pI truly believe you can give it to your child through breast milk. I believe that I gave my child his PA from my obsession with boiled peanuts (a Southern favorite) while I was pregnant. I read an article once that mentioned it and truly have to believe that's the case. I HAD to eat them daily and was obsessed. If I only knew what it would do to my little boy. I can't help but to feel guilt!/p

pAll of this is very interesting for me to read. I don't know the answers, but here is my experience. My son reacted to my breast milk from day one. His symptoms were stuffy nose, extreme drooling and the nastiest diaper rash I have ever seen. The dermatologist told me the rash was definately from some kind of allergy. I figured it out within days that it was the peanut butter I was eating. I ate lots of peanut butter foods. As soon as I quit, his symptoms cleared entirely and did not ever come back unless I accidentally ate something with peanut traces. It seems to me that this would indicate that he had the allergy from birth and did not get if from the breastfeeding. My thinking is that the exposure in the womb to all the peanut things I ate may have caused it. I don't know for sure. He has absolutely thrived on breastfeeding and has only one other allergy and that is to strawberries. He is now 17 months old and still nursing all the time. I like to think that the breastfeeding has possibly prevented other allergies since he is allergy prone. My first two children were never bothered by all the peanut stuff that I ate and have no allergies at all. Both of them nursed for 3 or more years. I am glad that I found out about his allegy from the breast milk exposure. I have been told that if he ever actually ate something with peanuts himself(his only exposure has been through the breastmilk), he would probably have a life threatening reaction. I am glad I found out beforehand and can try my best to avoid that reaction. I will have my epi-pens and benadryl just in case though. Peanuts really do seem to be just about everywhere./p

pThere are several threads on this board about breastfeeding and Peanut allergy, just thought you all might like to read those threads also./p

pI have done a lot of research on this topic after being told I probably gave my son his peanut allergy by breastfeeding. First I was shocked, then dismayed that no one had ever mentioned this possibility to me before. As a director of a crisis pregnancy center at the time, I felt I was fairly well informed on such topics to begin with. When my son had severe eczema as a newborn and was colicky, neither the pediatrician nor the dermatologist ever mentioned food allergies as a possibility. My son, now 20 months, actually has a dozen or so food allergies, and is also allergic to latex. He nursed almost exclusively for the first 6 months and still nurses. I still believe nursing is the best thing for him. Though now, with my present knowledge, I refrain from ingesting all of the things he is allergic to (which leaves me with few choices) just so I can continue nursing him until weaning is completed--nursing makes him so happy. Recently, I have read that if one parent has allergies (of ANY TYPE) then your child has @ 30% chance of having allergies; if both parents have allergies, it goes to 70%. It does not matter what type you have--you pass on, in your genes, the predisposition toward developing allergies. I have allergic rhinitis (i.e. runny nose) and my husband had hayfever when he was a child, neither of us has a food allergy. Yet, come to find out my sister does and my husband's brother did. Anyway, in my ignorance (which I partially blame the pediatrician for), I consumed a lot of peanut butter during my baby's infancy. I had actually read that it didn't matter what the mother ate when breastfeeding because the breastmilk would pull from the mother's body what it needed to be "just right" for the baby. Now that I know we can "sensitize" our kids that way (in other words, give the allergy a jumpstart), I am on the bandwagon that all pediatricians should be informing breastfeeding mothers of this possibility. Why aren't they now? I still don't know. It may not make the allergy completely avoidable, but at least it can help delay it until your child can tell you what's wrong! We have suffered many sleepless nights and have endured a great deal of stress due to food allergies, not knowing what was causing our poor baby's bad experiences. Since food allergies can also cause eczema, it shocks me that the dermatologist never mentioned that either. Bottom line: allergies are inherited, nursing is still good, but doctors should be informing more nursing mothers that we should also be cautious about our diets if our child has a high chance of developing food allergies. Incidentally, my 6 year old daughter nursed until she was 3, I had the same diet then, and she has no allergies and is remarkably well adjusted, smart, etc., so DON'T BLAME YOURSELF! I hope this information helps alleviate your guilt./p

pwell Heres my outlook on the whole thing.br /
I breast fed my daughter for 8 months .I fought like crazy to nurse for weeks{lots of sore nipples etc.}I kept it up because it was so good for her and I do hve allergies to animals and dust etc....no food allergies though.I was told to avoid shell fish when I was pregant because they were high allergy food and could affect the baby also.Well peanuts are becoming a high allergy food and I think should be avoided during prenancy and breast feeding.If I was told not to the eat the stupid things I wouldn't have of course but being a former lover of peanuts I ate a ton of beer nuts {actually bags of them}same as cindys honey coated.br /
Anyway I can't blame myself for it beacuse my ob never said "BOO" on any food items, it was my neighbour who mentioned the shell fish.br /
So thats my input on the whole thing,I know other people think diferent on the topic but hey I have come to terms on it and have no problems with it......not my fault...br /
thx Chantelles mom/p
pP.s The breast feeding did help with her brightness though because I think I have one hell of a great, smart,bright and beautifull little girl.Must have did something right!!!!/p

pI breastfed my son until he was 9 months old. He is now 15 months old. We just found out he is PA (reaction and RAST test). I have no allergies except very mild hay fever. My husband is allergic to dogs and had asthma as a child. I ate more peanut butter while I was pregnant and breastfeeding than ever in my life. I thought it was good for me (well, better than chocolate anyway). I was an obsessive reader of any and all materials related to pregnancy, childbirth and baby care, and read NOTHING that even mentioned a link between a mother's peanut consumption and child's PA./p

pMy wife ate pb nutella sandwiches, honey roasted peanuts, and whole walnuts, often during pregancy and during breast feeding.br /
At the time, they said there was no link./p
pNow, they say, no proven link and pa probably would have surfaced anyway./p
pBeing aware of the allergy, we didnt give our daughter any kinds of nuts or nut products (except some may contain products) until she hit her 3rd birthday./p
pIt obviously all didnt help...she still became allergic anyway./p
pBut if we had to do it all over again, my wife said she would avoid all nuts, and not go too excessive on milk or eggs or shellfish.br /
She said this wouldnt have been hard to do, since she avoided colas, coffee, and chocolate all for the caffeine anyway!/p
pBut we cant sit here and feel guilty or anything...you can only do that if you KNOW that something youre doing is going to harm your baby (like smoking or drinking)!/p

pMy son is 15 mos. and I am still nursing. Discovering there may be a link between bf and pa makes me a little crazy since mom's can carry so much guilt anyway! I didn't eat pb excessively while pregnant but did eat some and some I think after he was born. It seems to me the posts vary and there is no definitive pattern to this allergy. I agree, I just want something to blame. I'm still in the early phases of discovery of this problem and feel very scared. I know if I get pg again, I will avoid all peanuts. We no longer have them here anyway. I think this topic deserves much attention as I am a BIG believer in bf'ing. My son has never been sick (other than 1 upset stomach) and I truly think it has been a result of the nursing. I continue to hope for more research and some kind of relief from the severe reactions pa people have./p