Our daughter, Malia, wasn't diagnosed with food allergies until after we had a big scare when she was 18 months old in the summer of 2007. She ate a tiny piece of a scrambled egg when we were traveling for my best friends wedding. Thank goodness there was a convenience store nearby - I knew to get a dose of benadryl in her right away. She began vomiting like I've never seen before -then fell into a deep sleep. Neither dad nor I had any experience with food allergies. When we got back home, we saw an allergy doctor who said we were extremely lucky that day. She was diagnosed with a severe allergy to egg and dairy....and later on, to nuts.
There were many other days that Malia was lucky....I knew something wasn't right when she turned blue the first time I gave her infant formula when she was 3 months old. The doctor at the time (not an allergy specialist) said to avoid milk for now and go to soy. So that's what we did. She didn't tolerate soy either, so we used Nutramigen. There were so many other times when she would eat a piece of bread and get hives around her mouth. When she was able to eat more solid baby food, she would get a rash and redness all over her face and neck when she ate the chicken noodle dinner. I didn't understand what was going on until after a few visits with her allergy doctor and ALOT of reading to educate myself about how to keep Malia safe.
If you suspect your child has a food allergy - please go in and get it checked by a doctor who specializes in food allergies.
I think Malia's guardian angel was working overtime that day...making sure Malia lived to tell her story.