Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Choosy moms choose...hives?

A few weeks ago, my family was enjoying our weekend morning tradition of a bagel breakfast at Einstein's. Since most bagels are dairy-free and relatively mess-free, it's one of the few restaurant experiences I actually enjoy with my daughters.

On this particular occasion, my husband gave each of the girls a dollop of his peanut butter to dip their bagels into. Within a few minutes, little B had hives all over her face.

My immediate thought was "peanut allergy." Although she'd had peanut butter a few times previously without a reaction, I know that sometimes allergies only appear after multiple exposures. So, for weeks we avoided peanut butter.

Then a few days ago, I found a bag of Trader Joe's peanut butter-filled pretzels, which Syd snacks on pretty regularly. And I remembered giving those to B on many occasions - despite the fact that her 8 teeth have to work overtime to chew them. So I gave her one...no reaction. Another...no reaction. Over the course of 30 minutes, she had about 6...and still no reaction.

The next day I tested another peanut-containing product. No reaction. When I told my hubby that it must just be the Einstein's peanut butter she's allergic to, he said he saw the guy scoop the pb out of a Jif container. So I tested a little bit of the Jif we have in our pantry...and sure enough, a few hives sprouted up.

After searching online, I found I'm not the only one who's experienced the "Jif rash." Which begs the question...what the heck is in there? The kind I have is even the "natural" Jif which doesn't contain quite as many gross ingredients as the regular. So I am off to experiment some more with the peanut situation. If Jif's not the culprit, I will be sure to exonerate them. But as for now, this choosy mom is skeptical.

1 comment:

  1. I love that you tested this by giving her peanut product after peanut product!

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