allergic to goldfish?

thursday night baby girl broke out with a rash all over her.  we called the after hours nurse to confirm the benedryl dosage, and waited for morning.  friday the hives had moved around, and were even worse.  i called the nurse, and had to wait for the doc to arrive in the afternoon. 

so Dr. Mom on the case...

we tried to think of what she had eaten that day. the only thing new was a can of gerber peach puffs, even though she had eaten banana puffs before. there are only two ingredients (other than peach puree/juice) found in the peach puffs which are not in the banana puffs: sunflower lecithin (sunflower seed meat) and annatto extract color. 

i found where there are no known cases of allergies to sunflower seeds, but the annatto extract is a different story. this additive is mostly used in cheesy cracker-type foods (such as goldfish) and organic powder mac & cheese. i learned companies do not legally have to list the exact food additives, so glad Gerber does. i found an article online where a mom found out that her child was allergic to foods with annatto extract. the reaction described was exactly like baby girl's.

i was so proud of myself for diagnosing our little one... until the doctor finally came in and called back.  he was confident the reaction was because of the amoxicillan she started taking seven days ago.  it was her second 10-day dosing in as many months, so i didn't think that was possible that she would just now have a reaction. sure enough, the top google results say reactions to amoxicillan can start on the seventh day. however i don't understand why she didn't have a reaction the first time around.

the rash took several days to go away, but now baby girl is back to her creamy white complexion. my Dr. Mom bubble has burst, but glad to know for the future what to avoid.  i'm still a little hesitant on the puffs, but they may come back down from the top of the cabinet here in a couple weeks.