We went to a bithday party today at a kids gym facility. On the way home ds fell asleep - he's still napping and the party was right at naptime. He was rubbing his eyes a lot in the car on the way home. I noticed one of his eyes seemed to be bothering him. It was a little puffy. When he woke up an hour later....his eye was swollen and his cheek down to his mouth was swollen a little too. So we gave him Benedryl. He also had a few drops of blood in his nose - but he had a nose bleed (out of the blue) the night before. So that is probably unrelated. The swelling stopped and improved quite a bit with time...not in 20 mins...but more like an hour. At the 5 hour mark we noticed the swelling started up again. We gave more benedryl and bathed him. He has been active and not complaining about anything. He did sneeze about 10 times after taking the 2nd benedryl - melty strip thing.
At the party he ate a brownie that I made but he had tasted some of the brownie that morning. It is from The Craving Place and the package and website say peanut free. Peanut is the only allergy he has. I did let him drink from a juice box at the party but that's it. All his other foods today are from me....carrots (I washed), ham (Kirkland - peanut free last I checked), Pamella's gluten free bread, cream of buckwheat with cin/sug and raisins (Made in Nature), turkey bacon (Oscar Meyer), peaches (jarred), melon, satsuma, banana....that's it.
My best guess is that it is contact reaction from the party. He is going to sleep now....he got his second dose of bebdryl an hour ago...I think I am going to bring him into bed with me and dh when we go to sleep.
Any advice? Thoughts?
I know a few things that we'll do differently with these parties...soap and water hand washing instead of the Purell. Ds asked me if the soap was safe! I also won't let him drink from a juice brand that I don't know. I had a juice box with me. DUH. ??
Sounds like a contact reaction. My daughter had one at a kid's gym place that held bday parties there all the time. And it was her party! We even had to use her epi...
I hope he is feeling better!
Shelley
Glad to hear he's ok! It could be peanut, or even just environmental allergens like dust.
I have gotten in the habit of washing my hands when I leave work. I often snack in my car, and I also don't want my car contaminated with anything that might be on my hands from work. [i](My office is peanut-free & seafood-free, but people still eat my allergens away from work & at lunch.)[/i]
I know it's hard with a child to keep their hands clean, but get him in the habit of not touching his nose, eyes or mouth with unclean hands. Anytime you get allergens into the eyes or nose, you might have well have gotten them into your mouth.
If he needs to rub his eyes/nose and he hasn't washed his hands...use a napkin or Kleenex. I keep the seat pocket stocked for DD and the center console/my purse stocked for me.
I work in a Microbiology lab, so it's just my nature to think this way. But it works for allergens, too. But I'll tell you, my DD is one of the healthiest kids I know...she almost never gets a cold or stomach virus. Hooray!
And the first thing we do when we walk in the house is wash our hands.
Take care
Daisy
Perfectly put, Daisy.
(You can always tell the laboratory scientists.... they're the ones who wash [i]before AND after[/i] they use the bathroom..... LOL!)
We've worked on DD since she was about 2 not to touch her face. We also wash our hands any time we enter our house.... and boy, does our handwashing pay off, as Daisy says.
(Everyone we know wonders how it is that we almost [i]never[/i] get the barfy bugs that everyone else seems to pick up a few times each year.)
I just paged and spoke with an Allergist as his eye is puffy again. He said to give him Clariton - wait an hour - give Benedryl if it's still puffy. Continue as needed. He said that it sounds like DS is highly reactive and that we did all the right things. That it unlikely but possible that it would develop any further. DS was yelling in the background...so the doc could tell that there was no respiratory problems! he he.
Doc was impressed at how I ran down the symptoms and non symptoms, and actions taken...and that folks is what I learned from YOU. So thank you.
We started teaching him about not touching his face right after diagnosis but I think we backed off of that too much and need to put that and more handwashing in place. I do not want to keep him from going to these parties and places. I was even thinking of having his party at a place this year....but this makes me very reluctant to do it.
I do have to ask this question. First of all you may think I am crazy but it is driving me batty not asking. Does your son have any animal allergies? The reason I ask is that my DD has them and I do as well. If anyone with a cat is near us we get very puffy and need allergy meds.
When the kids I babysit for come in after they have possibly held their cats I get all stuffed up and swollen eyes.
Also I think it could be a contact reaction to some kind of food but it is bugging me if I don't ask this.
Best of luck to you.
He has never reacted to an animal before. We have a dog...who btw is allergic to wheat (of course he is!) and gets frozen raw gluten free food delivered weekly! and we had to put down our 15 year old cat when I was 6 months pregnant. So the house is pretty full of dander I would guess. I just looked it up and he was skin tested for dog....no reaction.
This was the kind of party where the kids run around and do gymnastics on mats...and bars, etc. It was also in the afternoon so there was probably at least 2 parties there that day prior to our arrival. I can't believe that this didn't occur to me before hand...sigh...we should have been handwashing all along! But I really don't think its an animal thing. I really hope it was peanut...because if it was something else that I don't know about...I just don't want anything new.
I gave him Clariton this morning and the skin around his eye is still little purplish but the swelling is gone. Next time we will give him Clariton before the party and do a better job keeping clean.
Hi Sarah,
Have you checked in with Pamela's products lately? I remember being confused about them personally. The gluten-free bread mix that we have sometimes used in the past has a "processed in a facility" warning that mentions tree nuts but not peanuts, HOWEVER the very SMALL statement on their allergen web page (top of page) states peanuts:
Our products are produced in a facility which also makes products containing: peanuts, tree nuts, dairy, eggs and soy. Should you have any questions or concerns regarding any product in the Pamela's line, please contact us at: Phone 707-462-6605 or email [email]info@pamelasproducts.com[/email].
The allergen check list on their page is a little confusing to me - I am not quite sure if it applies to overt ingredients or cross contamination risk.
It might be best to e-mail them.
Good luck!
April
Yes I have called them recently. They were very nice and helpful. She said that they have two facilities and FOR NOW (this was about 3 weeks ago) the one that makes the bread mixes was peanut free. DS has tested negative for tree nuts and we are avoiding but I am comfortable with "same facilities" for tree nuts. She told me what the tree nuts were...I think they were Hazelnut and Almond but I can't find my notes now....she said to check back often as they are growing and adding new products. I should buy a case of this stuff...the bread is delish...even with egg replacer. Very good. Oh...she said that they put that disclaimer there so people would call ?? (if I saw it I would have not purchased the product) and because they may add more products. ???
But thanks....I probably should call again and then buy this product in bulk as I don't see adding wheat back any time soon.