post-pregnancy food allergies

When I was pregnant I made sure to do a post about being grateful for reduced food allergies. After that I did some more looking and could not find anything consistent in the small body of research being conducted.

Basically for mom… immune system response is reduced during pregnancy as a way to not reject the processes involved with developing a fetus within her body. Therefore allergic response is also reduced. However in the aftermath I found literature stating that:

• Allergies stay reduced after baby is delivered
• Allergies come back with a vengeance and can be worse
• Allergies come back the same level you had them before pregnancy

Questions for baby that I had that I did not find answers for include…

• Will intolerances transfer to baby if mom is consuming foods she is normally allergic to while pregnant?
• Will intolerances transfer to baby if mom is consuming foods she is normally allergic to while breastfeeding?
• Will baby have any effect of mom’s allergies?

For me and my first set of answers I can say that my worst food allergy came back a month after having my baby. I have a bad sugar cane allergy and had a three bites of carrot cake made with sugar cane on Wednesday night. By Thursday morning I was wheezing, my throat was closing, my diaphragm seized, I was eventually doubled over heaving for a while, and then wiped for the rest of the day. For me this means being careful out in public (where waffle cones are made, where cotton candy is made, and where creme brulee is burned) so that my throat does not close… I also have to be extremely cautious with food that I do not make myself. What a pain.

I am hopeful for my baby though. It seems from anecdotal evidence I have casually collected babies have allergies similar to their mothers if the mother had reactions during pregnancy. With breastfeeding baby carries antibodies the mother develops but that protection is temporary (even if that “protection” is an auto-immune response like an allergy).

Do you have any post-pregnancy food allergy experiences?

I still have not checked my coffee allergy or oat allergy but imagine they are back to, even though they do not affect me as severely as sugar cane.