allergic baby UPDATE post #8~ BACK FROM ALLERGIST VISIT

[cam&kat's_mom]

I posted in length before baout my DS who was havign dairy issues in my breastmilk. So long story short, we eliminated all dairy. Stomache pain nad cramping and crying etc was gone. But i kept noticing a rash on his body. (2 differnt ones actuially) So i continued to elimate and did ALL dairy, soy eggs and finally PB. the rash is finally gone for 2 weeks. But now he has a ring around his bum. all i cna think is citrus/fruit. I've been drinking OJ and eating oranges pineapples adn strawberries a lot. the rash is only in teh diaper area, and if his poo doesn't touch him for more than a few seconds he's fine, and the ring only appears right around the anus not all over diaper area.
(Also during the elim time DD was eating eggs and then went over and kissed his cheek and rubbed teh seid of his face. within 15 minutes he had a rash, hive like, all over that area) So that was a big clue to me that eggs were an issue. He's jus tover 4 months now and solely breadtfeeding with occasional water. I have added soy back into my diet and we're doing ok with it. he spits up a bit but nothing major (could just be from over nursing and not burping right also)
Yesterday we went for his 4 month WBV and i was tellignteh Dr about the elimination and the rashes etc. He goes on sayign how its' "highly unlikely" that he is getting this rash form somethign I'm eating. BUT wants to send him to teh allergist becaseu of teh hive type rash taht he got when Dd kissed him after eating eggs.
So we go next week to an allergist. and i need help.
I have no idea what i should be asking or what I shoud, be requesting of them
Do i jus tlet the allergist do what he thinks is necessary? any advice from those BTDT moms> I had bee allergies growing up so I knwo what skin prick tests are liek and I'd really rather not put ds through that (he's still seems so little for all of this ) But I'm not sure what other options there are. Also teh Dr gave us a script for epi pen jr's in case he has a bad reaction.... will teh allergist fill us more in on this if we even need to go that far? (it was given precautionary) Also a bit of info. DS has had no VAx and no food at this point,, and we have no plans ot VAx ever and food will not be given for many more months... at least until we get this all figured out. thanks in advance.

[wendy1221]

Allergy testing is so terribly inaccurate in babies. It's best to wait until babe is AT LEAST 8 mos old before introducing solid foods. Hopefully the allergist you're being sent to will be a good one who keeps up to date and will have good advice for you.

Post again w/ what the allergist did/said and we'll tell then whether or not to follow his/her advice.

Only thing I can tell you is that allergy testing is very inaccurate in young kids, only way to know for sure is eliminating and trialing foods. You also should avoid all nuts, peanuts, and shellfish while nursing and not introduce those foods to your child until he is at least 3-4 years old AND has tested negative to them. Also, if you have any food allergies/sensitivities yourself, it's very important to not eat them while nursing.

[cam&kat's_mom]

Thank you. So basically I just keep those things out of my diet and wait and see? We don't eat shellfish (barely any fish ) and I have no food sensitivities that i know of... IF we get a lot of negatives, should we ask for a restest at 1 year or so.... or try to reintroduce some things in a few months (through my eating them NOT feeding them to DS) to see if we have reactions? thanks again

[wendy1221]

If you get all negatives like we did, it's probably ok to try eating those foods after 6 mos-a year from now. I personally would feel more comfortable if we had a second set of tests done before trying any foods the baby previously reacted to, but my allergist didn't feel it was necessary. It's best to hold off on the nuts/peanuts until age 3-4 though.

[cat19]

Only thing I can tell you is that allergy testing is very inaccurate in young kids, only way to know for sure is eliminating and trialing foods. You also should avoid all nuts, peanuts, and shellfish while nursing and not introduce those foods to your child until he is at least 3-4 years old AND has tested negative to them. Also, if you have any food allergies/sensitivities yourself, it's very important to not eat them while nursing.

I agree with all of that--except this:

allergy testing is very inaccurate in young kids

I'd say instead that it's very inaccurate in *some* young kids--it was *completely* accurate for my five month old as demonstrated by our changing my diet from a top-8 elim diet to only elim-SPT+-allergens and my kid's symptoms stayed vanished. So for me it allowed me to trial back in corn wheat and soy after the negative skin tests, which all went fine, instead of guessing which foods to trial back first once my kid was symptom-free.

And I'd also add the caveat that even kids whose results are accurate at a young age are only accurate for that moment in time; in a month or five or ten they can develop new allergies--or if you're truly blessed outgrow, I suppose, though that usually takes much longer.

I read on yoru other thread your ped's thoughts on allergens thru BM--which was not right--but wanted to give him major kudos for giving you the epi based ont he egg hives, which is crucial and wonderful. So if your allergist turns out to be informed on BFing and allergies, have him or her educate the ped--who may just have been taught poorly in med school, which can be full of myths about BFing.

probably you should also have liquid children's benadryl on hand for use in a serious reaction situatino--with epi not instead of epi.

