Author Topic: allergy testing (Read 4312 times)

*Jo* · « **on:** October 07, 2009, 05:35:58 am »

Hi DS seems to have had a few reactions to foods i give him but im not sure exactly waht the reaction is too so i eliminate dairy and wheat however I gave DS eggs two days ago for lunch, just scrambled eggs, that afternoon and most of that night he was up with wind, burping and passing wind, he was screaming so hard he had red and white blotches on his face, not even holding him could calm him down, we finally distracted him with TV until the panadol kicked in then he was up half the night with wind pain, i held him to sleep every time, that was the only way to get him to sleep! we never do this usually so i knew it was a special case.

anyway we have now been booked in for an allergy test (after i rang them today) for 20th Oct, they did say there was a few babies in front of him and he would have to wait until end Nov, beginning Dec but i said "Im sick of not knowing what hes having a reaction to, just that hes having a reaction, we will then be up with him all night" next minute she says "ok, how does tues 20th Oct sound then?" man im glad i said something!! stuff having to wait until December. so what does an allergy test entail, im pretty sure they used the words "scratch test" but im not sure

KathrynK · « **Reply #1 on:** October 07, 2009, 05:53:29 am »

Sophie had a scratch test a while ago, it was really simple

First the nurse drew a caterpillar on the inside of Sophie's arm, from her wrist to her elbow

then inside each round bit of its body she put a drop of one of the potential allergens, so for example grass, dogs, dairy, etc. The she took a small needle type thing and punctured the skin on each drop so the allergen could penetrate the skin. One of the allergens was histamine, which of course will for sure cause a reaction- that was like the "control" so she could compare the reaction on Sophie's skin to anything else which may react. Does that make sense?
Then we had to wait outside for 15 mins to see if anything came up. We were there about 30 mins in total.
It's uncomfortable when the nurse pricks the skin, but she didn't cry (it was earlier this year so she was clearly a lot older than Caleb)
hope it goes ok, lots of love xxxxxxxxx

Mashi · « **Reply #2 on:** October 07, 2009, 06:32:44 am »

It probably depends on your own specific doctor and the facilities they have. I've had scratch tests done (as Kathryn described, mine were extremely awful because my reactions were so strong that the itchign was unbearable ) but at my own paed's office here in Germany she can't do that kind of test for food allergies, she can only do a blood test. Which involves taking a tube of blood from the inside of DS's arm. She looked at his arm to check his veins and hmmmmd and haaaad and said it would be tough - so I said no. Didn't want to put him through it!

And, finally, at my paed in the UK they can do hair testing - wasn't an option for my DS at that time, but a friend who's LO had lots of food allergies had it done.

So - may be worth calling your paed and asking.

HTH

Katet · « **Reply #3 on:** October 07, 2009, 11:14:05 am »

Am I reading correctly he is 8mo? because I think many children would get upset stomachs from egg at a young age, because of it's allergy risk it isn't actually recommended until 12mo. certainly I could imagine it could easily cause wind & upset tummy etc as egg is a pretty heavy protein to digest.

I'm worked in Immunology research for 8 years & TBH I'm rather surprised they are offering an allergy test at 8mo, At his young age I'd really have thought they'd be getting you to go totally back to basics with just offering 1 type of veg & 1 type of fruit... at 9mo neither of my boys had only had fruit & veg & rice... around 9mo I did introduce wheat (but not yeast as I had issues) & meat, but Eggs was around 12mo... with both my boys (due to me having dairy issues) I also stopped Dairy with DS1 after second taste at about 8mo as he was unsettled & waited until he was 10mo for any yogurt/cheese & whole milk was 18mo.

It is possible some of his issues with gas/upset may well be due to his digesttive system being less developled & I'd really be rather reticent to have my children tested at such a young age if by simply going back to basics I could eliminate foods & gradually re add them.

Mashi · « **Reply #4 on:** October 07, 2009, 12:07:10 pm »

I do think Kate has some good points. I know Caleb is allergic to milk, right? And eggs are a high allergen, and it's generally advised that if there are other allergies, babies be kept off of them until closer to 12 months. And, when first introduced, they should only be given yolks as it's the egg white that is highly allergenic.

