Jessica’s son ate some green beans, then 90 mins later he was limp and pale in her husband’s arms. Luckily Jessica knew what to do, sourced the EpiPen and gave it. In her words “it was like magic”.
Anaphylaxis often does not look like we think it will, in Jessica’s case, her son went pale and floppy quite a long time after he had eaten the most benign food.
Let’s recap what anaphylaxis can look like, I will include a more detailed explanation under the ASCIA symptom definition:
Difficult/noisy breathing
Although this might be happening, the child might still seem like they are quite happy and wide awake, especially in young children. There is not necessarily distress.
Swelling of the tongue
Not a very common symptom but it becomes quite obvious because they don’t want to close their mouth.
Swelling/tightness in the throat
A young child in particular will likely start grabbing at their neck. If your child can talk, it is sometimes useful to ask them if they feel like they have bugs in their throat or a stone in their throat. ‘Bugs’ can just be tingling and less concerning, a ‘stone’ is how it feels when your throat swells.
Anaphylaxis often does not look like we think it will, in Jessica’s case, her son went pale and floppy quite a long time after he had eaten the most benign food.
Wheeze or persistent cough
The most common symptom we see, but again, the child can seem otherwise fine and quite happy. However, they may also be distressed. It’s different every time.
Difficulty talking/hoarse voice
Ask your older child to count to 10 and see if they can. In a young child, even their cry will sound different.
Persistent dizziness/collapse
This is how older children will describe the drop in blood pressure
Pale and floppy (young child)
There may be no other symptoms at all, (like today’s video) but a child can just go pale and floppy or sleepy with no other signs. Hives and swelling do not always occur before anaphylaxis.
Watch today’s video to hear Jessica’s story, and remember, if you have one, Carry Your EpiPen! I hope that’s been helpful for you today. If you want more from The Nest, then we’ve got lots of other resources for you. We’ve got our FREE Virtual First Aid Kit for all mums, dads and grandparents and anyone that looks after your child. It’s a PDF that you can download to your phone or computer, you can print it out and bind it. It’s got lots of different first aid situations in it, including choking and CPR. You can find it at the bottom of every page on our website.
We’ve also got our The Nest Allergy Membership for families living with childhood food allergy.
If you want more than that, we have our classes. We have online classes, home classes, private couples classes. We do classes in clinics in New South Wales, we do home classes in Canberra & Sydney.
Keep in touch and email us with any queries!
We hope you enjoyed this! Our mission to help parents cut through the clutter of anxiety and worry when it comes to their child’s health and wellbeing.
We want you to trust yourself, know that you have all the tools in your nest to keep your child safe and well, so you can stop googling, and coming away more confused than when you started, you have landed in our well feathered nest and we’ve got your back, every step of the way!
Here are some further resources you might enjoy!
{FREE} Your Virtual First Aid Kit – https://thenestcpr.kartra.com/page/firstaid
Book a baby & child first aid class – https://www.thenestcpr.com/book
The Nest CPR & Allergy Flock FB Group – https://www.facebook.com/groups/thenestcpr
The Nest Allergy Membership – https://www.thenestcpr.com/allergy-membership
Online Baby & Child First Aid – https://thenestcpr.com/product/online/
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Keep in touch and email us with any queries!
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