[lilwonder]

I hope this is in the right place.

We have just found out my 20 month old son has a reaction to be stings. He has (quite freakily!) been stung three times, first time no reaction, second time hand swelled up quite a bit for a couple of days. Third time his hand and arm were terribly swollen and he came out in hives, even though Zyrtec was given immediately. Luckily no breathing issues yet, but we are new to this and have only just learned that reactions can get worse.

We have to make an appointment to see an allergy specialist but is anyone able to share their experiences with bee sting allergies in their children? Did they get worse?

Also what precautions did you take to try stop further stings? He is only a toddler and picks everything up and super curious, the paranoid mother in me is even nervous to let him outside at the moment and I am watching him like a hawk!

[Mousky]

My nephew is like this. Each time he was stung, it was worse. He now has an epi pen.

[#tootired]

My Ds now aged 9 has a allergic reaction to bee stings. It became more apparent after the third stinging episode. By the 5th time when he was about 7 he was bitten on the foot and ended up with blue/black bruising swelling up to his knee. Then he developed the puffy eyelids and restricted breathing.

He hasn't be stung since, but I keep Anti histamine on me at all times and he has them in the first aid at school.

I took him to a GP to ask about it and he said it is likely that each episode will get worse.
He knows now to wear shoes andals when outside all the time and he is very aware of what needs to be done in case he gets bitten.

[lifehacker]

We are just going through this with ds (3), he's been stung 3 times now and each time it's been worse, no breathing issues but his arm was swollen from wrist all the way up.
We took photos of the reaction to show the doctor, we keep anti-histamine with us at all times now, I was thinking I should possibly carry it in my handbag (although I'd be worried one of the little ones would get into it).
I make him keep shoes on outside too but not really much else we can do, although he is actually a little scared of them now and if he even sees a fly he screams "Daddy bee, Daddy bee sting me" - we have no idea where the Daddy thing came from

Not much help because we haven't seen the doctor yet but I am going through the same thing.

[lilwonder]

Thanks for the replies, seems like the reactions can get more severe then I can't wait for him to be old enough to know not to touch/play with them, him being a curious toddler is making me worry though! I think I will feel a bit better once we see a specialist but it won't be for a while I can't even make an appointment until the 14th!

[meljbau]

I had a terrible reaction to my first bee sting ever when I was a teen. My leg swelled from the toe up to the thigh, turned black and blue and I was bedridden for some days. I remember drifting in and out of an alert state and it's the only time I recall my parents arguing, as my mother wanted to take me to the hospital and my father refused.
All my adult life I've been very aware of "bee danger". I've never walked barefooted and avoid plants etc with bees.
Mind you, about 2 years ago I was going in to my son's piano concert and I didn't see a bee on the door handle and was stung. My poor DH was beside himself thinking I was going to have a massive reaction, but apart from the pain absolutely nothing happened. So, perhaps I was bitten once by a wasp and once by a bee, but I was very relieved by the lack of reaction anyway.

[30bt]

It is not necessarily true that each sting gets worse than the last!
If your son had hives- this is called a systemic reaction - this does not mean next time it would progress to anaphylaxis !
Go and see a paediatric allergy specialist as stings in kids are very different to stings in adults
Keep antihistamine on hand and make sure he wears shoes outside! These are all you can do for the moment !

[lilwonder]

Thanks for the responses everyone! 30bt we have luckily scored an appointment with a specialist for Feb 1st - thought the wait would be a lot longer than that! So will know more then at least

[Akatara]

For handbag antihistamine there are Zyrtec drops. Very compact and easy to administer on the go.
I think it's a child proof cap too.

[~Supernova~]

My sister had very bad reactions to bee stings as a child, and mum always had anti-histamines on hand. she grew out of it by around 10 from memory.