The wind part could be digestive troubles, but with the face blotches it does sound like an allergy.

I had forgotten that Caleb is only 8 months and I agree with Kate that going back to basics may be very wise. Not sure what his diet is like at the moment though? But, with my MSPI boy we stuck to fruits and veg only until about 9 months, when I introduced egg yolks and chicken a couple of times a week. He was completely grain free until closer to one - we kept off of all gluten (wheat, rye, barley and oats) until about 10 months or so, when I tried oatmeal, and 11 months when I introduced wheat. I think that taking it very very slowly with new foods is never any harm. I found it very helpful to keep a food log of what he was okay with, and kept to the three day rule for AGES, probably close to 10 months. If you say you are not sure what he is reacting to then it might be helpful to only give him something new every few days and that way you can be pretty sure what it is that he is having a problem with?

KathrynK · « **Reply #5 on:** October 07, 2009, 12:45:33 pm »

Hi Jo

I do agree with the girls- Alex is allergic to tomatoes, strawberries and raspberries, and because of that we have not yet tried citrus or pineapple (he is 12mo and 2 wks)
These allergies were identified shortly after weaning and we were told to eliminate them from his diet and reintroduce after 3 weeks to see what happened- he reacted again so then we were sure, and told to try again in 6 months. That is due in about a month from now.

My friend's dd was allergic to tomatoes and eggs when first weaning. She eliminated them for 6 months and when she reintroduced after her 1st birthday she was able to tolerate them just fine. She is now 3yrs and has had no further problems. Like Kate said, sometimes their systems just need to develop a bit.
big hugs xx

*Jo* · « **Reply #6 on:** October 07, 2009, 20:04:31 pm »

Ive had to eliminate dairy, wheat and eggs due to reactions but im not 100% sure if its been those or not that hes had reactions to (for example, gave bread wiht a tiny bit of margerine on it, so was it the bread or the marge?) I have given him oats, he has these for breakfast everyday, he LOVES them, has them with soy milk.

I did go back to basics after a few reactions that i didnt know what it was and reintroduced slowly, so far since then ive had no reactions with him due to the fact that i have not reintroduced any dairy or wheat. He has chicken fine, white rice he seems ok with. also he eats Cheerios, dont they have wheat in them?

He has alot of veges (mashed spud, sweet potato, pumpkin, silverbeet, carrots) he has at least two of these on a daily basis, i give him soy yoghurt as well. i gave him custard once and he was fine on it then another time i gave it to him and we had a reaction so im really lost to what exactly he is reacting to

Mashi · « **Reply #7 on:** October 07, 2009, 20:25:34 pm »

Hey Jo, just checking because I may be confused...isn't Caleb milk allergic? If so, then he can't have margarine...margarine has milk in it. I mean, double check your labels at least because perhaps you have a brand that is milk free, but unless it is labelled as a dairy-free margarine, then it's prob got milk powder in it.

Also, custard is made with milk, too. Perhaps the first time he just didn't react strongly enough that you noticed.

I think that when you have a milk allergic baby, quite often they have more fragile digestive systems, especially if they are still healing from the time that he was having dairy. Milk allergic babies are more prone to being allergic to other things and also may even just take longer to get used to a new food.

Quote from: Calebsmummy on October 07, 2009, 20:04:31 pm

for example, gave bread wiht a tiny bit of margerine on it, so was it the bread or the marge?

I would suggest making sure that he only gets one new food every few days so that you can make sure you know what he is reacting to. I know that by 8-9 months a lot of parents tend to have moved away from the 3-day rule, but you have an allergy-prone baby and feeding can be quite different. It is important to go slowly - there is no need for a baby to be on complex foods or table foods, nutrition wise, by 8/9 months. Lumpy vegetables, finger foods made from fruits and veg are really okay. With grain products it might be best to stick to something that is easy to digest and that is more wholesome and "pure" than bread which has loads of additives, and can be very difficult to digest. Oatmeal or barley cereal, millet, quinoa, etc. He doesn't need complex foods, home prepared fruits, veggies, some simple one-grain cereals, perhaps think about introducing a small bit of plain meat or oily fish in the next few weeks?

