eczema – K12Allergies

Cassie (@AnalyzingAnaphylaxis – 18+ years old)

August 16, 2025 July 25, 2026 / anaphylactic, anaphylaxis, asthma, eczema, epinephrine, redness

I was 6 months old when I had my first anaphylactic reaction. This continued throughout my childhood. My mom would notice redness all over my face, as well as huge patches of eczema. I was genetically tested as soon as I was able to be. I have outgrown a few food allergies, but I still struggle with the anaphylactic ones.

My mom spoke directly to doctors, since there wasn’t much information online about food allergies during my childhood.

We used lots of steroids throughout my life, along with epinephrine and various asthma medications.

(@Allergymomx2 – 5 years old)

July 16, 2025 July 25, 2026 / bloodtest, colic, eczema, skin, skin prick test

I figured out my son had allergies when he struggled as an infant with bottle feeding. He would arch his back, spit up a lot, and was fussy with colic. He also had eczema. We brought him to an allergist, who confirmed his food allergies through a skin prick test and bloodwork.

I used FARE’s website to help me, as well as stories from moms on Instagram and the Food Allergy Moms Facebook page.

(@Young_healerss – 7 years old)

July 7, 2025 July 25, 2026 / coconut, dairy, eczema, egg, nuts, sesame, strawberry

My husband had allergies as a child, but I was completely new to it. My daughter developed allergies at age 2, and my son at 6 months old. Before that, she used to eat everything. She’s allergic to dairy, eggs, nuts, sesame, strawberries, coconut, and all citrus fruits. My son has similar allergies, with the addition of all lentils.

My daughter struggled with allergies and eczema from age 2 to 7. She started methotrexate last November, and her skin has been doing well since. My son is also on methotrexate and doing well too. We still avoid all their allergens and are hoping they can outgrow their allergies over time.

We found Facebook groups for kids with eczema through Google helpful along the way.

We used methotrexate, folic acid, and fexofenadine medications.

Zya Juliana Ventinilla (9 years old)

July 3, 2025 July 25, 2026 / eczema, Epipen, hospital, kiwi, peanuts, skin

When Zya was a baby, she had severe eczema, and we struggled to find a formula that wouldn’t aggravate her skin. Around age two, she ate kiwi for the first time and became extremely itchy, which raised concerns. Our family doctor then referred us to a skin allergy specialist, and she was officially diagnosed with allergies to peanuts and kiwi. There was an incident where she accidentally ate a snack containing peanuts. We had to use the EpiPen she always carries with her and rushed her to the emergency hospital for treatment. Unfortunately, she has not outgrown these allergies yet.

We used various websites to understand and manage her allergies. Sites like Mayo Clinic and WebMD were especially helpful for learning about symptoms, triggers, and treatment options. While online resources were useful for general guidance, we relied on a specialist for formal diagnosis and personalized care. We also found support groups and parenting forums helpful for practical tips and shared experiences from other parents dealing with similar issues.

Katie (@Katiehollcreative – 9 years old)

March 6, 2023 March 22, 2023 / eczema, egg, epinephrine, Epipen, milk, peanut, reflux, shrimp, treenut

Our first experience with food allergies was when our oldest, now nine, had her first reaction at 6 months old at daycare. There were certainly symptoms she experienced prior that could have alerted us to food allergies, such as eczema and excessive spitting up after eating, but it was initially always diagnosed as reflux until she had formula mixed with her oatmeal. That’s when we had her tested and found out she was allergic to milk, egg, peanut, and tree nuts. Fast forward, all three of our children have multiple food allergies, some anaphylactic. Between the three, we manage milk, egg, peanut, tree nuts, and shrimp. We’ve done some oral challenges and have been able to cross some off, but each has epipens and also our oldest two have asthma.

We didn’t get a lot of information from our allergist apart from “avoid these foods” so it was a big learning curve navigating this new lifestyle. I found lots of useful information on the Food Allergy Research and Education’s (FARE) site and after a few years, found some great Facebook groups to connect and learn from others in the community. Other useful sites were FAACT and Allergic Living. I also wrote a children’s book about multiple food allergies to help educate and bring more awareness to the community in general.

Ronin (10 years old)

November 1, 2022 November 2, 2022 / dairy, eczema, egg, falsepositive, peanut, soy, tomato, treenut

As an infant, we suspected Ronin had eczema and food sensitivities because he was always fussy and blotchy and would spit up after breastfeeding. The pediatrician suggested switching him to a special baby formula at 4 months old. So, we did. But there was no mention of food allergies. At one years old, he had his first reaction to food. It was on vacation while eating some scrambled eggs. I still remember running around like a chicken with its head cut off- because we had no clue what was going on. He had another reaction shortly after that to his birthday cake. It was then that the pediatrician ordered a food allergy panel and it was determined Ronin was allergic to soy (false positive), dairy, egg, peanut, and treenuts. He still has all of those same allergies including a tomato allergy.

We didn’t use any websites early on in our diagnosis because the whole thing was just so new and overwhelming and we honestly had no idea how many resources are actually out there. But in the years since, we have relied heavily on FARE and Allergic Living.

