Bertie was born in September 2020 in the middle of the COVID pandemic. From birth, he began to show signs of an allergy with eczema and reflux symptoms. When we began weaning, his eczema got considerably worse and he also developed other issues including bowel problems, asthma symptoms (wheezy breathing) and hives.
I went to the GP several times but as we were in the middle of the pandemic, Bertie was not seen face to face and we were just told that he would grow out of his eczema and his symptoms by 1 years old. Unfortunately, an allergy was not mentioned once. Being a first time parent, I didn't know what was normal but my mother's instinct knew something wasn't right. The GP kept saying how common eczema is but I didn't know any other baby or child have eczema or any symptoms like Bertie's. At 10-11 months old and months of battling, we ended up paying private to see a paediatrician and asked for allergy testing. I could not pin point what was triggering his symptoms and I wanted some answers. Skin prick tests showed that he was allergic to egg which was a real shock! I was not allergy aware at all and completely naïve at this point of what it would mean. I didn't know any other baby with allergies!
Instantly, we took egg out of his diet and within 2 days, his skin was pretty much clear. Previously, we were prescribed inhalers from the GP due to him having wheezy breathing but after removing egg from his diet, he hasn't had an inhaler since. It was amazing to see the difference in Bertie!
Fast forward a few months, Bertie had a bite of a naked bar that contained cashew nuts and instantly had an anaphylactic reaction. He was scratching his throat, rubbing his ears, dribbling, covered in hives and vomited several times. We went straight to A&E and were told to avoid nuts until we were seen by the allergy clinic. A couple of months later, the allergy clinic confirmed he had an allergy to cashews, pistachios and peanuts. We were given EpiPen's and sent on our way!
We were entering the world of allergies not knowing what his future would bring and that's where we starting learning more about children with allergies and getting allergy aware!
Looking back and only after educating myself on allergies and joining the allergy community, it was so obvious Bertie had an allergy. Being a first time mum, not knowing any different and also being in the middle of a pandemic, it was so hard at the time to get help and support that was needed. The pandemic meant I wasn't meeting other mums and wasn't been seen by the GP face to face so it took a lot longer to realise that the symptoms Bertie was experiencing was not normal.
Bertie is now 2 years and we are still experiencing a few issues which we need to get to the bottom of but I feel more prepared after learning a lot over the last 2 years.
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