Taylor McGrath, 34, father of a baby boy, recently posted a video on TikTok showing his approach to testing his child for a peanut allergy—and the opinions in the comments were divided.
McGrath took the extra precaution of driving to the local emergency room before giving his then 7-month-old son, Kingston, some watered-down peanut butter in the car—parked in the hospital parking lot in case he experienced a severe reaction.
He posted an update after 10 minutes that his child was doing well. Then, after 30 minutes without any adverse reaction, they left the parking lot. McGrath also added that he planned to bring Kingston back to the emergency room parking lot and repeat the process for his next peanut butter exposure.
A peanut allergy can be very severe, and even life-threatening, but studies show that early exposure can reduce the risk. Here’s a guide from the American Academy of Pediatrics on the best way to go about early exposure for babies. As one commenter said, “Nurse here. Amazing idea! Definitely go back for the second exposure because often THAT’S when an allergy will activate!”
Still, other commenters labelled McGrath’s actions as “helicopter parenting” or “an overreaction.” McGrath responded to those asking why he didn’t try an allergy test first. He said, “Because infants can’t just get an allergy test and it be accurate; they haven’t been exposed to things. So an allergy test isn’t going to be able to detect if they’re allergic to it. People just like not knowing that sort of thing was frustrating.”
The majority of the comments, however, were supportive and applauded McGrath’s care for his son. One TikTok user said, “I never realized this is something some parents have to go through. Props to you on excellent parenting.” Kingston is now nine months old and has successfully passed his peanut test twice.
