Here’s an allergy question I get asked on a near daily basis:

QUESTION:

“My child (usually less than 2 years old… often with a history of eczema) develops a rash around his/her mouth with strawberries. Is he/she allergic?” (Note: you can substitute strawberry with several other foods… see list below…)

ANSWER:

“Not likely.”

EXPLANATION:

Most of the time when children develop a rash around their mouth with strawberries and other fresh fruits / berries, this is an irritation reaction, not an allergy. (Note: Kiwi is the exception here… it more frequently is associated with anaphylactic reactions). In other words, these foods are irritating the skin, but are not triggering the immune system to attack the food (ie. an allergic reaction). The importance of making this distinction is that irritation reactions are not life threatening. The reason this rash occurs is likely due to the acidity of these foods. The rash is typically red and flat (ie. you CAN’T feel it when you rub your hand over it) and will last several minutes to hours. Occasionally, the irritation can worsen your child’s eczema (eczema is a red, dry rash) which can last days to weeks without treatment. The rash is not itchy and the most important feature is: IT IS NOT ASSOCIATED WITH OTHER SYMPTOMS OF ANAPHYLAXIS (ie. swelling of the lips, trouble breathing, vomiting, irritability or lethargy). In other words, the rash does not bother the child.

Here is an example of the rash. This is my 1-year-old daughter. She has mild eczema and had just eaten strawberries. There was no rash prior.

This irritation rash occurs because children have thin, sensitive skin. As they get older, the skin gets thicker and less sensitive, and the rash no longer occurs. Occasionally you will see this rash over the chest and hands (ie. the places where the foods has come in contact). Other common foods that cause skin irritation include:

  1. Tomatoes or tomato-based products (ie. ketchup, tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce)
  2. Blueberries
  3. Citrus fruits – oranges, lemons, limes
  4. Watermelon
  5. Pineapple

WHEN TO BE EVALUATED BY AN ALLERGIST?

  1. IF THE RASH IS ELEVATED (ie. hives) OR IS ASSOCIATED WITH ANY OTHER SYMPTOMS OF ANAPHYLAXIS (ie. Trouble breathing, vomiting, irritability, lethargy, lip or facial swelling)
  2. IF THE RASH OCCURS IN AREAS WHERE THE FOOD HAS NOT COME IN CONTACT (ie. the back, legs, etc.)
  3. IF THE FOOD IS NOT A FRUIT OR BERRY – If your child is developing a rash around their mouth with eggs, milk, wheat, soy, peanuts, tree nuts (ie. almonds, cashew, pistachio, hazelnut, walnut, pecan, macadamia nut), sesame seeds, fish or shellfish – they should be seen by an allergist. Similarly, if this occurs with Kiwi (the main exception to the fruit rule), they should be assessed. These foods are common triggers of anaphylactic reactions while most fruit and berries (except KIWI) are not.
  4. IF YOU ARE WORRIED – I am always happy to see your child for any allergy questions – no matter how insignificant you may think they are. If you are stressed about a food, it’s important to get this addressed. With new evidence suggesting avoidance of foods can predispose children to allergies, getting your concerns evaluated can potentially prevent your child from developing an allergy. This blog post is in no way meant to deter you from seeking an allergist’s opinion, merely to provide information on an issue that may be easily addressed at home.

HOW CAN I PREVENT THIS FROM HAPPENING?

  1. Apply a thick barrier ointment (ie. Vaseline) around the mouth prior to the child eating these foods.
  2. Use a bib to prevent dribbling on the chest.
  3. Once you have established that this is an irritant reaction – ie. When you apply vaseline as a barrier, the rash does not return – then you can simply ignore the rash. As stated above, the rash should not bother your child. If the foods are worsening your child’s eczema around the mouth, then I suggest using the vaseline to help prevent this.

Hope this is helpful! Please feel free to post your comments below. Please note that I am unable to give specific advice regarding your child’s allergy issues online. While I can provide general information about allergies, to have your child’s specific concerns addressed, you need to speak with their physician.

