Questions about babies growing out of intolerance and/or allergies

[luckymamaoftwo]

With many thanks to the wise mamas on MDC, I began an ED sometime in May, which included removing dairy, most soy and eggs from my diet. DS didn't seem to improve, so I also cut out peanuts, almonds, walnuts, cashews. I'm fairly certain that the nuts (tried several times to add peanuts or almonds back in and resulted in massive eczema outbreaks) are a major issue for him. I'm not so positive about the dairy and soy, but I'm sticking with it regardless til he's a bit older (and at this point...I'm totally adjusted to not having it in my diet). I added eggs back in...he seems fine with them.

So, there's a brief background. DS is now 7 months. I have a few questions that you may be able to help me with:

1) How to tell the difference between an allergy vs. an intolerance?? Should we do allergy testing?

2) If babes are allergic to nuts consumed by mothers and passed through breastmilk, does that mean they will be allergic when they're older?

3) If I'm 100% correct in suspecting that nuts are the major problem, when should we become concerned about accidental exposure (DD loves PB, etc.)?


Thanks!!!

[mamafish9]

With nuts, I'd be concerned you might be dealing with a true allergy (where you might get an anaphylactic reaction if he directly consumes nuts). I'm not sure when allergy testing is reliable, but I'd want to allergy test for the peanuts and tree nuts, so that you can get an epi-pen if he is allergic.

If your babe is at baseline, I'd trial adding dairy back in - it would be good to know whether he's reacting to that (at least when you eat it) or not.

[luckymamaoftwo]

Thanks for the response, Mamafish. I was afraid that would be the answer I'd hear.

[rhesp1212]

I was going to say what Mammfish said.....with nuts I would be concerned about a true allergy. They say that testing isn't really accurate until 2 years old. But, I have heard of people testing earlier and getting positive results if they are really allergic. It wouldn't hurt to talk to an allergist about it now.

[MammaB21]

DD had eczema really badly as a baby. We did allergy testing at age one and she turned up extremely allergic to peanuts and also highly allergic to eggs. I've heard that peanut and egg allergies frequently go hand in hand. We saw a huge improvement in her eczema breakout when I cut those two things out of my diet.

I'd recommend talking to an allergist when he turns one. For now, I'd keep all things peanut out of the house completely. I'd agree to add the dairy back in for a week and see what happens. Also, he may do okay with eggs in your diet, but not okay with consuming them directly so watch for that. If he has a true peanut allergy, he wont' grow out of it. In fact it could get worse the more exposure he gets. Things like dairy and egg allergies/intollerences are frequently outgrown. However, my DD still has an instant reaction to eggs and she's 4 and a half. So when they outgrow them or if they do is something I can't answer.