[wendy1221]

It's semantics. It's inaccurate b/c it's inaccurate in a high number of young kids. That doesn't mean it will be inaccurate for every young kid who has the test done. Since you don't know ahead of time, or even AFTER the test, which group you fall into, elimination and trial is really the only way to be sure what your child is allergic to.

[cam&kat's_mom]

Originally Posted by cat19

I agree with all of that--except this:


I'd say instead that it's very inaccurate in *some* young kids--it was *completely* accurate for my five month old as demonstrated by our changing my diet from a top-8 elim diet to only elim-SPT+-allergens and my kid's symptoms stayed vanished. So for me it allowed me to trial back in corn wheat and soy after the negative skin tests, which all went fine, instead of guessing which foods to trial back first once my kid was symptom-free.

And I'd also add the caveat that even kids whose results are accurate at a young age are only accurate for that moment in time; in a month or five or ten they can develop new allergies--or if you're truly blessed outgrow, I suppose, though that usually takes much longer.

I read on yoru other thread your ped's thoughts on allergens thru BM--which was not right--but wanted to give him major kudos for giving you the epi based ont he egg hives, which is crucial and wonderful. So if your allergist turns out to be informed on BFing and allergies, have him or her educate the ped--who may just have been taught poorly in med school, which can be full of myths about BFing.

probably you should also have liquid children's benadryl on hand for use in a serious reaction situatino--with epi not instead of epi.

Thanks for the insight We do have childrens benedryl so we're good there.. and yeah the Ped is a bit outdated ?i think.. he was my ped when i was younger... so a lot has changed in 28 years.... and I've told him that too

[cam&kat's_mom]

UPDATE! Back form allergist

So we went today for D's allergy testing. And I really don't knwo any mroe today than i did yesterday, except that "he isn't going to die right now, at this point from eating/beign exposed to these 6 things" (Allergists words)
They did teh skin test for 6 foods. Milk, Eggs, soy, peanut, wheat, corn. None produced a reaction. So the allergist say "thereis no evidence of an allergy based on this test. BUt dont' eat these things or feed them to him because he could react in another way that isn't shown by this test" He did say he would give me an EPI pen if it made me more comfortable (we already have a script for one from the PED) but he doesn't feel that blood testing is accurate and IgG testing is "not valid according to medical journals and therefore ins wont' cover it" (his words again)
SO basically he said tha tI should still avoid teh foods that I have been avoiding and we can retest in 6-12 months if I want. Possibly longer. However they don't do IgG testing as they feel you get too many + results and therefore they aren't accurate, becaseu everything you put into your body is a foreign substance and may show a reaction : He also said that just because the skin tests showed nothing doesn't mean DS isn't having issues with them, it may be affecting his bowels, stomache etc, but not to an anaphalayctic ( i know I spelled that wrong ) level. SO I really know no more today than I did yesterday that i already found out on my own (with teh help of all you lovely people )
SO he said i can go ahead and feed him food if i want and if he has reactions then come back. but don't fed him teh eggs, milk or PB or eat those myself as we have seen reactions at home, just not immediate onset like teh test would show. But other foods are fine. I have no intention of feeding him anythign other than breastmilk right now and for a while and I told him that and he siad that was fine, just for when i do feed him food that he shouldn't have those things. Untl we retest or in 6 months or so i can add them back in one by one and see what happens. So i guess i keep eliminating until no rashes, since he won't do IgG to see if there are delayed to anything that i haven't already discovered and hopefully his rash will stay away. So I'm a bit frustrated to say the least. I am very happy that nothing flared up and showed as highly allergic as that would not be good. but on the other hand i would have liked more solid answers.
The strange thing is thatwhile he did not have a reaction to the tests in the 15 minutes, his back is now (3 hours later) covered with teh same tiny dots he gets when he has that rash that we questioned in the first place.. coincidence?

[WC_hapamama]

The IgE blood tests have a lower rate of accuracy with infants... I don't know why, but that's what I've been told by doctors.

Every doctor we're seen says that a reaction trumps test results, so if your baby is reacting when you eat those foods, it's best to avoid them.

something to add- for some reason, skin testing is less accurate if you have active eczema on the area you're testing on. Our allergists have always refused to skin test if the kids have eczema on their backs and arms.

[USAmma]

I am not sure about IgG for infants, but my insurance covers IgG testing and my dd's doctors all consider it fairly accurate. Not 100%. I would keep doing what you are doing.

[cam&kat's_mom]

Originally Posted by USAmma

I am not sure about IgG for infants, but my insurance covers IgG testing and my dd's doctors all consider it fairly accurate. Not 100%. I would keep doing what you are doing.

That's good to know. I think this Dr isn particular doesn' tagree with it but I'm not asking his advice anymore. I guess our plan is to wait and retest with teh IgG (if our ins will cover it) at a different allergist when DS is about 1 year old. So in about 7 monhts if we are still seeing rashes and stuff form things i eat, or as he starts to eat.