— Alex

41 Comments

    • Dear Alex, I think this is a dangerous attitude to take… My allergies to strawberries and apples were largely ignored for years as a child as people blamed my eczema. As an adult with a painful reaction to many fruits but particulatly strawberries and apples, I can tell you that a mild/moderate allergic reaction (swollen lips, throat, and mouth,
      rash, runny nose and eyes and onset of asthma); While not possibly ‘anaphalaxis’, is not simply a reaction to acid. The best answer I have currently read is cross reaction with birch pollen or allergy to one or more of the proteins in each fruit.
      As somebody that is sensitive to very many things and had trouble being taken seriously earlier in life I strongly believe this article needs to be reworded. I do understand what you are trying to say, it just simply isnt correct to blanket reactions into 2 catefories of anaphalaxsis and intolerance.
      Millions of people will tell you that many non-anaphalactic allergies certainly do exist and it has nothing to do with pH.
      Best Wishes
      Tom

  1. My son(8 months) hasn’t reacted to strawberries but developed red rashes around mouth while eating a slice of steamed apple. However he’s fine with applesauce.and they had disappeared when he woke up the next morning. He has mild eczema as well. I noticed similar(but lesser) reaction to bananas and some random items..but nothing to orange! Ped wasn’t too concerned and assured it wasn’t food allergy. What are your thoughts on this?

    • Hi Sandy,
      Unfortunately due to legal reasons I can’t give advice on a specific patient over my website but I will say that, in general, food allergies present with hives that last no more than 3-6 hours. Rashes that last longer than this are generally irritation and unlikely to progress to anaphylaxis. Some children react to specific foods while not to others (ie. some have issues with apples but not oranges) and this is partly due to how dry their skin is that particular day. (I often see children who will get irritation from the same food on one day but not another day – presumably because they either got less food on their face or their eczema/skin was better that day). Sorry I can’t be more specific but hopefully this is still helpful. If not, or you still have questions, I’d suggest seeing an allergist. – Alex

      • Thank you. Sorry I saw your reply only now! Thankfully my son’s rashes don’t seem to appear any more…except twice when he had raw grated coconut(frozen). But that does not look like a big concern right now.

  2. Hi Alex,
    Thanks for this great post. My son breaks out in a very similar rash to the one depicted above. I noticed it once after he ate strawberries, but it mainly appears after he eats scrambled eggs (but nothing with eggs baked in it). I also noticed the rash after he tried peanut butter and hummus (on two separate occasions). I am definitely going to find a good allergist to take my son to but I’m just wondering if you have ever heard of such a rash occurring after a child eats eggs, hummus, or peanut butter. I’m having a hard time believing he could just be allergic to so many different foods. Ultimately, though, I just want to get to the bottom of all this !

    Thank you,
    Kelly Patel

    • Hi Kelly,
      As foods such as eggs, peanuts and hummus (chickpea, sesame) are higher risk for true anaphylactic allergies, I would suggest you see an allergist to have these evaluated. While it is possible these are irritation reactions given his issues with strawberries, he should be properly assessed.
      Alex

      • My daughter is having the same rash when she eat foods which contains wheat my question is that when she have hives like this she don’t vomit she behaves normally so I don’t have to bring her to the hospital? As I m scared with anaphylactic thing ??

  3. Thank you for this very informative articles! Takes a bunch of worry off my mind. My 6 year old son gets the around the mouth rash with any tomato based product, strawberries ( his favorite fruit!), blueberries, cherries and pancake syrup ( just noticed this as he has it so infrequently). I had assumed it was a reaction to acid in the foods, until the random, strange pancake syrup one. So no more of that! I will try the Vaseline barrier next time he eats any of these foods. He has no other problems, except very mild eczema on his cheeks near the jawbone. He has lotion recommended by his pediatrician for it. Just wanted to thank you. I just began noticing this atime beginning of summer when he started eating more fresh fruits. It isn’t check up time and didn’t want to go to doctor unless it seemed to be a problem. But I feel my suspicions are correct with the information in the article pretty much confirming them.