Daveigh Bea (1 year old)

October 10, 2022 October 14, 2022 / benedryl, bloodtest, dairy, eczema, egg, epinephrine, hive, milk, pea, peanut, redness, vomit, wheat, zyrtec

When we first started introducing solids to little miss we noticed small hives and redness with eggs and milk products as well as an increase in her eczema. At first we did not think much about it and I kept exposing her to milk and eggs thinking she would get use to it but instead she kept getting redness, hives and runny noses. All this would improve with a bath and dose of zyrtec. I had bought some peanut butter banana food pouches and we had given them to her with what I thought was no reactions but one afternoon I came home to my husband freaking out and showed me the baby and she was covered head to toe in welts and hives, he told me all he gave her was the banana peanut butter about 10 minutes prior. She then proceeded to vomit multiple times, now at this point I am still not educated on food allergies or reactions but knew something was wrong so we took her to urgent care by the time we got there the benedryl had kicked in and she was doing better so urgent care pretty much dismissed us. Looking back I realized that she had been having small delayed reactions to peanut butter as she had been vomiting randomly but each time I had given her peanut butter I just did not correlate the two. Currently I am waiting to get into see an allergist as I have had to educate and advocate for ourselves. Our pediatrician did the blood allergy test and gave us an EpiPen and said she was too young for an allergist. Right now her allergies are peanut, eggs, dairy, wheat, oats and peas. We have excluded those foods and have had no reactions and her eczema is gone. We are hoping to try some food challenges once speaking to an allergist. She is now 15 months old still breastfeeding and we have found many safe foods and she is happy and thriving!

I found the websites FARE, The Food Allergy Counselor, and joined some food allergy groups on Facebook. I took it up on myself to learn about food allergies and symptoms of anaphylaxis. I am a mental health therapist and realized I was having increased anxiety around feeding her which let me to the Food Allergy Counselor social media and website where I educated myself on how to help others parents with the same anxious feelings I was having. I educated myself enough to become one of the therapist on their directory for my state I knew if I as a therapist was having these anxious thoughts and feelings there had to be more parents out there that may need an allergy informed therapist!

Elias (1 year old)

October 10, 2022 October 13, 2022 / colic, dairy, eczema, egg, epinephrine, hive, skin prick test, soy, strawberry, tomato, wheat

We were dealing with eczema since he was 3 mo that old and at times it was so bad he’d scratch and bleed. We went to the pediatrician 4 or 5 times and tried so many ointments. Lots of wrong diagnosis led to my frustration. Then someone suggested seeing an allergist. We learned he was allergic to eggs and dairy from when he consumed them directly because he broke out in hives. Through breast milk it was presenting as eczema. Once he tried wheat he also had hives from that. I had to remove those confirmed allergens from my diet and he was prescribed epipens. I have suspicions of other foods that he is sensitive to but not necessarily breaking out in hives. Those include beef, soy, tomatoes and strawberries.

Primarily diagnosed through seeing hives and then skin and blood test confirmed it. I knew something was wrong from the beginning because he used to cry so much and had such bad colic and gas. He also used to spit up significantly almost every feeding. Once allergens we’re removed form both of our diets his eczema cleared, he was a happier baby, and the gas issues also seemed to resolve.

Cameron (10 years old)

October 3, 2022 October 5, 2022 / eczema, egg, hive, legumes, pea, peanut, sesame, soy, treenut, vomit

Our son was 13 months when he was diagnosed with his first allergy. I fed him mashed peas and he started coughing, then choking a bit and developing hives. His coughing was persistent and he started vomiting as well. It was really scary and I remember feeling helpless. I called 911 and was alone at the time. Before that incident, our son had vomited regularly after eating some foods and we attributed it to reflux. He also had terrible eczema and we just thought he had overly sensitive skin. After an upper GI and swallow study, a few different medications and other specialists evaluating his immunology responses, we finally looked at food allergies as a test. It felt like the most non-linear maze until we got to the pea reaction…and then we followed up with blood work and a skin scratch test. The tests confirmed that our son was anaphylactic to peanuts, most tree nuts, eggs, most legumes (including peas), mustard, sesame and soy protein. He is currently 10.5 years old as of 2022 and has not outgrown any of his food allergens yet.

Once diagnosed, we found FARE, Kids with Food Allergies and FAACT to be the most informative and helpful for creating allergy plans, what to include in an allergy bag and how to understand the basics (reading labels, understanding and preventing cross-contact, and understanding emergency signs and symptoms of a reaction). For every day living, I found several blogs with tips and tricks, recipes and people steps ahead on the journey who could detail tools for navigating this forward-facing health condition! Each meal requires careful planning and we had to reorient our thinking to anchor our plans in safety while also having fun. I was also finding that the Facebook groups brought together families out of trauma (after reactions) and fears (of future reactions) and as a caregiver I didn’t want to raise my kids with extra anxiety. I ended up creating Feedyourcan.com (when some foods you just can’t) as an empowering way to use the struggle as the teacher to help our kids build lasting life skills that will serve them well in food AND non-food challenging situations.