Should I suspect an allergy?

[Crunchie]

Hi all,

I'm beginning to wonder if I shouldn't look into the possibility that my little one has allergies. Here's the deal: DS is 14 months old. We've never had any big issues (colic, etc.). He is very small for his age--barely on the charts--but my husband is itty-bitty and didn't make into any kind of "normal" range until he was ~30 yrs. old. So while the ped freaks out about his weight, I do not because he is following a curve (and has been steady at about 20% for weight for his height). But this is what concerns me(here's where I talk about poop ). He has never had any solid poo, except on rare occasions. He does not have diarrhea, but his poo is always soft. Now he does eat a lot of high-fiber foods and a lot of flax oil, as well as nurses several times per day--so I just assumed that "things" were just moving along extra well. Also, a few times he has pooped at night without us knowing and went a long time with a dirty diaper--this has resulted in a nasty, nasty rash. A rash where a few spots on his skin are actually broken/bleeding. I thought that this was because he had gone so long in a dirty diaper, but combined with all of the above factors....should I look into the possibility that DS has an allergy? He eats well and I have always believed that his tiny-ness was genetic. He's certainly perfectly find developmentally, even ahead in some areas.

We did see a gastro specialist when he was about 7 months old because our ped refused to see him anymore if we didn't. The ped had diagnosed him as failure to thrive; the specialist sad that was a load of baloney and that he was fine, just a little guy.

So, in a nutshell, none of these things by themselves seems particularly concerning to me, but I wonder if considered together if there should be something more to look into...

[elanorh]

I'm sure you'll get lots of responses here .... Off the top of my head, here's what I would wonder --

It sounds like your only signs of potential food allergy are smallness, and the dirty diaper/rash when in dirty diaper too long (and soft poo) .... IMO, if those are the only signs, I doubt it's a food allergy, especially given that your spouse's history suggests that your ds's size is genetically based. IME, most kids will get rashy if they're left with a dirty diaper overlong. And, if your little one is getting a good amount of his caloric intake via breastmilk, he may still be having quite soft stools. Are they soft, or are they runny?

Some signs that there may be an undiagnosed food allergy in an infant/child:

*Sleep issues (difficulty sleeping at night or naptimes, interrupted sleep)
*Constipation - or diarrhea
*Dark circles around the eyes ("allergic shiners")
*Red ring on bottom
*Eczema/rashiness (on body or bottom)
*Congestion
*Irritability, fussiness, "colic"
*Reflux
*Seeming to avoid particular foods (i.e., both my girls avoid their allergenic foods, dairy and egg)

....I know there are more, this is just from the top of my head. Are you seeing any of these things? Is there a family history of allergies of any kind on you or your spouse's parts? This would include seasonal or environmental allergies....

[Crunchie]

Thank you for your detailed response, Elanor!

He does not have difficulty sleeping, for the most part. He has been sleeping through the night for a few months now. We do occasionally have a night (or few) where he'll wake once or twice (and usually nurse back to sleep fairly quickly) but usually this seems to be associated with teething.

His BMs are not runny, just quite soft--sometimes we have "blowouts," and it doesn't fall off of the diaper if I try to shake it in the toilet (we use cloth). Consistency of mashed potatoes, if that's not TMI.

No dark circles under his eyes.

No red ring on bottom. No rashiness usually--but when we do have a diaper rash, it is really bad. But, like I said, poor guy went Lord knows how long with poo in his diaper and I agree--that would have to be extremely irritating. Thankfully we co-sleep--this last time he woke because of it and I smelled it before I just nursed him back to sleep! He does have little pimple-type things on his legs and a few on his arms. They look like little teeny whiteheads. The ped said it was dry skin. They aren't itchy or red/inflamed.

No congestion.

He was not a colicky baby, but he is pretty needy as a toddler. I don't think this is associated with anything physical, though--mental stimulation usually fixes the grumpiness (if he's not tired or hungry, of course).

He did start spitting up more as a baby when we started solids, but it was never a lot (a couple times a day at its worst) and he has never been diagnosed with reflux.

Not much in the way of allergies in either of our families. My husband's dad is pretty laid out by pollen, and my mom and I are both anaphylactic to bees. DH and I have both been extensively tested for food and environmental allergies and we don't have a single one (except for me and the bees). Me because I had a severe skin issue that I couldn't figure out (has been gone for years), and him, well he has strange issues that have never been diagnosed (passing out or near passing out for no reason, and generally feeling like crap). DH has also been tested for Celiac (he's not), partly because of his size (he really did look malnourished as a young man--he was 5' 8" and ~130 lbs when we met) and partly for the above described issues.

I may be overreacting, as he doesn't have many symptoms of an allergy. But every now and then I freak myself out a little bit over his weight (probably has a bit to do with the darn ped and those darn charts, giving me a complex , when instead I should accept that he is just a little guy and he's going to be who he is meant to be--and that is fine. I just want to make sure that I'm not overlooking any physical/health reason for his size.

[changingseasons]

I wanted to agree that it doesn't sound like he has many allergy symptoms... until I read that he started spitting up more after starting solids. Was he introduced to dairy at that time? Or soy? Or eggs? Or gluten? (those are the top offenders for babes.)

It sounds pretty mild IF he does have an intolerance... maybe take out dairy for a few weeks and see if anything changes?

I say listen to your gut. If you think that there might be something else going on, then check it out.

[Crunchie]

Originally Posted by changingseasons

I wanted to agree that it doesn't sound like he has many allergy symptoms... until I read that he started spitting up more after starting solids. Was he introduced to dairy at that time? Or soy? Or eggs? Or gluten? (those are the top offenders for babes.)

It sounds pretty mild IF he does have an intolerance... maybe take out dairy for a few weeks and see if anything changes?

I say listen to your gut. If you think that there might be something else going on, then check it out.

No, when we started solids we started with the usual low-allergenic foods...avacado, banana, apples, sweet potatoes, etc. I waited 'till almost a year for dairy (only introduced yogurt and then cheese) and a year for eggs and wheat. He's never had plain whole milk--never tried, he still nurses and won't even drink bmilk out of a cup so I don't think he'd go for cow's milk even I wanted to give it to him. I don't know why something is nagging me--I think I'm just an overly paranoid mom! I thought about cutting out dairy for a couple of weeks and see what happens, but I'm also overly paranoid about getting enough calories into him--he loves yogurt and cheese, they are an easy way to get good fats and calories into him.