    • My son had reaction like this twice. Once we fed him mixture of nut milk and he was drooling and rubbing his face. It went away within few mins. Again happened today when he had almond walnut mixture powdered. I wiped his fave and it went away. he eats both almond and walnut regularly. But not sure why he got reaction only two times. Can question is can allergic reaction rash goes away in few mins after wiping the area?

  4. Hi,
    Our 9 mouth ate dinner without a bib nor her dress. She had strawberries and cottage cheese. She’s had strawberries and cheese dozens of times before. This was her second time eating cottage cheese. Towards the end of her meal, we noticed a rash on her chest where the food fell. No rash on her face. Does this sound like a skin irritation like you described? I put hydrocortisone on it and it started to clear up very fast.
    Thank you!

    • Hi Jane,
      I can’t really comment on specific cases for legal issues and you should likely have her seen by a doctor given the dairy component as they will be able to go through a complete history and examination. Dairy is a very common allergy – in fact, the most common – and because of that she should be assessed. That said, if she has eaten cheese many times without issues, it is very likely she is not allergic and the reaction was a contact reaction to the strawberries or to the brine of the cheese. Still, probably best to have her assessed to be certain. Sorry I can’t be more helpful. – Alex

  5. Hi, my 7 month old has eczema and I have eliminated many foods of our diet (he’s EBF) in order to see which one is affecting him. We know for sure he has a dairy intolerance because he gets bad reflux and diarrhea from it. He also got spots around the mouth for a couple of hours after eating eggs. (Only tried eggs twice and same reaction both times) I don’t have a question, I’m more after your thoughts. Do you reckon it’s wise to eliminate all allergen foods from his diet? I’ve heard early exposure to allergen foods is good to prevent allergies. I’m just not so sure about using hydrocortisone because of the side effects. I want to find out why he gets the eczema flare ups and just eliminate those irritants. I’m not going to use coconut oil thanks to your other article. Though I did use it for one week and it only ever made it worse. He might have already created an allergy to coconut from that week. What do you think is the danger in not using hydrocortisone and just using elimination method and natural ingredients?

    • Hi Lizy,
      This is a question I get asked a lot so I typed up a quick summary on elimination diets. It’s the newest blog post on my site and you’re welcome to give it a read. In summary, food elimination has not been shown to help eczema and can actually be harmful as it predisposes kids to food allergies. There are many things that trigger eczema – from weather changes (winter = dry so we often see it more in the winter) to anything that is “pro-inflammatory” such as viral infections or teething. Environmental allergies and topical exposure to irritants can also worsen eczema. Our little one often has eczema flares after she gets sick. I caution against falling into the trap of searching endlessly for a food that is causing the eczema, as it may not be a food at all. Hope that’s helpful! – Alex

  6. This is the exact rash my son got after eating some cooked peppers, within minutes! It went within an hour, so glad to hear it’s not an allergy. He doesn’t have eczema . Really informative thank you very much

  7. Hi, this is really interesting as my 8 month old baby has been developing a rash like this after a few different foods and I’ve been really starting to worry that she has all these allergies. I’m seeing a paediatrician next week about it but can I ask your advice on how to treat the red rash? Hers tends to be visible for a couple of days and usually gets worse as time goes on. It spreads from around her mouth, chin and down her neck. I’ve been using hydrocortisone once a day to clear it up but I really don’t want to use that too much.

    Thank you.

