In my opinion, it’s a way for an otherwise unremarkable and uninteresting child to stand out. If you can’t be noticed for your abilities and what you can offer, then you can at least be noticed out of pity for being fragile.
But in any case, plese note:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/185263.php
...along with about 8 billion other results for “peanut allergy misdiagnosis.”
So my one year old child caused his face to swell in order to get noticed? This is the kind of thing that makes no sense.