Because Caleb is milk allergic (again, I am just recalling from your other posts, is he not on hypoallergenic formula?) then ALL dairy needs to be kept out of his diet - so that's any product that is dairy, contains any dairy or contains any traces of dairy - so things like margarine, which you don't think of as a dairy product, but does usually contain milk powder. Read all labels carefully and avoid anything with milk, milk powder, butter, whey, etc etc.

deb · « **Reply #8 on:** October 07, 2009, 20:37:22 pm »

Also be sure to avoid anything with casein (milk protein); many soy cheeses contain casein. Anything with "lact- in it anywhere, like "lactose," probably has something milk-derived; if you give probiotics you also want to make sure that they're non-dairy, since many are cultured in dairy (like yogurt cultures). They ARE available, but you have to hunt them down.

*Jo* · « **Reply #9 on:** October 07, 2009, 20:43:27 pm »

Mashi - yep Caleb is on Pepti Junior for MPI, they did a stool sample test to see if he had allergies to it when he was 3 months old (when all the trouble was going on) and found nothing however he only improved on the Pepti Junior so they said he must have MPI and due to reactions when starting solids i guess they are right.

the last time he had dairy before this time was bout 5 months ago so i thought perhaps he wouldve been ok with the marge, guess not.

I thought you werent supposed to give fish to babies?? I want to try him on some fish but we arent fish people at all so i have no idea what to give him or how to cook it etc, by the way he doesnt really do finger foods, if i give him some he just picks it up and throws it over the side, this has been going on for a few weeks now.

Katet · « **Reply #10 on:** October 07, 2009, 21:40:31 pm »

For an 8mo wow he has tried a lot of variety, I'm actually not surprised you are confused as to what his issues may be.
most Margarines do have some milk in them & custards can have egg residue in them too. Also some bread can contain dairy in it & some bread can also be processed where say sesame seeds are, eg for our preschool we can't get bread from our local vietnamese bread shop as their processing means they can't guarantee it to be "seed free".

The thing with allergies is often they can be "created" by some foods if the person is suseptable & they are introduced before the body is ready to deal with them. I'm actually rather surprised that if he is MPI you haven't been given better advice on solids from a health nurse or Dr as a lot of the food you have introduced goes against all the current suggestions of pretty much only fruit & veg until 9mo, esp in allergy prone children.

Also while a blotcy face can indicate an allergy it is also common if you have non stop crying & upset child.

Just out of interest have you had a referal from a Paediatrician to get the allergy test done & is it at a children's hospital? I know the Paediatric Allergist I knew through work & chatted to when DS1 was a baby wouldn't test children under 3 unless there was severe (aka anaphalactic type responses) & would always look at elimination of foods in under 2yo & re-trial of food as in many cases it was more "intolerance"

*Jo* · « **Reply #11 on:** October 07, 2009, 21:53:21 pm »

yeah, i dont get alot of help from the health system here, most of my info i get from you ladies!!

Caleb was referred by a Ped at the childrens hospital, he did say that the closer he is to a year old the better.

Why is it bad to test for allergies right now?

Katet · « **Reply #12 on:** October 07, 2009, 22:31:37 pm »

If they are only immature gut reactions they won't show up so it in an Allergy test & won't help & as you already know he has a MPI & things like Egg are highly allergenic, so simply avoiding them can solve the issue & with him developing a better immune system as he gets older they may not really become issues.

Also "psychologically" it is a lot to put a child under when going back to dietary basics could eliminate the issue. It is a "modern" issue that we should expose children to as many foods as possible, when really it is only the last 30-50 years the variety has been there & many believe that is part of the problem too many things for a babies body to cope with.

BTW what do you mash your potatos with?

