On April 12th 2006 we woke up excited, today Jack was 6 months old and starting weaning. I was planning on giving baby rice but I was a poor expresser due to a rubbish manual pump I now know so had no milk to mix it with. I decided to nip out and get him some rusks as these could be mixed with water into mush for him.

We had a busy day so didn't get down to feeding him till teatime ish perhaps a bit earlier. He wolfed it all down and really enjoyed it, within a few minutes though he looked very serious and his eyes started to swell, then really big hives started popping up all over his body (think nettle rash all over), he also went very very hot. Luckily my younger sister turned up around this point so she shoved open the windows and stripped him down to just his nappy. We decided it would be best to ring an ambulance as his eyes started rolling to the back of his head. By this point we were both screeching down the phone and TG the ambulance arrived really qucikly. The paramedics couldn't believe their eyes when they saw Jack as in the short space of time it took them to arrive he had swelled to double his size and he was podgy baby anyway. Any how we got rushed straight to A+E and taken straight in for treatment. You could see the shock on the faces of everyone who saw us, he really did look a mess and his eyes were so sad it was really obvious he was in some discomfort.

He was hooked up to monitors and given steroids and antihistamines, he had bloods taken and they were rushed up. The doctors googled the rusk ingredients to see what it was he could be reacting to. As we were waiting for the AHs to start work I decided to give him a but during the feed I noticed he had stopped sucking and was going blue. We shouted out and all hell broke loose, he was rushed into resus where they got a drip in him and worked on him. Things are a bit blurry for me here as my legs went from under me and I was just hyperventilating on the floor . I soon sorted myself out and sat next to him while they got him back to a normal colour, well he was still red but it was preferable to blue. We had to stay in resus for a few hours just in case he stopped breathing again. Luckily he didn't and we were sent up to the ward after they had made sure he had a secure canula in, his poor little baby arm was trussed and taped up and he couldn't move it but at least we knew he could recieve meds quickly if he needed them.

We had to stay in overnight with Jack taking AHs every few hours and steroids and he had to stay on constant monitoring. The next day they had to take blood out of his little hand as the canula had dried up which was horrible as they near enough had to bend his little hand double on itself just to find a tiny vein. We were told we had to stay in again overnight as he still had a little swelling and a rash but he was nowhere near as bad as he had been. We were given an appt with the paed for 8 weeks later at which time we would be told what he was allergic to. At that appt we found out he was allergic to milk, egg and wheat. It wasn't till later we found out about his other allergies.

Luckily I had a fantastically supportive HV at that time who alas has now moved on. She arranged for us to have a baby resus class, sorted out a dietician and pushed the paeds secretary for us to be seen quicker. We are now nearly 3 years down the line from that horrific day and Jack still has bad allergies but we have learnt how to cope with them and have learnt how to cope with his restricted diet. It took us a long time to stop being jibbering wrecks about the whole experience though and I think we would both say it was truly the worst experience in both our lives.

Jack on April 12th before the nightmare began

Wow Erica. What a story. I knew that Jack had allergies but didn't know the story of how they were discovered. It must be a terrible thing to live with but you wouldn't even think he had these allergies to see him, he is such a strong and healthy little boy and I think that must be down to his parents and how well you have managed his diet.

Has he grown out fo any of the allergies?

No unfortunately he hasn't yet. He had a milk tolerance test just before Lucy was born and rashed up straight away on 1 part milk:10 water, and as milk is the one he was moct likely to grow out of at 2+ the paed said they'd take it that he still has all the other allergies. The dietician thinks she'll be seeing us till 5+ years at the earliest.

It feels nice when people say he looks so strong and healthy and we are really proud of how we have all coped with it, Jack included. I remember at the first appt we had with the dietician and she was talking about retardation of growth and development due to food allergies and we really thought the worst but Jack has never had a bit of trouble as long as he doesn't eat what he shouldn't.

What a shame he hasn't grown out of any yet, at least you have the right people to check these things out and of course you know exactly what you are doing now.

I'm sure that the fact you BF for so long has been the best thing Erica, you should really congratulate yourselves on being so dedicated to making sure Jack got the best thing he needed. xxx