Mild peanut allergy - what do I do?

My 13-month-old DD tried peanut butter today for the second time, and seems to be allergic.
Within 10 minutes of eating probably not even half a teaspoon, she had
- splotchy red rash on face
- eyes slightly swollen and watery
- face slightly swollen
- sneezed a few times and runny nose after 20 minutes

She didn't seem particularly distressed - didn't cry or anything. Was just a little miserable, similar to if she had a cold or something.

Now 2 hours later, symptoms are gone.

I have 'Baby Love' by Robin Barker, and all it says is that these kind of symptoms are considered a 'mild' reaction, and all you can do is wait another month or two and try again.

DD has milk, eggs (not very often though), meat, fruit, veggies, cereal etc and this is the first time she has reacted to anything.

Do I need to see a doctor? What do I do?

My DD had a reaction to peanuts a few weeks ago - coughing and rash mainly. I took her to the GP and she's going to be allergy tested next Feb. I learnt from others on BB that their reactions can get worse, so I would say go to the GP, get her on the (horrendously long) waiting list for testing, and then keep her away from all nuts (advised to me by GP) and you too if you're breastfeeding, until the test is completed.

Good luck!

Thanks. So the test just confirms that she's allergic?
I mean, there's nothing that can actually be done about the allergy, right.

Nothing can be done but they may give you an epipen in case there's a bigger reaction in the future.

Ok cool.

It's such a bummer. :(

I know, very frustrating. :(

DD2 had a very similar reaction. I went to the hospital and I got referred to do an allergy testing.
So we saw the paed allergy Dr did the test, came up as mild allergy so they write you out an action plan. If they're anaphalactic you will learn how to use an epipen and have an anaphalactic plan. Either plan you will need for anyone looking after your child, keep on your fridge, if in Child care or going into they also will require a copy.
I wouldnt try again until after youve seen specialist. Reactions can get worse. We will go back in a year for a retest and if reaction has decreased they will do a controlled trial with actual peanuts.

Thanks Swoop & Shellbell3 :) We will definitely avoid peanuts until told otherwise!

Shellbell - so with the testing, will they be able to tell me whether she is anaphalactic, or just allergic?

They do it on their back and they use a sample substance (I forget proper name) that is like the testing comparing circle then they did peanuts and other nuts along her back, they write under it what each is. After 15 mins they measure the sample substance and then measure the rest, so the size of them against the sample circle tells them how severe a reaction it is. Based on that they talk with you about your action plan.
Get a referral from your GP, the wait can be awhile, i don't know about where you are but in Melb I think its like a 6 mth wait for public, we went private and that was about 2.5 months as they said they went by how urgent it was but it also cost us $350. (I forget how much medicare refunded)

Wow, I'm so disillusioned with our health system right now! Or at least, with one particular specialist.

Got the referral, rang the specialist, and was told I needed to send them a copy of the referral before I could make an appointment! And that they would contact *me* when they got it. Two days later, and I haven't heard anything. Wow.

Sorry, not good enough. This is a serious thing - nut allergies can be fatal. Why should I have to jump through hoops?? This is my daughter's health we are talking about.

That was same as ours, they do it based on urgency. As our kids didn't have a reaction which involved airways it's not considered urgent. Think it was a few weeks before I got called up for an appt.