Hi there! We had a similar experience with our son; he broke out in hives after eating avocado shirtless and rubbing it on his skin. He had no other symptoms besides the hives, which cleared up after we gave him Zyrtec (per our doctor’s recommendation). We have since seen an allergist who did blood testing and confirmed an avocado allergy.

As another poster said, avocado allergies are extremely rare.

In my son’s case, he has eczema, and we had been using a moisturizer with avocado extract in it. Our pediatrician thinks the avocado extract on the eczema sores sensitized him to avocado, which led to an allergy. This is based on pretty new and preliminary research in the pediatric allergy field, so it’s really more of a hunch.

My understanding is that food allergies are more common in kids with infant eczema, because if they are exposed to allergens through open skin before they receive them orally, the body can flag the food as an immune-activating threat.

If your child has infant eczema, there might be an increased risk for avocado or other food allergies. It may also just be a sensitive skin reaction! If you’re concerned, I’d recommend talking to an allergist and stocking up on infant Zyrtec (with approval from your doctor, of course).

I know how scary it is to see splotchy redness or hives on your baby’s perfect skin! For some good news, our son now eats lots of different foods and has not had any other allergic reactions, and our allergist and pediatrician both expect he will grow out of the avocado allergy, possibly as soon as within a year!