Going to ped allergist-What to expect?

[njbeachgirl]

I am taking my 5.5 month old to a pediatric allergist on Friday to look further into his severe eczema. Can anyone tell me what kinds of tests, etc. they might do? TIA!!

[Claire and Boys]

I was told blood testing isn't accurate at this age. My son was a little older when we did testing, but he had patch testing at about 14 months (where they do small skin pricks on the back and put a small amount of the allergen, wait 15 mins then check for size of any red welts that come up) It sounds horrific but wasn't that bad.

Thing is though that only really tests for actual allergies where a reaction may come up right away, intolerances are harder to diagnose - sometimes a food can cause a reaction, but not for a few days after ingesting the food, so it can be much harder to figure out. The only way to really test for that is an elimination diet and lots of trial and error!

We are trying to figure out my youngest ds's allergies at the moment. He had a positive patch test for egg, but eliminating it hasn't really helped...so we carry on the diet for now. I have it as well and I have a severe milk allergy and an intolerance for gluten - cutting out these 2 things makes my skin 80% better - I still have patches when I get my period and when I am under stress but it is so much more manageable now. no one really notices it now - while before at times I didn't leave the house.

[WuWei]

My understanding is that generally baby is reacting to your improperly digested proteins, due to your/his leaky gut. (so, non-IgE, but undigested proteins in your milk)

The quandary is that baby's gut doesn't tolerate whole proteins, either undigested by his system, or undigested by your system. The fact that he is reacting at all, means that his gut needs to heal. That occurs when you remove all the foods from your diet to which you are intolerant. Baby's reactions help you to identify which foods those are.

An option is to remove your breastmilk from his diet. But, then he loses all the immune benefits which only breastmilk can provide, impacting his gut health permanently.

So, net is to provide healthy breastmilk exclusively until his gut is healed (ie. your leaky gut no longer is damaging his gut). The way to do that is to remove all foods from your diet to which he is reacting. Especially, if you intend to have additional children, I'd focus on your leaky gut now, while you have his reactions as a 'guide' to heal your own gut. The longer we have leaky guts, the more food intolerances which develop, eczema and asthma and other auto-immune dysfunctions, ultimately.

A candida overgrowth goes hand-in-hand with leaky guts and leads to all kinds of immune system issues. So, a diet low in sugars, and includes natural antifungals, PLUS whole food probiotics is the path to gut health, from all of my understanding.

Btw, classical homeopathy helps the body to heal itself. Both ds and I are on classical homeopathy and we are now able to eat many of the foods to which we were previously intolerant. And dh's allergies and asthma have been resolved with classical homeopathy. So, diet isn't the only path to healing.

Most common cause of eczema is dairy intolerance.

HTH, Pat

[Chinese Pistache]

At his age, testing isn't likely to be accurate. Our ped allergist tested dd after age 1, but said that results aren't conclusive and food journaling is the way to go (read about elimination diets and food journals in the "resources" sticky up above).

[changingseasons]

I agree with all PP. Testing is not accurate at that age. And most conventional allergists will tell you that it's just too hard, or impossible, to figure out a baby's food triggers so you might as well put them on an elemental formula. This really isn't true at all. It is HARD, but not impossible to control a baby's allergies through your diet. The most important thing is to start a food journal- keep track of everything that you eat, and every symptom that your babe has. And you can do an elimination diet- that's the most accurate way to find allergies at any age. Check out my blog (link in sig) for info about elimination diets, ezcema, etc.

[njbeachgirl]

Thanks all!!!!