Food Allergy #1

Last night we introduced Ava to some new foods. We know that you're supposed to introduce each of them with 4 day intervals in between foods, but our pediatrician said that we should be able to introduce one vegetable and one fruit at a time and be okay. Since we started giving Ava solids, we've started off giving her a vegetable first, then some oatmeal cereal mixed with breast milk and water, and then giving her a fruit for dessert. Well, after Ava scarfed down her peas, we opted to skip the oatmeal (she's been a bit distended since starting on solids, so we figured we'd try not to clog up her intestines any more than they already are). Instead of the oatmeal we gave her a little bit of smashed up avocado. Well, she HATED it. I don't blame her, as it took me 21 years to like it and I'll only eat it as guacamole. So, after only one bite of the pureed avocado, we threw it in the sink...no big deal.

So, we were on to the homemade peach puree that I had made yesterday (just baked peaches in water that I pureed). Matt was feeding Ava the peaches and as he was doing so, he commented that Ava had made the strangest face--one that he had never seen before. She's given some pretty funny faces when given a new food, so he just figured that was what the funny face was for. Then, all of a sudden he asked me if Ava looked funny. I moved over and looked at her head and I told him that it looked like it was turning bright red. Matt threw the peaches down on the counter and told me to call the ER because Ava was having an allergic reaction. From the front, Ava's eyes were starting to swell and turn bright red and her face and head were starting to break out in splotchy hives. Matt picked Ava up to make sure that she was breathing okay while I was on the phone. Standard military hospital--the phone rang for about what seemed like 5 minutes. Matt told me to just hang up the phone, as no one ever answered and Ava's symptoms were starting to go away. While this was all happening, I was having a panic attack and couldn't do anything. I literally froze. I was a wreck, so Matt was trying to deal with my hysteria and Ava. Poor guy. I just kept thinking that she was going to die or stop breathing and I kept asking him what we should do. (As you can see, it was a blessing that Matt was at home with me, as I'm not so useful when I'm in shock). Since the redness and hives were going away and her eyes were starting to go back to their normal size, Matt and I decided not to go to the ER.

Here are pictures that I took of Ava eating her peaches before we realized she was allergic to them...

Ava was still hungry, but we weren't sure what she was allergic to--the peas, the avocado, or the peaches. So, since we still had a little bit of peas left, Matt started giving them to her again. There weren't any instant physical reactions to the peas, so we ruled them out. Since she hated the avocado the first time, we didn't want to torture her again, so we opted to omit them from the study. So, it was time for the peaches. Ava opened her mouth up nice and wide and ate a big bite of the peaches. Then Matt gave her another bite of peaches...and the redness suddenly appeared, Ava's eyes started to swell and get watery, and her head started to break out in hives again. Luckily, she wasn't having any problems breathing, so we just monitored her for a while to make sure that she was okay and after about 5 minutes, all of her symptoms went away.

Here are pictures that I took of Ava after feeding her a bite of peaches for the second time. You can see that her lower eyelids are red and puffy...

Here is a shot of her poor head where she was breaking out in hives...
Here she is after her hives and all the puffiness and redness started to go away...


So, last night we learned that Ava is ALLERGIC to PEACHES. We are very lucky and blessed that Ava didn't have a more serious or fatal reaction.