    • Hi Ellen,

      Sorry for the delayed response… I’d like to say that I’ve been super busy but the truth is I’ve become a little neglectful of this blog and need to get back at it. Not sure if you’re still having issues, but what you describe sounds like eczema (lasts several days and responds to hydrocortisone). The best treatment for this is to try to prevent exposures around the mouth that irritate the skin (barrier creams when eating berries, using soothers that do not have a full face shield but instead have the “butterfly” shield that is not full and does not trap the saliva against the face, etc). Treatment of eczema is to use emollients as often as you can and use topical steroids as needed. Hydrocortisone is safe if used for short durations. Overall, eczema tends to improve as the child gets older UNLESS there is an environmental allergy that is driving this (ie an animal in the house they’re allergic to, or dust mite allergy) OR if they have a parent that still has eczema as an adults (hereditary). Hope that helps. – Alex

  8. Hi Alex this post is amazing. My son had this exact rash on his face after eating strawberries and bamba (peanut butter puffs) both of which he’s eaten many times. Am calling the pediatrician but just wondering in general whether these symptoms would also present in a peanut allergy or would those symptoms be different? My gut tells me it’s a rash from the berries but since he was also having peanut products at the time I’m super worried.

    • Hi Maureen, If you are seeing perioral rashes with peanuts, your child should be assessed by an allergist. They will test to see if this is a true allergy. If it is, the treatment is avoidance or, as I’m sure many people who have been following this blog have heard, peanut oral desensitization. I will be posting an article soon on this as it is a relatively new treatment. But overall, my advice is that you see an allergist. – Alex

  9. My 1.5yo son has gotten a blotchy rash on his cheeks and tiny spots (looks like strawberry seeds) on his tongue (that he kept scratching it) after eating strawberries, do you think it’s an allergy or irritation? Just to be clear his tongue was itchy, not his cheeks.

    • Sorry for the delayed response. Not very good at checking my blog lately 🙁 I think I have too many children. jk. It’s hard to say without seeing a child what the reaction is, but given that it is strawberries and that it is small spots on the tongue, it most likely is not a true allergy. This is most likely irritation. That said, if it consistently happens and you’re concerned, you should see an allergist to evaluate.

  10. Hi Alex – this is the most useful post I have seen about food reactions in a long time! Thank you. My daughter (4) looks exactly like this after strawberries, peaches and tomatoes. She is also dairy intolerant (we have slowly been making progress on the milk ladder for a few years now). She had one reaction which has puzzled me – a very bright red rash appeared on her chest and arms which has been undiagnosed. We took her to A&E and she was given medication, but we have no idea what caused it (the specialist confirmed it was as a result of something she digested). It has never happened again, so is it worth trying to get her tested to see what it is?

    • Hi Nicole,
      Glad the post was helpful. It’s hard to know what the rash on your daughter’s chest and arms would be without seeing the rash. There are many causes of bright red rashes in children – the most common being viral. Food allergy rashes nearly always start around the mouth and it would be less likely it was a food if it was only over the chest and arms. Either way, if it returns, take pictures of the rash and talk to your doctor. If they are still concerned it’s an allergy, they can send her to an allergist. I don’t know that I’d get her tested if it was just a one off but if you’re worried, I’m sure an allergist would be more than happy to assess. – Alex

  11. Hi Alex, reading your blog gave me some relief, so, thank you. The same happened when my daughter was 6.5 months old upon trying peas for the first time ( just like your daughter’s pic), with no other symptoms. The pediatrician didn’t know if it was IgE-mediated or not, said to try again, but I was scared to do so. Are peas common food that cause irritation?
    The pediatrician also said the allergen tests are best made when she’s 1 yr old. My daughter is 8.5 months now , and had the same rash today with biscuits that contain eggs ( I haven’t tried eggs yet). Gave her Fenistil drops (Dimetindene), and the rash was gone in 30 min.
    I do apply Vaseline around her mouth before every meal to prevent any future skin irritations, don’t know if that’s ok on a daily base or not.
    I’m very scared from introducing new food, especially the ones that might trigger an IgE-mediated allergy. Pediatrician said if it happens to give her Fenistil drops and call 911. Any advice? Thank you.
    Mays Merhi

  12. What about adults? You said it is because of thin skin for children but what about adults
    Who has thin skin?
    Even i get red rashes around my mouth when I eat and I am not a child

