Advice about a child with allergies

[LittleStar's]

I look after a 10 month old who is allergic to egg, tuna, sesame and nuts.

I have her 1 and a half days a week and mum has given me a bottle of piraton to keep here with permission slip to give.

Have never really had to deal with allergies so not 100% what exactly to look for.

She came out in a little rash (red blotchy) on her face so i rang mum who said give piraton. Mum also said she sometimes comes out in a rash like that, but just give her piraton anyway.

Today she has again come out in a red blotchy rash on her face but this time it had white blotches in,it wasnt all over just above her forehead, I have been really carefull not to give her anything she shouldnt have but im worried over these rashes. I gave her piraton and it died down , but then i spotted spots coming and going not lots just the odd one.

Do I just give her piraton , I feel that I may get paranoid over every little spot. Just after some advice really ??? If it makes sense at all xxx

[Pipsqueak]

Have these allergies been confirmed? Are there other professionals involved that you can talk to ?


I think you need to sit down with mum/parents and go through all the causes, symptoms and how she wants you to deal with it - get it ALL in writing.
You cannot just give medication willy nilly tell her. Get it all in writing .

Also explore the avenues about what extreme reactions (am not going to spell it! lol) she could possibly have and the immediate action you will take.

[Minstrel]

Sounds like Hives- my son gets this but we're not sure what triggers it.

Agree with Pip though- you need a proper care plan x

[LittleStar's]

Thats why I asked, I dont want to give it to her willy nilly, thats the exact words I was looking for!

Yes they have been confirmed . Mum did say she would give me a copy of
the action plan but it never appeared will ask her tomorrow.

I will speak with mum in the morning and find out exactly what she wants me to do in these situations and get an individual care plan written up.

Thankyou for you advice, I havn't really come accross allergies before so this is really helpfull xx

[Pipsqueak]

I would tell her that (ring her now) unless you have a copy of the action plan then you cannot accept the child. This is for the childs own safety. You need to know what to do if the child has a severe reaction for instance or the Piriton is not working.
You ideally need to be talking to the specialist or the nurse as well.

Piriton can make the patient very sleepy (I know - even childrens Piriton knocks me out) as well - so how are you going to deal with this.

Parent needs to sit down with you and

go through the care plan step by step

you need to think carefully about the impact this will have on the whole of the setting - how are you going to keep the child and the allergens separate

[spowage]

without sounding rude did you not learn about allergies on your first aid course?????

[Playmate]

without sounding rude did you not learn about allergies on your first aid course?????

With all due respect, all allergies are different so what can you learn about in a first aid course apart from ringing 999 or use an epipen if it has been prescribed and you have been trained, if some one is suffering from anaphalixis and not all children who suffer from allergies do.

I have a child who is allergic to eggs, dairy and nuts. We have a careplan and have prescribed piriton and if she does get hives she is given piriton. Usually if she has eaten something she is allergic to she will be violently sick as well within about 20mins. If she has just touched something usually the piriton helps to reduce the reaction. Hth

[sillysausage]

It may well be that you have discovered something else that she is allergic to. When children have allergy tests they usually do the top 20 most common allergens, so having been tested doesn't always give the full picture. Also at 10 months she won't have been exposed to everything yet.

Have you made a detailed note of everything the LO has eaten and drunk today. In the past I've had a number of children with confirmed food allergies and they all developed hives (and/or bright red itchy skin) around their mouths (and on their hands if used to feed themselves).
I kept a file in which I stuck the ingredients list/labels from any readymade foods (eg fishfingers, sausages, fromage frais, baby foods etc) that I gave the children, just incase they had a reaction to something that I was unaware of.
I also found that in addition to piriton it generally helped to bathe the child's face and hands with a cold, damp flannel.

In addition to discussing and documenting LO's care plan you need to discuss the food that you will offer including brands and where you purchase it from, particularly as different own brand products can contain very different things. You may find it helpful/easier to ask mum to provide foods for LO.

[nic t]

without sounding rude did you not learn about allergies on your first aid course?????

Did we not all "learn" everything we need to about childminding before we registered? Doesn't make us experts does it, otherwise there would be no need for sites like this.

