Potpourri and Allergies

I have a new item to add to our growing allergy list-potpourri!  I don't like potpourri and never have it in our house.  I don't even wear perfume anymore in order to better protect Bee.  Do you want to know how I found out............keep reading..........

We try to go to the library story time.  Sometimes we are successful and other times we are not.  We made it this week!  For the craft the kids were making a Mother's Day card.  They put glue on a pink cardstock heart and put the heart in a  shoebox to shake potpourri over it.  Then they tied a ribbon to their heart and put it in an envelope.  We dutifully did our heart and then trooped upstairs for story time.  I survived lots of songs, hand motions, and keeping all 4 kids contained in the story time area.  Then we picked out a few books, grabbed our cards, and headed home.

As I was putting Bee in the car, I noticed a small red bump on her upper chest.  I dismissed it as a mosquito bite.  When we got home, I unbuckled Bee and noticed that her entire neck, upper chest, throat, and chin were bright red, swollen, and covered in hives.  We dashed inside; I undressed Bee, rinsed her off, and put some medicine on her.  Daddy was home a few minutes later to eat lunch with us, so he fixed lunch while I watched Bee.  She did not seem to be having trouble breathing and the rash was not spreading.  After a few hours the rash was gone.

After brainstorming what could have caused her reaction.....Kid who ate eggs for breakfast touching her?  Library book tainted with spilled milk?  Cheerio- or cracker-covered hands of another child?  Bee's breakfast?  The only new or different thing that we kept coming back to was the potpourri that Bee put on her card-French Vanilla.  We have never been around potpourri before and it never occurred to me that she would react to barely touching it.  

Later that afternoon, I called the librarian about the potpourri to discover the brand.  I have since left a message with the company to discover the ingredients in the hopes that I could narrow down what bothered her.  I'll be taking the ingredient list to our doctor.

Most potpourri contains multiple oils and some contains many artificial and synthetic scents and ingredients.  We are assuming that one of these things caused Bee's reaction.

So, potpourri is never coming near us again and I will continue to avoid perfumes and other fragrances for her-no candles or air fresheners.  Here at the hive we'd rather just be stinky!