  13. Thank you for this post! My 8mo was eating spinach tonight that I’d cooked with a little splash of lemon juice, olive oil and a tiny bit of salt. He’d had spinach before but not with lemon (although cooked as part of a lentils dish). He’d only had 5 or 6 bites when I noticed redness like in the picture of your daughter around the right side of his mouth. He didn’t seem bothered really, but I got nervous so stopped feeding him and then he was just mad to not be eating 🙂 He didn’t vomit but he was very tired – but it was also right before bedtime. I’m very anxious about allergens (even though he was exclusively breast fed for 6 months, now formula) and he’s barely had any. Since he didn’t contact lemon, does this sound like an allergy? Thank you!

    • Sorry, I really cant’ give specific advise on individual children. I can say that lemon is not a common allergy and anything citrus can cause perioral irritation. Beyond that, you’ll need to speak with an allergist to discuss any allergy questions regarding your child.

  14. Hey my son has similar redness around his mouth he’s 2 years old he never had any redness around his mouth I’m confused to what it is, when I touch it it feels and looks dry and red and it looks like it’s spreading.

      • My 10 month old gets red small splotches around his mouth after eating anything with eggs in it or milk. Is that and allergy or simply an irritant? It’s not raised, and disappears within a few minutes – an hour. Not sure if I should consult an allergist.

  15. Hello, I understand that you can’t give personal medical advice but we are looking for general info. Our little one has a chronic rash similar to that described around his mouth. Some things flare it like tomatoes, maize, apples, strawberries. An instant soreness occurs then over the next day or two it turns into like a very red burn. It started when he was 6 months old when we started introducing solid foods and teething also began around the same time. Perfect skin before this. Now 10 months later the sore skin is as bad as ever. He is also allergic to peanuts. We are going to see an allergist. How can we tell the difference between an allergy (IgE or non-IgE) and an irritant contact dermatitis? It does also correlate with teething.

    • Again, I can’t give specific information. All I can say is that rashes lasting longer than 6-12 hours are very unlikely to be IgE mediated. Beyhond that, you should talk to your doctor about your child’s specific allergy questions. Sorry.

  16. Hello, my 10 month old has also had eczema till about 6 months and it cleared up after being switched to soy formula. Occasionally with fruit baby food she would get these flat red patches around her temples that would go away within 20 mins after eating . We started giving her bananas because it was one of the only fruit we did not see this issue with. She has had gerber banana food for 4 months now and just recently is getting flat non itchy red patches around mouth. I don’t believe it’s an allergy but thought you might know why the patches moved to the mouth?? Thank you

  17. Hi
    my daughter is 9months old. she had scrambled eggs for the first time last week and for the first three days was fine! fourth day she got a rash like you described but it wasn’t raised!! it was truly a flat red rash around her mouth. i know you said eggs are different the. fruits but any advice? my ped said to keep giving them to her and i did but each time she gets that rash. NOTHING else happens and the rash disappears after twenty mins or so! so confusing. think an allergist is needed??? thanks.

  18. Hello! Thank you for this information! Could avocado be considered a “fruit” in this instance? Even though it’s not acidic? Just had the same reaction and that’s our guess as to what caused the reaction. TIA!

  19. It really helped when you talked about how if your kid shows a rash in areas where food didn’t touch it, you should go to an allergist to get evaluated. The other day, my sister told me she noticed some light rash on her daughter’s back after she had eaten fish. And she’s worried it might be an allergy. I’m going to tell her to get an allergy test. Thanks for the tips on when to be evaluated by an allergist.

  20. Today my preemie baby (he is 5 months corrected or 7 months actual) had a strawberry for the first time and afterwards starting crying like he was in pain and was inconsolable. I noticed that he had a rash around his mouth. So I put an ice pack on his face and the rash went away, and he was more settled. I know a rash shouldn’t bother him, so do you think maybe something else was irritating him? I have skin allergies so I’m wondering if he has my sensitivities.

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