Twice in the past 2 weeks my 5 year old daughter has come top me complaining of a sore tongue. Over the next hour or so she has had a mild intermittent dry cough as well as seeming to have to do an exaggerated saliva swallow… i.e gulping a bit. After an hour or a bit more these symptoms have gone again. She has had no rashes and other than looking a little pinker than usual and being a bit clingy there are no other symptoms. She had no cold or cough before the onset. On the first occasion, 2 weeks ago, she had eaten some crisps about 2 hours earlier, a brand that she has never had before, to my knowledge. This evening she was also eating crisps that she had never had before. I was eating peanuts at the same time.

When she was younger she did have a problem with a chronic cough and used an inhaler. When she used the inhaler I think it was the preventer one that worked and I never thought the other one (oops can’t remember what it was called) made any difference. She also went through phases of having a rash on her face that we could never quite figure out. I always suspected she had an allergy rather than asthma but she’s been healthy as can be for the past year so I presumed she’d just grown out of it. But these latest episodes have concerned me. I am worried that it could be a sign of bigger allergy problems to come.
Any ideas? Does this mild reaction sound familiar to anyone or am I just being a neurotic mommy?!

It does sound like she may be have an oral allergy response to and oil or additive in the chips... sorry crisps.

At five your child is old enough to have an accurate skin allergy test. I would see about getting her on a list so that you can identify her allergies and get the proper medications to treat them. My allergist saw my son at the age of 2. He could tell my son was having allergic responses to food and environment, but he was too young to get a postive response from the scratch testing. We are waiting until he is five to get another round of allergy testing done. So we can avoid his triggers and get allergy shots if necessary.

Do not dismiss swelling tongue and throat as well as the cough. Those are the first signs of an anaphalaxis allergic response.

Sincerely,
MG