Author Topic: Suspect a food allergy, what do I do?  (Read 1247 times)

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mommytsa

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Suspect a food allergy, what do I do?
« on: January 01, 2006, 21:03:11 pm »
I fed my DS macaroni and cheese today for lunch.  He has had it before with no reaction, as well as yogurt recently (the last week).  It looks very much like the picture in the sticky above.

What should I do?  I obviously won't be giving him any more macaroni and cheese, but what about yogurt or other things made with milk?  Teething biscuits, etc?  Should I call the ped right away?  Or will this wait until his 9 mo check up (he's 7.5 mo now)?  Will they even alergy test him now?  I had heard that they usually won't do anything until 18 mo at the earliest.

Thank you so much for any help.  I'm very scared and confused.

Offline Kayna

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Suspect a food allergy, what do I do?
« Reply #1 on: January 01, 2006, 23:41:32 pm »
Does he drink milk based formula?
Kayna
Eric DH Married 5/1/99
Daikon Neil 8/14/01
Avery Rose 6/13/05


Offline jayne

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Suspect a food allergy, what do I do?
« Reply #2 on: January 02, 2006, 02:44:15 am »
take him back to eating only cereal for a couple of days

then reintroduce each food one at a time for a couple of daysto a week and journal what he has eaten and when and if there is any reaction

and if it will make you feel better call the pediatrician that is what they are there for..

what is he drinking?? is he breastfed?? if so it could be something you have eaten.

good luck let us know what happens
jayne

dd#1  05-14-2001
dd#2  08-06-2004

mommytsa

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Suspect a food allergy, what do I do?
« Reply #3 on: January 02, 2006, 18:05:59 pm »
He is breastfed.  I haven't had anything unusual (ie, anything I haven't eaten in massive quanities since he's been born) in like a month.  I did cut out all dairy from my diet for a few months as he was very spitty (though happy about it) just to see if it would help (when he was exclusively bf).  It changed the consistency of his spit up and cut down on the amount, but I slowly reintroduced diary, and he hasn't had any spit up since then.  I was somewhat leery of giving him dairy, but he's done fine with it except for the macaroni and cheese yesterday.

The rash he got went away in about a half hour, so that at least made me feel a little better. 

Thank you for the suggestion of going back to just cereal and reintroducing things until I can find out exactly what it is that he's allergic to.  I will start that today, maybe with a few things that I know are fine (pears and yams, which he loves).  I have a question though.  When/if he reacts to something with a rash again, what should I do?  Do I call the dr/take him in right away, go to emergency, or just watch him closely and stay home, knowing/hoping that it will just be a there for 30 min or so?  I don't want to overreact, but I don't want to  put him in any danger by underreacting, KWIM?  I guess I'm just not sure how to handle this.  How serious is a rash?  Does that qualify as an emergency?

THANK YOU for all your help and advice and support.  I am very scared by all of this, as my friends who have food allergies are not mildly allergic--my best friend goes into anaphalytic shock if she eats pine nuts, and every couple of years gives a refresher course to all of us about how to use her epi-pen and what to do until the ambulance arrives.   I guess I'm just not sure what to do with such a mild reaction when my only prior experience with food allergies is such a severe one.

Thanks again, and sorry this is so long.

Offline jayne

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Suspect a food allergy, what do I do?
« Reply #4 on: January 02, 2006, 18:24:49 pm »
i would call the doctor and speak with his/her nurse and ask them what you should do if there is another reaction..

i wouldnt worry too much although it is very scary when you know how bad things can get.

tell them everything you have told us and they will help you.

then let us know what they say :D
jayne

dd#1  05-14-2001
dd#2  08-06-2004

Offline Kayna

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Suspect a food allergy, what do I do?
« Reply #5 on: January 03, 2006, 01:21:32 am »
Couple things to watch for (ds is allergic to peanuts and we carry an epipen as well).

 :arrow: swelling of the face (generally within minutes of exposure)
 :arrow: wheezing or trouble breathing

If either of these occur take him to the ER immediately. If you have oral benedryl you can give him that before heading out the door. (make sure you talk to your ped. about dosage though because it is not recommended for children under 6 without dr's go ahead and dosage info.

If there is only a skin rash (little red bumps) or hives, I would call your ped. and let her know. Also, oral benedryl works well for this time of reaction.

I'm sure you're aware of this but just be sure to wait until your lo is at least one year to give any kind of tree nuts or peanuts. I would wait even longer if there is a history of allergies in the family. :wink:  HTH.
Kayna
Eric DH Married 5/1/99
Daikon Neil 8/14/01
Avery Rose 6/13/05


mommytsa

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Suspect a food allergy, what do I do?
« Reply #6 on: January 07, 2006, 05:00:58 am »
Well, I have a bit of an update.  After calming down and thinking (somewhat) rationally about things, I decided that I wanted to double check possible allergens, and then call the dr with my suspicions.  I figured he could have been to reacting to a couple of different things (he tried cantaloupe that morning, it could have been the diary in the mac and cheese, or it could have been the preservatives, MSG, etc in the boxed mac and cheese), though my gut was saying "it's the dairy".
So today at lunch I gave him a bit of yogurt, which he had before with no reaction, but I watched him very closely.  Sure enough, he had a slight rash and little pimple like dots show up on his chin and cheeks, and go away in a half hour or so.

So it looks like he may have a dairy allergy of some kind.  I tried to put in a call to the dr, but they take a 3 hour lunch on fridays, and had closed by the time I thought of it again :twisted:  :twisted: .  So I'll be calling on Monday and in the meantime, I'm trying to go dairy free. 

Thank you again for letting me vent and panic and not telling me that I'm a nut for freaking out over a tiny rash.  I just needed a bit of perspective to figure out that really, it could be a lot worse--it's a little rash, nothing life-threatening, and hopefully he'll grow out of it if I get it treated and avoid it now.

I'm sad, but trying to find a positive side to all this.  Hey, if he really is allergic to dairy, I can just use that as my "excuse" for extended nursing, and then I won't have to fight with the IL's about how "wierd" I am. :D  :D