mamabear2three Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 My son is 17 months old and while his older sister had allergies that she outgrew by age 2 (and her reactions were all intestinal), he's shown no obvious signs of an allergy to this point. Tonight at dinner he broke out in hives on his cheeks while he was eating and within an hour of cleaning him up and getting him down, they were gone, with no other symptoms that I have noticed. Dinner was nothing new - gluten free pasta and sauce that we have once a week, the sauce was a jar that I had opened a couple days prior for another meal. He had mozzarella cheese on his pasta, and yet he was refusing to eat any of it. All he wanted was the applesauce. (I mention the other food because it might have been mixed a little into the applesauce) He also asked for cinnamon, which is typical of him as well. It was a new jar of applesauce but not a new brand, the cinnamon is the same bottle we've been using for months. I noticed red around his mouth as he was eating, thought it was odd, and when I cleaned him up before putting him down, I realized it was hives all over his cheeks down to the corners of his mouth. They started clearing up immediately, because the picture I took 5 minutes later already showed them much improved and by an hour later, his face was clean and clear, no red marks or bumps or anything. Anyone have any experiences that might help me figure out what's going on here??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMommy Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 I don't have much advice, only that if he wasn't eating it, there might be a reason. My younger son wouldn't eat anything with peanuts in it as a toddler...not even peanut butter cookies, which we thought was odd given his love of cookies. When he was a little older, something peanut snuck in, and he immediately had a reaction. I figured that his previous refusal to eat peanut products was a self-preservation thing. Even if the meal he was having wasn't something new, allergies can appear out of nowhere. Figuring out what the problem food was won't be easy, but I'd trust his gut instinct in not eating it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamabear2three Posted June 27, 2014 Author Share Posted June 27, 2014 so you would guess it was the pasta/sauce/cheese that he refused and not the applesauce/cinnamon he did eat? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 Applesauce can cause a contact sensitivity too. My boys use to get rash looking red cheeks. ETA: Older used to have hives often Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamabear2three Posted June 27, 2014 Author Share Posted June 27, 2014 I have no doubt it was contact with something that caused it, but this was definitely hives - raised, red blotchy welts that bothered him enough to not want me to come anywhere near his face. I was thinking the applesauce or cinnamon because they spread from under where the applesauce was smeared on his face but I suppose it could have been anything on his plate. How do I know if it is an allergy and whether it will be worse next time? I wonder if it would be safe to retest each food item from dinner to see if one of them causes it again or if I need to get an appointment with an allergist? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texasmama Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 Several of my toddlers got red rashes when tomato sauce products came into contact with their faces or chest (if I removed their shirts while eating red sauce). I would suspect that first. They all outgrew it. It was not anaphylactic, just acidic and irritating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catz Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 Sometimes tomatoes (or something like applesauce sometimes) are just acidic enough to cause a skin reaction in my kiddos. My son often had red cheeks on and off as a toddler depending on what he ate and the weather. Also not a "true" reaction for him Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 My ds had a reaction to cinnamon as a baby. It turned out that the cinnamon contained faint traces of wheat and he was allergic to wheat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lieutenant Stranger Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 My daughter had reactions something like this when she was about 2. She'd get hives just on her face during/after eating. It was never anything new. Brought her in to the doctor and he said she needed to go salicylate free for awhile. We did (there was a strict list we followed), it cleared up and she's never had a problem since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storygirl Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 Hives can be an allergic reaction, but often they appear for no identifiable reason. When DS developed hives at 9 pm the night before we were leaving for a vacation, I was frantic. The pharmacies were closed. Was it safe for him to get on a plane? What if it got worse or wouldn't go away. I called our pediatrician's office and spoke to the nurse on call. She said there may be no way to tell what caused them and to give Benadryl. We followed her advice; the hives went away; and we went on our vacation as scheduled. No further problems. Fast forward three or four years, and he got them again. Again no way to tell the cause. Again they went away in a few hours and didn't return. I think some people are susceptible to them. Check with your doctor for their advice, but I wouldn't be overly worried or trying to repeat the reaction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katy Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 No advice for the OP really... I'd probably give him some cinnamon-sugar-butter on a glutino cracker and see if that was it, give him some applesauce, give him some pasta with tomato sauce, and give him cheese separately over the next week or two and watch carefully. My ds had a reaction to cinnamon as a baby. It turned out that the cinnamon contained faint traces of wheat and he was allergic to wheat. What??? Cinnamon is contaminated with wheat??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bethben Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 My son without allergies has had that happen with cinnamon. He's eaten many things with cinnamon since. He just has sensitive skin. Try putting some cinnamon applesauce mix onto your cheek and let it sit for a while (I did this). You may get hives also. Beth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamabear2three Posted June 29, 2014 Author Share Posted June 29, 2014 Thanks everyone for the input. I've learned that cinnamon can be very bothersome to skin, so I decided that I was overtired and thus overreacted - I'm going to not worry about it for now and if it happens again, I'll ask his pediatrician about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murmer Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 I have a sensitive skinned kid and he will randomly break out in hives about 4 times a year...the first time was around the same age as your child when he had cinnamon...so I would just make sure to always know the amount of benadryl to give (takes my doctor over an hour to call back so I made sure to find out when ds was little what the weight dosages were so I wasn't having to wait). I will say make sure to be careful of other things you put on your child's skin including bandaids...turns out my little dude is allergic to all bandaid adhesive. Oh and even still he lets people know he is "allergic" to cinnamon lol (he probably isn't really). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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