u/greenopal02

We have been exposing our 9 month old to the common allergens, and using the guide of continuing to provide them 2-3x per week after. I am having difficulty understanding how much allergen she needs to ingest to keep the exposure up. Our little one often doesn't love the allergens so we usually get a few bites in each attempt, but I'm worried that it's not enough (she doesn't take a bottle so not able to use the mix ins). We try to mix them in with other foods but it's not always successful. We use the Solid Starts app and the third try is usually 1 tsp, so I wonder if that's the goal - but we are probably getting more like 1/4 tsp in 2x/week.

She developed a dairy allergy so we are working with an allergist, but when we have tried to ask this question, he just keeps saying "an age appropriate amount". How much allergen are you providing if you have a system that's working?

I went on mat leave in November 2025, and had access to my full health/wellness spending credits in 2026. I took 18 months off so will return in April 2027 - I'm assuming that I won't have new 2027 credits since I didn't work any hours in 2026? Can anyone clarify this? Thanks!

We have been preparing our house for our 9 month old as she is crawling fast! I was wondering about others opinions about how necessary the following tasks were for babyproofing:

-latches on toilet lids (I've heard toddlers can drown in one, but I would think this is pretty rare?)

-latches on bathroom garbage cans (I don't care if she makes a mess but worry if there will be items in the garbage that are choking hazards)

-houseplants - I have a lot of plants and have already tried to hang many but we are running out of room on shelves and hangers. Some are quite large and so can't be hung or moved to a different room. Many are considered toxic of ingested (pothos, ivy, monstera etc).

We have already done the main babyproofing tasks like anchoring furniture, installing baby gates, moving chemicals to high areas and locking those cabinets etc. But wondering if the above tasks are crucial now, or if we should wait and see if our little one is interested first before adding locks or making it safer.

We've been trying to do allergen introductions for our 8 month old since she was 4 months, and finding it so difficult due to her not wanting to eat them. So far we've done peanut, egg, sesame, wheat, soy. Just found out she has anaphylaxis to dairy.

-We tried making a mix of the allergens she's tolerated and then adding jam to make it tastier. We thought this was working ok (she would usually take a few small bites). But now our allergist is staying this isn't enough to continue with exposure. We try to do this 2x/week.

-Our allergist says to just feed our baby what we eat. But we don't usually eat the allergens regularly other than wheat/egg/soy.

-I bought all the nut butters which we will try adding to baby cereal or fruit pouches etc, but based on the past with peanut butter any time she tastes a bit she doesn't want it.

-She prefers to feed herself finger food (she loves cucumber, chicken, steak, sweet potato). We've tried dipping these things into an allergen but the moment she tastes the allergen she stops feeding herself.

-Even the foods she enjoys, she eats a very small amount of. She's currently exclusively breastfed so I know she's getting enough nutrition.

-Sometimes if she refuses, we will just pop the allergen on a finger and stick it in her mouth. This works ok, but then she learns to keep her mouth shut and I don't want her to become more averse.

I feel at a complete loss of what to do. Our allergist wants us to finish all the allergen trials in the next 2 months since she's at risk with ezcema, and I understand the longer we wait the more likely an allergy will develop. I also know it's common for babies to take awhile to figure food out, and that "food under 1 is for fun" but I feel so much pressure with the allergies. I also feel guilty that maybe her dairy allergy is because we weren't able to get enough in her and not frequently enough. We are working with a dermatologist to try to treat her eczema.

Any tips that we are missing?

Thanks!

We found out that our 8 month old has an anaphylactic dairy allergy, which was quite a surprise as she has been tolerating it since 4 months with regular exposure. However she does have ezcema and a family history. We will be seeing an allergist for medical advice soon, but I was looking for any stories from parents that have gone through this so I can know what to generally expect? I understand a dairy ladder is often recommended and kids can often outgrow their milk allergy - when did your child start the ladder and was it successful? Thankfully we have no other allergies so far. Thank you!

We've been doing allergen exposure to our little one since she was 4 months, and I understand the recommendations are to start early and once introduced to continue on 2-3x per week. Our daughter has been tolerating dairy well, other than a few issues that our doctors didn't think were related to a dairy allergy (small amounts of blood in her stool a few times per month, congestion lasting multiple months, and a few small hives that we thought were from sensitive skin as they went away quickly after being wiped down). Unfortunately we missed dairy for 13 days and afterwards she had an anaphylactic reaction to it. Is there any research about how long of a break would likely cause an allergy? I'm having trouble understanding if her allergy was likely just lurking and getting worse over time, or if she was ok and it turned into a more severe reaction during the break.

We started allergen introduction to our 8 month old early on, and she hadn't had any big issues. We've been giving her a mix of peanut/wheat/dairy/egg a few times per week since she didn't show reactions to them individually.

