Hello!

My almost 4 year old boy has just broken out in hives. He has had it once before, when he got chicken pox as a bub. I’m at a loss as to what triggered this breakout? How do I go about narrowing it down? It’s awful to see these wheals all over his little body. I have given him an antihistamine and that helped, but they are slowly creeping back now. I really just need to know what caused it? Has anyone experienced hives in kids before?


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  • I haven’t heard of hives after chicken pox, they probably aren’t connected. Shingles after chicken pox however is quite common.
    Hives is considered chronic hives if the welts appear for more than six weeks and recur frequently over months or years.
    They are likely related to the immune system, so an allergist/immunologist trained to recognize underlying conditions is an appropriate specialist to see.


  • I’m not a Dr but I know pure lavender essential oil helps a lot with things like that. Mixed with a carrier oil for kids.


  • My son broke out in hives and it really worried me because he had been constantly sick for months. I took him to our local chemist and they recomended clarytine, cleared him up by the next morning


  • my son has a reaction to penicllin. I would get an allergy test done to see what may be causing it.


  • Thanks everyone. It has all cleared up now. I did take him to the doctor and she sent us for a blood test. We did that but the results are inconclusive. He tested negative for pollen and grass and very low for food such as egg white, wheat and peanuts. We won’t know what caused it but I will keep a close eye on him for any future breakouts. And I have stocked up on antihistamine! Lol.


  • most of the time you never know what caused the hives if it is only a once off event. I recently had hives the reoccurred every night for a week! still don’t know what caused it.
    change all his bedding make sure there isn’t anything in the bed or cupboard with his clothes keep an eye out for any other symptoms but mostly just treat him for the hives, warm pinetarsol baths, calamine lotion and antihistamine and try to stop him scratching sometimes an ice pack can relieve the itch.

    hope this helps.


  • So many different things could cause this. Chat to your doctor and it may be worth suggesting an allergy test if this keeps happening.


  • The seasons changing has been particularly bad for allergies this year. I work at a school in the office and the kids are just so bad this year I’m really feeling for them. Perhaps it could be related to that?


  • Our boys break out every change of season not fun in this house.
    It could be change of season/weather even water we shower in as some water companies may add clorine to water if they have put new pipes in or done maintance work
    Food they have eaten or change in soaps/washing powder. Best way to narrow it down would be an allergy test.


  • I get hives from red food colouring, this particular colour (129) is found in food, drinks & shampoo. I would start by keeping a food diary. You may not have changed anything in his diet but an ingredient may have changed in something you buy. Have a chat with your GP and go from there.


  • Poor little mite, unfortunately i’m not familiar with hives but I would suggest seeing your GP just to get some professional advice


  • Does you child eat oranges ? I remember getting hives on one of my legs when I ate too many in a week. Some chocolates have orange in them too. One company that makes gluten free chocolate puts orange in it. When their Customer Service was contacted they admitted that it had orange in it. When they were asked why the packaging wasn’t labelled in the ingredients or allergens, the reply was that there was such a minute amount they weren’t obliged to. It was enough to make a young girl quite sick as she is allergic to all citrus. Needless to say the Mum has told all her relatives and friends so she is not given that brand or type of chocolate.


  • It’s really a matter of narrowing down all the possibilities… Have you changed laundry detergent or soap, shampoos? Or even a food that you may have changed brands of lately?
    I probably haven’t been terribly helpful, and I apologize, but that’s what we had to do when our son broke out in hives, it turned out to be the honey in a pack of chocolate treats we had bought, and because we’d saved the treats for Friday nights, he only seemed to be getting them on weekends…. Which of course had us baffled for a little while.


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