My 4 year old broke out in a rash and hives last night after dinner! I'm clueless what this is about. She's never done this before. None of her clothing was new. I haven't changed anything in our wash or bath time. Dinner was a regular meal that we often have. Ugh!

No new lotion or soap? My girls are very sensitive to soaps.

Does she have any food allergies that you know of?

Our doctor recommends hydrocortisone for itching/healing. If it is really bothering her you can give her a 1/2 tsp of benadryl.

My dd breaks out in hives if she gets very nervous about something.

tip: Sometimes Benadry has an opposite effect on children and makes them hyper so you might not want to try a first dose right before bed.

Allergies can go into an attack with something called the waterfall effect.

The way to think of this is by filling a drinking glass with water. You fill the glass to the brim and as you keep adding water you'll notice that you can keep going until the water creates a dome above the surface of the rim. This is caused by surface tension, but that's beside the point. Anyway, as you get to this point, there comes a time when you can add just one more drop of water and suddenly it is too much. The glass will overflow! And it won't overflow just one drop of water, it will overflow a lot of water - a waterfall.

It is possible your daughter has been exposed to several minor allergy triggers over the course of days and she ate just one more thing at dinner that created the waterfall. Some people are 'allergic' to environmental causes, too, such as mildew, mold, excessively cold air, exercise, stress, pollen, pet dander, bed mite debris, etc. The typical time for an allergy waterfall to build-up is three days.

I recommend you start a food diary on your DD to see what might be triggering her attacks. It definately can be a food she has eaten before. I've developed new allergies to foods in my 20's and 30's. It is so disheartening to have to stop eating a favorite food because of an allergy.

Definately, look in her throat when she is having an attack. If her airway is starting to swell, don't hesitate to take her to the ER.

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