Against All Odds, Son #1 May Have Outgrown His Peanut Allergy

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Traditionally, peanut allergy has always been thought of as persistent, with only ~30% of kids outgrowing the hypersensitivity. This is in contrast to allergies to milk, egg, soy, and wheat, which are often outgrown by 6-7 years of age.

So, when we discovered that Son #1 was allergic to peanuts, cashews, and pecans (luckily limited to a mild reaction- hives), I figured that we were due for a lifetime of avoidance. And we have been really good about strict avoidance, for the most part...

A few weeks ago, however, he was able to tolerate some accidental peanut exposure, so I decided to retest him last week.

Imagine my delight when skin tests to peanut and pecan were negative, as well as a subsequent prick-prick test with peanut butter-- my kid is possibly in the lucky 30% of children who outgrow peanut allergy!

An open food challenge is yet to be done- mainly because my son refused to eat any peanut butter ("Mommy, I can't eat peanut butter- I'm ALLERGIC!"). I may have to devise a blind challenge for him...

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