The day after Sam’s birthday party he broke out in a bad rash. We thought it was from the Red Dye #40 that was in his birthday cake, but it kept coming back and getting worse.
It got progressively worse day after day, even after starting steroids and using Benedryl.
Then, on Wednesday Sam was playing with one of the balloons left over from his birthday party that had been floating around the house since Saturday. He held it up to his face, blew a raspberry on it, then looked up at me and laughed. I noticed that his face immediately started turning red and within 5 minutes it looked like this:
And the rash kept spreading, it went all the way down his body.
It didn’t seem to bother him a whole lot, but he did have some swelling in his extremities from the severity of the hives. But at least now we know what caused it. My poor little man is allergic to latex! I feel so badly that it took us 4 whole days to figure out what was causing them. He’s as good as new, now, but the more I find out about latex allergies the more scared I get. It’s in so many things! It can also cause food sensitivities to things like bananas, avacado, kiwi, etc. At least we know what we’re up against now!
I’ll be back soon to share some birthday party pictures, and some more sock monkey pictures, but I’m in a wedding this week and The Apple Brigade has a show this weekend as well, so it will be a busy, busy week!
Knittybutton 
Glad you figured it out! I would’ve been totally freaked!
Poor buddy! What’s the weirdest thing that has latex that you’ve discovered?
Thanks, Misty. We were pretty scared, and of course this sort of thing *always* happens during a 3 day weekend when the Dr’s office is closed…
Rik, pencil erasers, shower curtains, disposable diapers, his Sophie the Giraffe teething toy, rubberbands, underwear, pacifiers, bottle nipples….the list is so long!
Ohh, poor Sam, it sure looks like it must be itchy, and what the parents go through when our little one is out of sorts!
I’m glad you figured it out! I know a friend of a friend that has latex allergies and she used to blog, but not anymore. She has to avoid certain foods (but I think the severity of her allergy is extremely rare).