She has been congested for months now and has had occasional small amounts of blood in her stool, so I wanted to try cutting out dairy for 1 week. We had seen multiple doctors including an allergist about both issues and they weren't concerned, thinking the congestion was from a virus and the blood may be from an intolerance to wheat (seemed to happen after wheat but later on seemed to not be related). But her congestion has been getting in the way of sleeping and eating so we were desperate to try something else.

Cutting out dairy didn't seem to help with congestion so we gave her some cheese yesterday after 13 days of no dairy (we didn't mean for the break to be so long but we were on vacation and wanted to wait until home). Instantly she went into anaphylaxis. I feel extremely guilty because I know removing a food from the diet can actually cause an allergy - I just didn't think 13 days would be enough time.

\-Has anyone been through something similar? She doesn't love purees so I have wondered in the past how much dairy she was actually ingesting as she would only take a few small bites.

\-She did have a few small hives about a month ago after having dairy, but at the time we waved it off as a skin irritation as she had no other symptoms and it was on areas that touched the food - she has very sensitive skin. Has anyone had their baby have an allergy that showed up only with a few small hives? We were taught that it would be widespread hives and more symptoms. But now I feel horrible that these were probably warning signs.

\-We will be going back to the allergist asap to get formally tested and a plan, but any other words of advice? Feeling very overwhelmed coming into the allergy world.

Thank you!

I have an 8 month old and so far I've been able to get most of her toys more "granola" i.e wood/silicone instead of plastic, try to get them made in Europe/local or companies with stricter standards. As she's getting older I'm questioning if I should continue being so strict about this, or if I should ease up as it's too much of an uphill battle. I try to get as much as I can second hand but there isn't much available for some of these more niche items. I also worry that I will spend lots on things that she doesn't want to use! I have been trying to prioritize items that go into her mouth (i.e a nice set of porcelain and stainless steel dishes, USA made silicone teethers), and her clothing which I buy second hand cotton.

Some of the toys I'm debating:

-a cheap Ikea play tunnel ($20) vs a cotton tunnel ($75)

-polyester felt toy food ($13) vs wooden European food ($50)

-European wooden toy animals (~$10 each) vs plastic toy animals ($30 for a big set)

How do you decide when to get the nicer more granola toys/items? Are there any that you're glad you went with the cheaper option with?

My mom had a dual chamber pacemaker implanted 1.5 weeks ago - for the past week she has had tachycardia with a constant heart rate of ~120 bpm. I feel horrible for her as she went into ER with chest pain and lightheadedness and the tests they ran suggested no issues so they sent her home. Finally after two falls they checked her pacemaker and found that it was stuck in a loop and causing the high heart rate. I'm shocked that this wasn't caught sooner, and the medical team seemed to brush it off that it shouldn't happen again. I'm finding limited information online about this - has anyone had something similar? If so, do you know what caused it or if it happened again to you?

I'm currently 34 and haven't noticed many symptoms. TPO antibodies were at the highest 380 and more recently 190. I've been on Levothyroxine for 5 years (dose 75 mcg) which has kept my TSH pretty stable other than during a recent pregnancy! Just wondering if there are others that have had minimal symptoms, and if so, could it be possible that it affects me minimally while I age? Or does having this diagnosis mean that I will likely start feeling its effects with time?

My mother (age 65) is 1 day post pacemaker surgery, and she is struggling a lot with pain and discomfort. Is there anything as a family member that I could be doing to help her out, or anything that you found helpful during your recovery?

-she is on Tylenol for pain management and is using some ice.

-I saw mentioned on this subreddit to use a recliner chair for sleep so that has helped her a bit, but she is still not sleeping well.

-I brought her some food so my parents wouldn't have to cook for awhile. I feel I want to help more though!

She had quite a traumatic surgery as there was a miscommunication and staff had thought she had sedation meds before she came, but she didn't have anything except local anesthesia. Is this normal to not receive any sedation meds?

Thank you!

My 6 month old has a frequent diaper rash, looking for recommendations for a different cream to try out!

So far we have tried:

-Cerave baby ointment

-Aquaphor (both regular type and the 3 in 1)

-Penaten

-Desitin

-Ihles Paste

-Aleva diaper cream

-Baby Butz (might have worked but too hard to apply)

The aquaphor and cerave ointment have seemed to make the rash especially worse and reddened so I wonder if she has an allergy to an ingredient but can't figure it out. We have also tried naked bum time, more frequent changes, treated a yeast infection, different types of diapers, but nothing seems to be working. We use cotton wipes + water so nothing with the wipes would be causing issues.

We are trying to avoid products with food ingredients (i.e almond oil, avocado oil etc) due to the studies suggesting this may increase risk of food allergies, so hoping to get recommendations for a product without this!