Eating Peanuts during Pregancy - the concerned daddy

[maxxed]

Hi all,

This is my first post. Apologies if its in the wrong section.

I am an extremely concerned dad. We have a baby girl (age 2) and another child due in a few months.

My wife has been eating peanuts throughout this pregnancy, despite my worry and concern that this will lead to our new child developing a nut allergy. She has only informed me of this today, she's been eating peanuts without my knowledge for months, apparently in large quantities (over 50 per serving, one serving per month).

When I questioned her on why she was doing this, she became extremely defensive and angry, and basically refused to discuss the topic with me at any length. Her typical response is 'I am not having this conversation with you'.

A bit of background. While I do not suffer from any allergies, my wife has frequent 'sneezing attacks' and is constantly on anti-histamines. She says this is due to a 'sinus' problem and is not an 'allergy' per se, but throughout all of the years I have known her she has referred to these sneezing issues as allergies. These attacks are so bad that they often keep her (and myself) awake at night.

I am now extremely worried. I worry that my child will develop the same allergies as my wife. But she is ready to bite my head off for even being worried about it, and refuses to even acknowledge the dangers. She feels that as our first child did not develop a nut allergy, our second child will also be fine.

Please help to put my mind at ease. I have a bucketload of stress at work and with finances already, and this is just another layer of stress to add to it. Could use any advise you would be able to give on this.

 

[carang]

i ate jars and jars of peanut butter throughout my pregnancy and after i gave birth to each of my children. neither or my kids have been affected, but i'm not allergic to peanuts so it wasn't much of a problem.

does your wife have her reactions after eating peanuts? or is there another reason for her bouts?

if they are not brought on by peanuts, i think that you might be worrying yourself unnecessarily. however, i am not a doctor.

 

[maxxed]

She has reactions randomly, we guess it must be dustmites or pollen or something similar but there is no specific trigger.

What I've read is that eating peanuts quadruples the chance that our child will inherit the same allergies as my wife. That would be a nightmare, my wifes life is regularly disrupted by constant bouts of sneezing - on an almost daily basis.

I'm just hoping that you are right, and I am worrying unnecessarily. What I cannot understand is simply why one would not err on the side of caution on issues such as this. Seems a no brainer.

 

[carang]

i always thought that IF there was a history of PEANUT/NUT allergies in the family AND she ate peanuts/nuts THEN that would increase the odds of having a PEANUT allergy...not other allergies.

the thing is...it is usually not in your best interest to argue with a pregnant woman. the hormones, the discomfort, the sleepless nights all combine to make most pregnant women into a kind of "dragon-lady" that you would be best served not to argue with.

good luck!

 

[cheriebuzz]

Instead of telling your wife not to over consuming the peanuts & telling her that she has these constant sneezing because of it. You can accompany her to her next doctor visit and mention this issue in a more subtle way to get doctor just to double check on her condition. I think you can comfort her and if you really find it uncomfortable just tell her how much you worry about her and ask her to consume less of it, as you are very concern about her.

Some pragnant ladies they have their craving for certain things, you just need to take it easy and explain how much u care for her,and how you feel about her condition.

good luck!

 

[Matty]

Is your wife actually allergic to peanuts? If not then what's the problem?
Her being allergic to dust or pollen is irrelevent to what she eats.
Many of us ate peanuts throughout pregnancy without problems.
I can understand why your wife gets defensive. I don't even know you and your post annoyed me.
Pregnancy is hard enough with all the things you genuinely need to avoid, without being made to feel guilty when you aren't doing anything wrong.

 

[maxxed]

I don't even know you and your post annoyed me.

My post annoyed you? Please let me know exactly what is so annoying about me asking for more information and voicing my concerns. I am certainly happy to be proven wrong, but as you say you don't know me, so labeling my post as annoying is about as rude as me calling your post bitchy, which it is.

