Is Of At Allergy? Risk My A Baby Inheriting Kieran: Peanut Phil

Phil Kieran: Is my baby at risk of inheriting a peanut allergy? — Pic: Istock

Tue, 13 Aug, 2024 - 10:00

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General Practitioner

I’m due to give birth to my first child in four weeks’ time. My husband has a nut allergy, and I’m worried the baby will inherit it. How soon can you check for the allergy? And what does it cost?

Food allergies, and peanut allergies, in particular, can be frightening due to the potential for severe reactions. Peanut allergy is one of the most common food allergies in children.

In Britain about 1.8% of children have the allergy. Most schools now have a policy restricting nuts in children’s lunch boxes.

Nut allergy can cause itching and swelling of the face and hands and, in more severe cases, difficulty breathing, due to swelling of the airways.

Anyone diagnosed with peanut allergy is advised to avoid peanuts (and frequently tree nuts) entirely and to carry an adrenaline pen (autoinjector) with them in case of accidental exposure.

Some food allergies can be outgrown or treated with graded exposure, but this is not safe for nut allergies. If your child has a nut allergy, it may be advised to monitor their blood tests as they get older.

If these show decreasing allergy, then under medical supervision, have skin testing and finally a trial of eating nuts. This resolution only happens in about one in 54 children with nut allergies, so most will need to avoid nuts for life.

In the past, it was recommended to delay exposure to peanuts to reduce the risk of sensitising the immune system.

However, a 2015 study suggested that this approach had the opposite effect. The recommendation is to include exposure to peanuts from weaning, which may help reduce the risk of allergy.

Given that your husband has a nut allergy, it is understandable you are concerned that your child may also have one.

Thankfully, research has not found that having a parent with a nut allergy increases the risk of developing one. Your child has more or less the same risk of nut allergy as any other child.

The current guidelines suggest only testing those at the highest risk for nut allergy, such as children who suffer from severe or moderate eczema and a strong family history of allergies in general.

If your child doesn’t have eczema, then the advice is to expose them to food allergens when they start weaning. This exposure includes eggs, dairy, wheat, fish, and nuts.

Your husband’s allergy may make this difficult to implement, as keeping nuts in a house with someone with a severe allergy runs the risk of accidental exposure.

If you are concerned about your baby developing a nut allergy, I suggest chatting to your GP after the birth. They will be able to give more concrete advice (for example, you will know if the baby has eczema or not) and can refer you for testing, if needed.