Toddler skin turns red after oatmeal exposure. Allergy?

February 8, 2018 1:52 PM

Yes, YANAD. My daughter had some oatmeal (oats, milk, sugar, cinnamon) and made a mess on her face. Her skin where the oatmeal was stuck for a few minutes turned bright red. After washing it off, the red splotches went away within 15 minutes. No hives, no spreading rash. The oatmeal wasn’t hot so it wasn’t a burn. Should I worry about severe allergic reactions? I will ask her pediatrician but would also love to read up on this. I would especially love evidence-based advice, not just anectdata.

When I google this I find wildly varying advice from ‘see an allergist ASAP and carry an epipen at all times’ to ‘meh, don’t worry’. And a lot of woo that tells me that she’s celiac, needs to eat probiotics or apple cider vinegar, etc pp.

Relevant: she’s never had eczema, hives, asthma or any other food allergy signs. She was a fussy baby but that’s neither here nor there.

Plan is to ask her pediatrician at the next checkup, not feed her massive amounts of oats and/or cinnamon and be watchful for reactions when she sneaks some. Does that sound insane?

posted by The Toad to Health & Fitness (11 answers total)

Best answer: Sounds extremely sane to me. Cinnamon can be an irritant, especially on delicate baby/toddler skin.
posted by Gnella at 1:55 PM on February 8, 2018 [12 favorites]

Best answer: It's the cinnamon. My kid would turn bright red whenever and wherever it touched her skin (mostly with applesauce). It also happened to her with products containing vinegar. She's 4 now and it no longer happens.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 2:01 PM on February 8, 2018 [12 favorites]

Best answer: Cinnamon or the lactic acid in the milk? Seriously, this is not a thing. If her poop is fine and there's no rash or hives from eating this food, the odds of this being an allergic reaction are extremely low.
posted by jbenben at 2:16 PM on February 8, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Cinnamon sets my skin on fire to this day, and has since I was a baby.
posted by Everydayville at 2:17 PM on February 8, 2018 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Here's some info from MedlinePlus that may help. Definitely doesn't sound like an allergy to me.
posted by galvanized unicorn at 2:54 PM on February 8, 2018 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I got skin rashes from peanut butter, strawberries and tomatoes - mum kept feeding, I can still eat 25 yrs later. Check it out, keep an eye, I wouldn't fret unless reaction worsens.
posted by fritillary at 3:16 PM on February 8, 2018

Best answer: Yep, cinnamon. Those fire candies are entirely cinnamon.
posted by xyzzy at 3:22 PM on February 8, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Reaction to the cinnamon - not an allergic reaction, just a reaction. My kids react to cinnamon, pickles, ranch dressing, and other stuff that hangs out on their faces. Wipe it off after the meal, no biggie.
posted by peanut_mcgillicuty at 4:01 PM on February 8, 2018

Response by poster: Thanks, guys. Cinnamon, huh? I had no idea. I think she even reacted to it before (in applesauce, but I thought it was acidity from the apples). Makes total sense.
posted by The Toad at 4:23 PM on February 8, 2018

Cinnamon can be a skin irritant.

It is worth seeing an allergist, though, because she could be allergic to cinnamon, in which case she will also cross-react to
Balsam of Peru, which is in a lot of skin care products.
posted by Murderbot at 4:57 PM on February 8, 2018

Nthing cinnamon. I would try to avoid letting it dry on skin, because in addition to turning it red, it can feel pretty burn-y - when I was in high school we used to bake hundreds of apple pies as a marching band fundraiser and I vividly remember the feeling of dried cinnamon apple goop on my forearms. But it doesn't hurt you, just irritates.
posted by bowtiesarecool at 7:59 AM on February 9, 2018