I also think that if you are certain that LO has not eaten anything with these 4 in it then it could be something new. The rash with the white spots sounds like urticaria (a type of hives) that is normally caused by an allergy but can be made worse if the child is abit under the weather with some kind of infection (may not be even noticeable to us). My dd gets this and we're not sure what causes it but it does seem worse in the good weather so maybe the weather has bought something out, like a kind of hayfever allergy?

[glitzygal]

MY LO has been told its nuts and prawn cocktail skips, so i have a care plan and she has an epi-pen, i have been trained to use an epi-pen, and got the certificate, so as long as you have that your covered,

when i questioned it with ofsted, she said you have to be trained as your insurance is not valid if she had a bad turn (reaction). i was also told on NO terms to have her till I had certificate, i could get in trouble,

[Monkey26]

One of my (now older) mindees used to come out in a similar sounding rash when we used a certain type of suncream on her face! Didn't affect her anywhere else, just her cheeks and forehead weird! Just used to make sure she wore hats everywhere... xx

[LittleStar's]

Thanks everyone!

She doesn't have an epi-pen so wouldn't think it would affect my insurance??? Obviously if that changes I will get the training, might be worth mentioning to network coordinator ... usefull training.

nic-t, lo has got a cold and we have been in the garden with the lovely sunshine so you may be right about hayfever..

or it could be the new foods lo is changing from jars to homecooked foods so I might start keeping the labels / ingredients for a while whilst we get through this weaning as sillysausage suggested, I do make a note of everything lo eats but not the brands.

Care plan is top of my agenda.

Thanks for the advice everyone xxxx

[FussyElmo]

Thanks everyone!

She doesn't have an epi-pen so wouldn't think it would affect my insurance??? Obviously if that changes I will get the training, might be worth mentioning to network coordinator ... usefull training.

nic-t, lo has got a cold and we have been in the garden with the lovely sunshine so you may be right about hayfever..

or it could be the new foods lo is changing from jars to homecooked foods so I might start keeping the labels / ingredients for a while whilst we get through this weaning as sillysausage suggested, I do make a note of everything lo eats but not the brands.

Care plan is top of my agenda.

Thanks for the advice everyone xxxx

Could it be a plant you have - sounds daft but last summer if we walked past a certain bed of flowers my ds would come out in a similar rash. Stopped going that way he didnt get it again.

Not sure how you are going to find out but just a thought

[BuggsieMoo]

Hi Littlestars
My daughter who is 3 is intolerant to egg, wheat, dairy and soya and gets a stinging nettle type rash when she eats any of this by accident followed by loose stools and a belly ache. Sometimes her mouth swells (which is the concern) and she is on meds for this and see's a specialist at the hosital as well as a dietician.
Have these allergies been confirmed - plus allergies and intolerances are 2 totally different things.
I would suggest that if she is seeing a doctor about this that the doctor puts something into writing (I had to do this for my daughter for nursery and the school she is starting next year) because then you have a medical person's opinion who knows the child in a medical capacity telling you the best way to deal with the situation.
I personally don't think giving piriton all the time is acceptable but managing the allergy/intolerance is better - maybe sitting down with mum and getting a meal plan, asking mum to provide all meals or something like that.
If LO is anything like my daughter when having a reaction, its not nice and at times quite painful so prevention must surely be better than cure.
I think I would feel the same as you about worrying about every rash that appears (I was the same) but you will learn to notice a turn reaction.
Good luck - make sure you have good communication with the parents and ask for copies of any relevant paperwork (doctors advice etc) so that you can file this in the LO's file and follow any advice given by the doctors.
If it is an allergy she may grow out of it.
Sorry if it sounds like a rant - not meant to x
Lisa x

[Sarahbelle]

Sounds like Hives- my son gets this but we're not sure what triggers it.

Agree with Pip though- you need a proper care plan x

Thats exactly what I was going to say. Hives. My daughter used to get it and we never found out what caused it. But we used to give her Piriton.

[Sarahbelle]

Sorry, just read further posts and this sounds a tad more serious than Hives. I would maybe take further advice. If she does have serious allergies then a care plan needs to be in place with appropriate training from Doctor/Nurse.