Backstory - What's going on?!!

My firstborn son had his first allergic reaction to a food when he was about 5 months old. I had left my job officially after three months of Family Leave and was so far loving being a mother, even if I was rather uptight and over-protective. He and I were home and I was snacking on some yogurt (keeping up my calcium intake without too much fat) and decided to give my little buddy a tiny taste. I dipped the very tip of my spoon into the yogurt and touched it to his little mouth. Almost instantly little pink splotches starting appearing around his mouth and spreading outward. Then he started drooling. He wasn't a heavy drooler at this stage, so I knew these were two symptoms of something going terribly wrong.

I sat there rooted to the spot staring at these shocking developments, unable to process what was happening. Finally, my baby took a big breath and started to cry. I picked him up and rushed him to the kitchen where I washed off his mouth and face. I quickly put some water in a bottle and gave it to him. He took a couple of sips and then pulled back, wailing again but this time he made a gurgling sound. Somehow, not really knowing what was happening, I instinctively grabbed some Benadryl and gave him a good dose of it. He swallowed and within a minute or two he stopped crying. The splotches that were now all over his face stopped spreading and growing and he stopped drooling. Whew! What a relief! And practically a miracle, I later decided. It could have been much worse if I had not had liquid Benadryl on hand or if I had given him more than a tiny taste of yogurt before I saw a reaction.

This yogurt incident turned out to be the first of many scary incidents to come over the next several months until I finally discovered a Pediatric Allergist who would agree to test my baby for allergies. But again, it could have been much worse if somehow my maternal instincts hadn't led me to be very cautious. Of course, parental guilt also tells me it could have gone better if I had known more or gotten better informed right away.

I did not use milk formula. I am not even sure why, but I supplemented nursing with soy formula. I did not introduce solids until he was almost 6 months old. I first introduced rice cereal. After that I introduced pure baby food veggies and then fruits. So it wasn't until a couple of months after the yogurt incident that another "taste test" brought on his next reaction.

His Dad and I were enjoying an afternoon off and doing some errands with our little baby when we decided to stop by Dairy Queen for a snack. Dad decided to let his bubby taste his ice cream. Before I could think to stop it, he gave him a little taste. Same reaction, different day - no Benadryl. We gave him water again and wiped him off and then left quickly for home. Before we got there he had stopped reacting. I gave him a little Benadryl anyway.

By now, I was beginning to think this must be an allergy. I knew a little about food problems and babies. I knew that introducing solids too soon could cause problems and that some foods should be avoided for awhile. I didn't really know what "problems" these foods could cause and I didn't know the exact timetable for introducing certain foods. In those days, I didn't have internet access at home, and wouldn't have known how to do a decent search if I did, and I wasn't ready to try and do research in the library with an infant on my hip. So I knew just enough to decide to introduce new foods slowly, one at time, and with caution. And I bought more Benadryl.