What to expect, 1st visit to allergist.

[Carolyn_mtl]

I posted about 3 weeks ago about a possible avocado reaction my 9 month old had. We have an appointment with an allergist on Tuesday, and the secretary asked me to bring a small piece of avocado with me. I don't have any allergies so I have no personal experience with any of this (feeling totally overwhelmed). DH has a peanut allergy, and remembers his allergy testing as a kid being pretty painful scratch tests on his arm. Would they do that to 10 month old?
Why do I need to bring some avocado?
DD has continued to be ebf since the avocado incident. I'm too worried to try any more foods until our appointment.

[changingseasons]

Yes, they probably will do a SPT (skin prick test). It really doesn't hurt at all- it's a tiny little poke. It used to be more of a "scratch" test rather than a "prick" test (and I think some doctors might still use the scratch version), so maybe that's what your DH is remembering (although it still shouldn't have been super painful.) The worst part for a baby is keeping them from scratching it if it's a positive, because they can get pretty itchy! You definitely want them to do the SPT as opposed to the RAST blood test, because it's much more accurate at that age. But still not 100% accurate, so remember that you might get false negatives, and even possibly false positives.

The allergist might not have a premade vial for avocado (some smaller offices only have the major allergens on hand), so if you bring one in they will dilute it down to use for the SPT.