Shortly after Taryn was born, I said 3 things about her. Call it premonition, mother's intuition, inspiration, or simply observation, but I could tell 1) She was going to learn her gross motor skills better and earlier than her fine motor skills, 2) She was going to be our mellow child, 3) She was going to be our allergic child.
Sure enough, she started sitting at 5 months, crawling at 6 months, pulling herself up on everything at 7 months, and cruising at 7 1/2 months. Keara sat earlier, but crawled, stood, and cruised later. However, Keara is our fine motor girl. She fed herself with a spoon really early (mastered it), held pencils/pens/crayons/markers, etc early and well, etc. Taryn is a shove it in my mouth kind of gal. But she loves being able to move and play.
Second, she really is very mellow. Some of you may be suprised at that because she is SO active, but temperment and activity level are two very different things. She is constantly busy, but very patient and calm. Busy and active, but calm. How does she manage that?
And third, she has always had really bad skin. Finally, the doctor told us it was eczema and we've been treating it with a hydrocortisone cream, which has really helped. She was really fussy as a 1-2 month old and her stomach has always gurgled loud and been really bubbly. We thought Keara was a gassy baby until we met Taryn. In reality, she was colicky as a baby, but we just worked with it and after 3-4 months and a little help from rice cereal she got over that. And we've also noticed that her skin gets really irritated if I don't wash her face shortly after eating. Anyway, with all these things considered, every time I introduce a new food to her, I watch her very carefully because I've always felt she would have allergies.
I'm not proud to announce that we discovered yesterday what our baby is allergic to. I'm still nervous that more will develop because she hasn't had nuts yet, but for now, Taryn is allergic to eggs. For breakfast, I made fried eggs and let Taryn have a little for the first time. She has had baked goods, like pancakes, with eggs in them before and had no reaction, but this time, perhaps because it was straight eggs, this is what happened:
Hives all over her mouth and anywhere the eggs touched her arms, legs, and face. This morning, I made Grandpa's Pancakes (capitalized because they are so famous) and let her have a bite. She's had these before with no problems, so I wanted to see if maybe a smalled concentration of eggs was tolerable. Nope. Again, hives around her mouth. So we have a doctor's appointment on Wednesday to get a referral for an allergist.
I have to admit I'm glad it's eggs. I know, eggs are so so good for you. But most kids outgrow this allergy by age 5 and though it's not fun to not get to eat cookies and other baked goods (as my brother Brent can attest) there are other ways to make things that call for eggs by substituting other emulsifiers. So, out of all the allergies to foods, I think eggs isn't bad. Being allergic to cow stomach would be better, but all in all, I'm hoping she'll just grow out of it and not think too much of it when she's older. I also hope this is her one and only food allergy.
It does mean no flu shots (not like I get those for the girls anyway) and no to some immunizations that still use egg whites as their emulsifier. I am relieved, also, to know what an allergic reaction looks like on her because I've been so nervous since I introduced solids that I wouldn't recognize a reaction with her eczema, which is red and rashy looking, as well as how sensitive her skin has been.
I don't look forward to living like my brother's family does with the peanut allergy, but I hope it will be easier since eggs don't seem to be as prevalent as nuts. Maybe I'm mistaken. But when I think of the worst allergiest possible, I rank wheat as first, then nuts, then milk. Eggs, strawberries, poppy seeds, and things like that come much lower to me since they seem to be more avoidable. But we'll see. So, for now, don't give Taryn pancakes. Dirt, yes. But pancakes, no.
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