IMOH at 8mo, I'd be going back totally to basics giving him pears & sweet potato only for 3 days, then introducing 1 new food to that every 3 days, drop the soy yogurt (as MPI is often linked with soy issues) & anything with dairy... if you have to up the milk a bit then do, but before I'd have my child tested I'd be removing all the foods first... just a personal thing as if it is just an intollerence then it is obvious when you do it bit by bit.... we found that DS1 had issues with Pumpkin... it isn't something that one would test for as an allergy but we worked out he was always unsettled after eating it... to this day he still won't eat it.

*Jo* · « **Reply #13 on:** October 07, 2009, 22:44:00 pm »

I mash his potatoe with soy milk or formula and dairy free margerine (called Nutelex)

He hasnt had alot of reactions as i dont usually give him anything with dairy or wheat in it. Its just that when he does have a reaction its not very nice to go through, for him or for us

I only give him the one food at a time for three days and then I mix it wiht another safe food, for example i gave him Kumara (sweet potato) by itself for three days and when he was fine wiht that i added pumpkin or carrot which i knew was safe as I had done the same wiht those. or i know that Chicken is safe so i added some avocado. But its hard to do that to all foods, for example i dont feel i can give him a soft pasta by itself as its too dry and i seriously dont know what kind of a sauce would be ok to put with it for him as im too scared to experiment

The only major issue i have had has been wiht the toast that day, the day my hubby accidentally made his mashed spud like ours (wiht our milk, cheese and margerine!) adn the eggs as I havent given him any other real dairy or wheat just in case he does react to it.

Also with Broccolli, i gave it to him twice in the past three months (he LOVED it) but he was up all night passing wind, crying and screaming etc.

Katet · « **Reply #14 on:** October 08, 2009, 04:10:42 am »

I gave my children pasta on it's own as a finger food (although much latter than 8mo)... thing is not to think like an adult but think about them having an individual food taste. also at 8mo gag reflex may mean pasta is a bit hard to take anyway.

If he has had issue with Broccolli then he sounds very much like my DS1 as much an "imature gut" as an issue with an allergy.

If it is only with the toast, the milk in the mash & the eggs, then allergy testing isn't really going to tell you much more than you suspect already, avoiding those foods until past 12months & then giving them a try will give you an answer an allergy test quite possibly could tell you the same but as you know he is MPI & about 50% of children react to egg at young ages & most do ok by 12mo (why not recommended until then).

I have a friend (who I met up with today) her DD was allergy tested at 12mo because of poor weight gain, excema & respiratory issues, that really helped because they discovered she was highly allergic to their pet's hair, the food stuff they suspected did come up, but now as a 6yo she has the wheat/yeast & dairy back in moderation...but as her Mums said it wasn't the food testing that they did it for as monitoring diet could tell that.

The only reason we actually found out conclusively what my DS1's allergies were (at almost 6yo) was because he was having surgery & they were taking blood for another reason & I got a bit extra for my friend to do a RAST (blood) test on... she was looking for a control for a child who'd never had peanuts but had a peanut allergy (not my child) until we had the fact he has a mild to moderate response to dairy & eggs we avoided/limited because we knew they caused issues... IMHO the testing would have just allowed us to say "he's had the test done" rather than just saying "we think he is... because of X, so for now we are avoiding it" Also not having had the test gave more mental freedom to slowly try again.

I just think having an allergy test is a BIG step to take when you seem to have been able to pinpoint major food groups & he is so young & really at an age where only having sampled friut & veg is still very reasonable & holding off on dairy, soy, wheat & especially egg until 12months is not unusal KWIM.

*Jo* · « **Reply #15 on:** October 08, 2009, 04:16:43 am »

thanks ladies for all your words of wisdom, i will talk about it with DH later and discuss what you have all brought up with him

Mashi · « **Reply #16 on:** October 08, 2009, 08:38:21 am »

Katet has given some really really sound advice, just wanted to add a couple things.

When you said that you usually don't give him dairy, my advice would be to go out of your way to make sure that he has no dairy at all, whatsoever. No milk powder hidden in foods, nothing. Until he is at least 12 months old. At 12 months usually MPI babies have a "milk challenge" either by the doctors or at home, where you trial them on a bit of milk and watch them for a period of time to see if they have outgrown it, but attempting it before 12 months is usually not advised.

