Author Topic: Too soon for a challenge?  (Read 943 times)

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Offline Austin's mom

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Too soon for a challenge?
« on: May 05, 2010, 01:45:29 am »
DS is MSPI and his allergist asked that we do challenge at 6-8 weeks. We are almost at 6 week in, so im starting to think about it...

But from all that I've read, it takes at least 1/2 the time they were on the milk/soy to heal their intestines and bodies from the damage done. He had dairy in BM and formula for the first 4 months before I knew )-: So that would be atleast 8 weeks... does that sound right?

Do you think there is any chance he could be ready to tolerate milk (atleast small amounts) at that point? Or should I just wait longer? i'd hate to back track, because he is finally doing SO great on alimentum. His skin (for the most part... the rest Im pretty sure is external irritants) and his reflux is almost elimiated. I don't want to put him through all that aweful mess again!

Offline First Time Mom

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Re: Too soon for a challenge?
« Reply #1 on: May 05, 2010, 02:19:44 am »
I'm surprised that they want to test it so soon. My dd had a milk protein allergy from birth (she was colicy and ended up with blood in her diaper). She also had an allergic reaction to baby oatmeal cereal at 8 months- she broke out into a full body rash. The milk allergy was way worse than the oatmeal allergy. Our allergist didn't suggest we re-test the milk until she was 12 months! The oatmeal we tested 8 weeks later and she didn't react at 10 months. At 12 months she still couldn't handle the milk, it took until she was 14 months. Since your lo's system just settled (and, you're right about how long it takes to heal their intestines) I would not want to test the milk again.
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Offline Austin's mom

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Re: Too soon for a challenge?
« Reply #2 on: May 05, 2010, 13:06:35 pm »
ok thanks. He never had blood (that i could see anyway) but lots of mucous. I gave him bananas yesterday, and his whole belly has a rash now )-: I hate all this!

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Re: Too soon for a challenge?
« Reply #3 on: May 05, 2010, 22:52:17 pm »
Awww (((hugs))) sorry about the banana.  It's so frustrating.

I agree w/Marian.  No way I would test so soon.  I'd wait at the bare minimum 3 months.  6 months more sounds better, and honestly - no matter what our allergist told us I would have waited until at least 12 months.  (Hers was so severe he actually said 15 months...we retested the patch testing though...).

Anyway - if things are going well on the Alimentum and your gut is thinking it doesn't sound right, wait a few more months.  He doesn't need it since the hypoallergenic formula is working and why potentially make him suffer needlessly.

Good luck.  Things change so much in the next 6-7 months.  My DD2 went from being unable to tolerate hardly ANYTHING, to being able to eat most everything except pure cow's milk.

Hang in there.   :-*

Offline pamelamcgahon

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Re: Too soon for a challenge?
« Reply #4 on: June 11, 2010, 20:31:33 pm »
Our GI aske us to re challenge after we saw her.  DD had been on the nutramigen for a couple of months.  We did retest but it only lasted 3 days and I couldn't put up with the screaming.  She told us if we got the symptoms then to stay off milk and soya til 12 months.  We only re challenged cows milk as it was colicky symptoms and eczema wit her on cow milk, soya was severe runny bottoms so didn't bother.  Within a couple of days she was crying loads again so I gave up and went back to hydrolysed.  The change was very quick both ways!  My dietician said challenging depends on symptoms and if they're potentially going to have severe immediate reactions they do it in a controlled environment.

Offline ~ Vik ~

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Re: Too soon for a challenge?
« Reply #5 on: June 12, 2010, 02:16:24 am »
Wow, my allergist is much more conservative!  When ds tested positive for his food allergies at 16mo, our allergist said to keep his diet completely free of them and that we would retest at 3 years old! :o He also said that he didn't like doing food challenges until at least that age - before then most children aren't verbal enough to confirm/describe a reaction. He also said that the longer a child can go without ingesting the offending food, the better the chances if them outgrowing the allergy.

Having said that, Dylan has much more 'instant' allergic reactions (hives, swelling, eczema flares) so maybe that's why his recommendations are so much more strict?   
D ~ dairy, egg, peanut/nut and mustard allergies
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Offline Austin's mom

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Re: Too soon for a challenge?
« Reply #6 on: June 12, 2010, 20:35:51 pm »
yeah just asked our pead again, and he said no way, don't try till 12 months for milk, and 2-3 years for soy. going to make things challenging.