Is your wife actually allergic to peanuts? If not then what's the problem?
Her being allergic to dust or pollen is irrelevent to what she eats.

Are you sure? My reading seems to suggest otherwise. Please check the links below. If you are able to dismiss that information it would certainly take a load off my mind.

Thanks to everyone else for their replies, though. I would like to clarify in response:

Instead of telling your wife not to over consuming the peanuts & telling her that she has these constant sneezing because of it. You can accompany her to her next doctor visit and mention this issue in a more subtle way to get doctor just to double check on her condition

I never told her she has constant sneezing because of eating peanuts. She has an allergy to *something* and my reading online seems to indicate (correctly or incorrectly) that eating peanuts during pregnancy MAY increase the chances of our child inheriting the same allergies. I will provide some links below for your comment.

Thanks for the suggestion however, I will certainly mention it to our doctor at the next visit.

i always thought that IF there was a history of PEANUT/NUT allergies in the family AND she ate peanuts/nuts THEN that would increase the odds of having a PEANUT allergy...not other allergies.

I had this impression a few years ago, but have been corrected by several doctors (nee midwives). In order for the forum to have some correct information, I am including some links here:

Babycentre
- notice the mention of hayfever, which is relavent in our case

Canada.com

Of course it should be mentioned that there is information online on both sides, but the majority of information seems to gel with Babycentre.

the thing is...it is usually not in your best interest to argue with a pregnant woman. the hormones, the discomfort, the sleepless nights all combine to make most pregnant women into a kind of "dragon-lady" that you would be best served not to argue with.

My wife is certainly not a dragon-lady and I am not arguing with her. I posted here simply to enlist the help of those who may know more about this than I do. I certainly wasn't expecting Matty's response, but I am only interested in the best possible health for my child. Annoying as that may be to some

Bottom line. The evidence seems to suggest that if one suffers from allergies, one should not eat peanuts while pregnant. Is that true or is my information flawed?

 

[Matty]

What annoyed me about your post, is that by second guessing your wife's choices, your are implying that she is somehow being neglectful towards your unborn child.

I have no problem with you trying to gain additional info to calm your concerns, but in the meantime, don't expect your wife not to be angry or annoyed if you treat her like a child.

Feel free to call me a bitch. Right now in my sleep deprived state, I think that's letting me off lightly.

 

[maxxed]

I would never call you a bitch, but I did call your post bitchy. I believe it was. I think sometimes mothers forget that fathers are sleep deprived too, but on a forum such as this I would not expect any objectivity in that respect.

What irks me is that your information is plainly wrong. I would hate for this post to be used a reference for expecting mothers with any form of allergy.

I certainly sympathize with my wife but if wanting her not to harm my unborn child with her actions is 'treating her like a child' - then that is simply my DUTY. I'm not sure how other fathers approach this but I could care less. If she was smoking, drinking, chomping on blue cheese, my reaction would be exactly the same. I have never imposed any guidelines or 'set rules' with my wife, but removing my right to question decisions is downright ignorant.

Please never assume you know everything about everything.

I'm sure a few posters in their sleep deprived state would come out and say 'hey you're really annoying, i smoked through my entire pregnancy and my baby is fine, leave your wife alone'.

The logic still applies. If there is any truth to the information in those links, my wife should be staying away from peanuts as much as possible (satay sauce notwithstanding! yum!) for the next 60-90 days. The question remains, is there any truth in those links?

 

[Tigerlily]

Hei Charlatan
I am not a doctor but I can tell you my own experience...
I am 5 months pregnant and since the beginning I couldn't eat anything else rather than nuts and peanunts.
We were concerned as well so we discuss it with our doctor and he told us that actually the real problem of peanuts is when you breastfeed rather than when you are pregnant (same as for strawberries)
So he gave us green light but also said eat everything in moderation!
Let me also say that I do not suffer of any allergies...

Anyway probably the best is to give your wife's doctor a call and share with him your worries.

Good luck