Nut allergy

[Rup mum of two]

My daughter (5years old) has a nut allergy but for specific nuts only, I have been giving the nuts to her that she's not allergic to and someone has told me that she could grow out of the allergy. Is this true? If it is, how can I find out if she has grown out of it easily?

[Dr Kate Swan]

Hello. Thank you for your query. If your daughter is eating the nuts that she tolerates on a regular basis (a couple of times a week) then we believe that this should help her maintain her tolerance to those nuts. There is no evidence that it will result in her being more likely to outgrow her other ongoing nut allergies or that she will outgrow them more rapidly. About 10% of people with tree nut allergy will outgrow their allergies and about 20% of people with peanut allergy . The only way to safely determine whether she has outgrown her allergies is to request a referral to a paediatric allergy centre where we would repeat her skin prick tests, possibly do blood tests for specific IgE and decide whether it is safe to introduce those nuts in a supervised setting as a challenge.

[Rup mum of two]

THank you for your response, that's really useful