A two-year old child was brought to the clinic by her anxious aunt recently. The complaint was: for the last three days the child's eyes were swollen and watery. She refused to open them especially when there was sunlight and she had been rubbing her eyes. I asked her aunt whether the eyes were red and exude yellowish secretion and she replied in the negative. The child had no recent throat or chest infection. There was no family history of asthma.
Upon examination, the child's eyes were swollen and she was not cooperative and kept her eyes closed but I managed to see her left eye to confirm that it was not red. Her chest was clear and there was no nasal discharge.
I then proceeded to ask about her meals so as to identify any food which could have caused this allergic reaction (periorbital angioedema). There appeared to be no newly introduced foods in her daily intake. Then the aunt mentioned that the child was still breastfeeding and that just before the appearance of the signs and symptoms, the mother had a meal of crabs (seafood) which has been known to cause allergy in some people.
The child was treated for allergy.
I am not very sure of the connection as I cannot find any studies on this hypothesis that an allergy can be passed through breastfeeding. But if certain medications can pass through breast milk to child, I do not see why chemical complexes in the body cannot do the same. Of course my contention appears to be anecdotal as I don't have the data to support this finding. The association with the mother's meal could well be spurious. More cases need to be observed.
I have also come across a mother of a three-month old exclusively breastfed baby who was previously normal with no prodromal signs and symptoms but the very next day was restless with cough and watery nasal congestion not associated with fever. And the mother admitted to eating "rambutan" in large numbers the day before. An interesting observation indeed.
Rambutan is a seasonal fruit which is very juicy and sweet and known to irritate throat mucosa. I am waiting to see if there are other such cases so that I can advise breast feeding mothers to be careful on what they eat.
Some allergy can be short-lived while others may be lifelong depending on the type of immune reactions causing it in the first place.
Upon examination, the child's eyes were swollen and she was not cooperative and kept her eyes closed but I managed to see her left eye to confirm that it was not red. Her chest was clear and there was no nasal discharge.
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| Crab salad |
I am not very sure of the connection as I cannot find any studies on this hypothesis that an allergy can be passed through breastfeeding. But if certain medications can pass through breast milk to child, I do not see why chemical complexes in the body cannot do the same. Of course my contention appears to be anecdotal as I don't have the data to support this finding. The association with the mother's meal could well be spurious. More cases need to be observed.
 |
| Juicy and sweet Rambutan |
Rambutan is a seasonal fruit which is very juicy and sweet and known to irritate throat mucosa. I am waiting to see if there are other such cases so that I can advise breast feeding mothers to be careful on what they eat.
Some allergy can be short-lived while others may be lifelong depending on the type of immune reactions causing it in the first place.
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