Negative skin-prick results, unsure of allergist's advice

[winnie]

Hi everyone!

DD started having skin reactions (small hives on face, and small flat red dots on her cheeks, arms, chest) around 7 months. I tracked it down to wheat, soy, apples, and possibly pineapple. She is now 18 months, and we were just at the allergist a few weeks ago for a skin-prick test. They tested for the foods listed above, plus tomatoes, cats, dust mites. They all came back negative, and the allergist suggested that I stop eliminating these foods from her diet, because it can prove to be more problematic later on. She has never had a very serious attack, no swelling or breathing difficulties, it always seems to be a rash that appears (and tummy aches, I think, which leads to sleep problems).

So I've been giving her really small amounts of things, for instance I gave her regular cheerios which contain wheat. She seemed ok. But if she eats a few bites of a pancake, she seems to still be getting a very slight rash on her cheeks (so slight that my partner often says he can't see it...I can though!). So her reactions are certainly less than when this started. Last night, I let her have a bit of veggie lasagna and she had a horrible night, screaming every time she woke. Today she has very visible red circles under her eyes, which is not normal for her.

So with all this it makes me want to just cut everything out again, though it is so difficult keeping the foods away from her with her 5 year old brother and the way he eats! ;)

Could it really create big problems later if I cut everything out? Should I continue to feed really small amounts of the suspected foods? It just seems so wrong to give her something that clearly makes her miserable, but I wonder if I can continue with something like cheerios that seems like less of a problem...

And one more question - would giving her a probiotic or any type of supplement be helpful at this point?

Thanks to anyone that might have some advice, I'm pretty confused on the whole issue!!

Erin

[scsigrl]

SPT's and blood tests are not 100% accurate. A negative test is about 92% accurate so you can see that is room for error.  Also the test results are notoriously inaccurate till kids are a bit older.  I have read 2 years old. 

There are different thoughts on if there is more harm done when you take out something.  I don't know where I stand on that.  I do not serve wither of my kids anything the other can't eat.  Period.  There is no way my 4 yo won't eat something the 2 yo leave around and the other way around.  

[kjbrown92]

hives sounds like an allergy. But the rash, stomach troubles, sleep troubles could all be food intolerances, which won't appear on a skin prick test. I don't see how keeping out a few foods can cause further harm, personally, especially if the child is reacting to them, as long as you have a very healthy/varied diet.