There are many foods, even fruits and veg, that are very hard for a baby's brand new digestive system to get used to breaking down. Broccolli, cauliflower, beans, lentils, cabbage, and meats are some. Although it is possible to be allergic to anything, a food like broccolli is pretty low on the allergen scale and it's less likely that he is allergic to it and being that the symptoms are wind and tummy pains, most likely just that he is too young to digest it - especially if he has had that first exposure to it in the early days of solids. Most sources that I relied on for feeding say that foods like this should be left until closer to 10-12 months. A really helpful website is wholesomebabyfoods.com and they list each food and a suggested age for introducing it.

Also he's young and doesn't need a huge variety in his diet. At 9 months the list of foods that I had given DS was stuck on the fridge and it wasn't that long! I just made sure that I varied them up, not necessarily mixing them. So breakfast might be pears, lunch sweet potato and apple, dinner carrots and parsnips. The next day would not be the same foods, but two or three days later he'd get the same menu, iykwim. As long as you're giving him a rotation so that he doesn't get bored, that's great. But you don't need to worry about mixing two foods together ALL of the time. And, you can mix odd foods and babies don't think it is strange like we do -- zucchini and apple was a hit, as was sweet potato and pea, pumpkin and pear, and so on.

Another important thing with allergy testing is that it is not 100% accurate. So just because he gets a negative from something does NOT mean that he is not intolerant or allergic to it.

Katet · « **Reply #17 on:** November 05, 2009, 09:55:16 am »

Did you end up getting him tested? How is he going.

*Jo* · « **Reply #18 on:** November 05, 2009, 10:09:19 am »

yes, he came back negative for dairy, wheat, egg, cat. so the dr wanted me to start introducing soy formula gradually to his bottles, first 1ml, then 2.5ml, then 5ml, 10ml, 20mls and then start replacing scoops of his old formula. well we got to 10mls and hes a bit gassy, ive kept going and today we replaced 2 scoops of formula for soy (so that works out to be roughly 20mls of soy) and his cheeks and nose were quite red and hes been passing wind today, we were quite surprised as we dont usually hear him pass wind. plus we have been having night wakings but he has also had a tooth cutting through so Im not sure if that is a gut reaction or the teething, have rang them and waiting for them to call me back, not sure if i should stop the soy formula or continue it, i dont wanna stop it and have to start all over again if its nothing

*Jo* · « **Reply #19 on:** November 05, 2009, 10:12:18 am »

Oh and also ive decided to do what mashi suggested anyways, no dairy at all! im baking him foods that are all gluten free, no soy, no egg, no wheat, no dairy, i figure even if he is ok whats the harm in waiting till he is a year old, theres no rush really, hes a happy thriving boy, my main concern is the formula, i just want to get at least get him onto soy if he can handle it. He handles soy yoghurt and soy milk in his oats so im hoping the formula is the next to jump to

Katet · « **Reply #20 on:** November 06, 2009, 00:04:42 am »

Sounds like his food issues are more about a young "gut" & inability to cope with the foods than allergies which makes sense, it is actually very common for babies who have problems with milk reactions to be intolerant to some foods... I know my DS1 has been described by grandparents as a "fussy eater" & I was too as a child, but the thing is I think part of it is "self preservation" DS1 didn't cope with me eating certain foods when I BF him, & those same foods translated to ones he still at 6yo doesn't like to eat. So guessing he is a child whose gut hasn't matured as fast as others so a slow & steady approach with food is a good thing... always think if he grew up 50 years ago the variety would be about 20% of what he could get now, so if the same 4 veg & 3 fruit every day work for him, then there is nothing wrong from his perspective KWIM.

*Jo* · « **Reply #21 on:** November 06, 2009, 11:24:35 am »

yeah i think you are right, we stopped his soy formula today, he still had bright red cheeks (not the usual teething red cheeks) and he was surefire cranky and irritable, which is quite unlike him, so i figured oh well take the soy out and try again in a few months. How long till the soy is out of his system?

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Author Topic: allergy testing (Read 4312 times)