They were as concerned as we were. We brought pizza for everyone and we all ate outside to minimize the chance of a contact reaction. However, My kids wanted to check out the toys inside! I let them for a few minutes and told them to pick a few and bring them outside.

I was worried all evening. And of course my son came to me at the end of the visit and said he didn't feel well! I think he just ate too much pizza and was exhausted...but I didn't sleep well that night...kept checking on him...

I am fine having folks come to my house instead, but my kids like to visit at other homes sometimes and I want them to be able to. I guess I have been lucky so far - that most folks we have met do not eat much peanut butter and don't have nuts around that often.

Generally it's just more enjoyable having folks come to my house, so I know everything is safe.

On the other hand, I feel like I need to choose my friends and my kids' friends based on how frequently they eat pbj and nuts, etc. and how likely they are to thoroughly wash their hands and clean their counters...It seems weird and it is unfortunate, but I guess we all make choices along this line...like I do not choose to spend time around folks when they are smoking. Gives me a headache,makes my clothes smell(this despite the fact I used to chain smoke - many years ago!) So I am not inclined to become close friends with someone who smokes a lot. My husband told me that if I was still smoking when we met, he would never have asked me out!

Sorry this got off the subject somewhat...

[This message has been edited by kstreeter (edited July 04, 2003).]

Thanks for your responses! As my dd has gotten older we haven't been as consistent about washing hands except if we'd been outside or at a indoor playland. Mostly b/c she loves playing in the water and doesn't want to leave the sink [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]. But we'll need to refocus on the importance of this. And thankfully she's not a thumb sucker or puts things in her mouth anymore.

My dd and I are very social people and I can't imagine not being able to go to our friends' houses and playgroups.

Kay B, I'm sorry to hear that your dd had a reaction at school. Karissa's preschool is peanut free and we wash every morning as we arrive. Your post reminds me to talk to the teachers about the importance of this step!

Thanks -
Pamela
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Mom to 2 y/o Karissa (PA >100 CAP RAST)

[This message has been edited by Driving Me Nutty (edited October 11, 2003).]

Our doctor warned us about this but has anyone else had a reaction from contact with peanut residue? Not from eating anything but just touching a spot on the counter where PB was etc..... How common is this?

I get so nervous when we're at playgrounds or other public places where kids might have had 'Skippy to go bars'.
Thanks!
Pamela

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Mom to 2 y/o Karissa (PA >100 CAP RAST)

I think that at this age, it is very easy for contact to lead to ingestion. Kids at this age will often rub their eyes, noses, mouths, leading to accidental ingestion. Perhaps this was the doctor's concern....

There have been some good threads written here at PA.com about "comfort zones". Some people have tight zones, some more loose, and some have loosened their zones over time as their kids got older, and/or they gained more confidence in managing their unique situation. So, it's a tough question to answer. [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/confused.gif[/img]

Our child is class 6, severely anaphylactic to PN/TN's (CAP RAST >100, like yours). I would describe our zone as still pretty tight; we carry our own set of toys to the playground and screen out others from sharing unless we reasonably confirm that other children haven't consumed PN/TN products.

To this day, we still survey the playground area to see what kids might be eating in the vicinity. We used to wipe down all surfaces, but now that he is older (5 yrs old) we clean up as soon as we're done playing, unless there is an obvious situation of concern.

For playdates and the like, we minimized risk in cases where we weren't so comfortable with the other family's environment by inviting them to our house, so we didn't encounter so much of the "residue on other kid's toys" question.

I totally relate to the dilemma of not wanting to feel as if your child is living in a bubble. We decided that when our son was much younger (when communication was more of an issue) to make the comfort zone pretty tight, especially after experiencing two emergency room trips for anaphylaxis before the age of 2 1/2 (due to ingestion).

One thing I've learned here is that the peanut protein is pretty insidious. Compared to other proteins (like milk for instance), peanut protein [b]doesn't[/b] break down very easily. There was a post here a few years ago (but I never found the [i]actual source article[/i] to back it up) that claimed that the peanut protein can survive up to 6 months. Combined with the fact that peanut butter is sticky, it is not difficult to leave residue behind....

I'll say that despite the tight comfort zone we used in the early years, our son still developed an ability to share, overcame his early shyness to become well socialized, and seems like 'just one of the kids' to his friends.

Good luck in working through this...

Quote:Originally posted by Driving Me Nutty:
[b]Has anyone ever had a reaction from contact with peanut residue on toys or books?
[/b]

Yes. My dd has had many.

You might wish to read the post on the Main Board "DD's touch challenge today at allergist's". Her "contact reactions" have been documented in a clinical setting (as well as by the school RN while she was in school). Her modified "challenges" were helpful for us to make some choices on the "safety vs. social normalcy" continuum.

Hi

Yes, my DS has had several contact reactions. One of them was from playing with a toy a friend brought to our home, he was sick with hives and swelling for 2 days. We had him at the ER several times in 2 days. He also had a reaction recently at a family members house, also toys.
It is all very frustrating for us, because it could be anywhere where children play .

My 7 yo dd recently had a reaction on her neck after playing in the balls at McD's. Immediate benadryl stopped it. She came to me right away and said her throat felt funny, and I could see the bumps starting on her neck. Since I already didn't feel comfortable with my PA girls playing at places like that, this was the first time in years I let them play at McD's. No more!
Rachel

Little v had a contact reaction to her older sister's kiss.

After eating pbj at school lunch oldest dd came home from school and upon getting in the truck kissed littleV on the cheek.With in 2-3 minutes little V's cheeck swelled up and turned beet read.By the time I got home (about 7 min) her eye lids were swollen almost closed,a few days later littleV was at the doc office for a eye infection.She had to get antibiotic eye drops.

As far as toys no contact rection yet.

On another note little V had a smell reaction to library books.After going to the library and cking out books on the ride home she complained of her nose hurting and I begin to smell PB after realizing the smell was coming from the books had to pull over and huggy wipe the books.By the time we got home little V had a bloody nose and was complaining for 2-3 days after.

Love this site
Synthia
Edited to correct spelling

[This message has been edited by synthia (edited October 13, 2003).]

When my son was a toddler, he had a contact reaction from a toy at a friend's house. He is nearly 6 years old now and thankfully has not had one since.

I believe my dd may have had a contact reaction at a friend's home, but from sitting at a table cloth where all the kids in the family generally eat. She was rubbing and itching her eye and it was blotchy for an hour, after washing. Tough call since she rubs her eyes alot, but the redness not going away made me think it a reaction. becca