I had an interesting conversation a few days ago on a Southwest Airlines flight.
When the flt. attendant offered me a drink and peanuts I refused the peanuts. The man sitting next to me asked if I had a peanut allergy. When I said, 'yes' - he put his peanuts away and said he'd eat them later.
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Not many would be so astute so I asked if he's a doctor.... turned out he's a pediatrician - and we spent time talking about peanut allergy. He told me he had just attended a conference where he was told there is a definite link between peanut oil in baby ointments and the huge increase in PA.
Is he right? I thought this was only a theory.
I've heard that theory, too, and when I first read about it, I checked the ointments we had in the house (we had a few different brands), and none listed any type of peanut or treenut oil as an ingredient. Based on that, I assumed that the link between diaper rash ointments and nut allergies must be more relevant in other countries, where perhaps the ointments did in fact contain nut oils. Did he indicate anything about which ointments he advised his patients to avoid?
Interesting. I've never heard this before, but I've never done research into it either. I've never used any ointment on my DD. She's 2 and has yet to have a diaper rash of any sort (other than one or two bumps on the rare occasion).
I wonder if the link is because PA children are more prone to skin problems. It's common for kids with allergies to have had excema and the like, correct? So maybe it's just PA kids are more likely to have needed ointment. Just brainstorming.
I thought I was being very "organicly" aware with my PA dd when she was a baby, and I used Bert's Bees diaper ointment, which (after we found out she was PA at the age of 2) I realized was made with almond oil. I immediately stopped using it (after having used it for 2 years!), but (interestingly) to this day (over 4 years later) she still tests negative to almonds...so who knows???
I read this somewhere too. I got the idea that highly processed peanut oil is common in diaper cream in the States and in Canada and as well is a common ingredient in eczema creams. I bet this wouldn't be declared on the label---I'm guessing that the assumption was that it should be 'safe' if it is highly processed but that doctors are beginning to question this.
I wonder myself whether I was sensitized to sesame through a facial cream. I had no reaction to the cream and had no idea that I was allergic to sesame (I haven't eaten sesame for years, however)...until I got a large hive from the sesame skin prick test. Don't know whether I'm *clinically* alergic to sesame. And I don't know if the cream led to the development of the allergy. But I strongly suspect that the answer to both questions is yes. I asked my allergist about it and he said he would be more concerned if I had a reaction to the cream, but that it is possible to be sensitized through the skin.
That is very interesting, I have never heard that before. My daughter had bad bad diaper rashes and yeast infections when she was a baby, so we used all kinds of ointment. She was on a daily dose of amox for ear infections for 7 months before they could put tubes in. During that time she had lots on rashes and infections down there....I am very interested in this theory though.....time for some research tonight I think.
Tim
Well, out of my two babies, one PA, one non-PA, it would have been the non-PA one that had more ointment used on her - the same as with Tim's daughter, a lot more yeast infections, etc. than my PA son had.
Not to say that I didn't use diaper cream on Jess.
It's been a long time (or so it feels) since I've been down the baby aisle of the drug store but I'll try to check it out, label wise.
Interesting.
Best wishes! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
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"That was Polanski. Nicholson got his nose cut."
I used alot of diaper rash cream on my dd. But I only used desitin which states on their website that they don't use nut ingredients.
I had heard somewhere that its not diaper creams/ointments but prescription ointments for babies with skin problems and rashes.
Yes. This is true, according to my sister who is a pediatrician. She was annoyed for me that my allergist told me that my son had PA because I ate PB while pregnant. She said that is unproven. The only link that is proven is the link between eczema cremes containing arachis oil and PA. Yes, folks, exzema creme can contain peanut oil and is probably how many an atopic child became sensitized. My sister sent me a journal article to verify this. It obviously is not the only way a child becomes PA but is substantiated in a way the PB connection is not. That is my understanding.
Does anyone have any idea which eczema creams or diaper creams contain peanut derivatives? Is there any articles on this? The only eczema cream ever used on my kids is Elidel and that was not too frequent. Also, we used Desitin and other general brands. I don't recall seeing peanut oil ingredients.
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