Kids with food allergies

novbride23

My 3 year old has recently tested positive to being allergic to milk, egg whites, and peanuts. We had previously thought it was a gluten sensitivity but after eliminating wheat from his diet, the symptoms still persisted. His symptoms are gastrointestinal- diarhea and bloating. We were referred to an allergist who will administer the skin prick test. I would love to hear from parents who have gone through this. How accurate was the test? Did you see an improvement when the foods were eliminated from the diet? Any false positives (hoping the milk and egg allergy isn't true---poor kid loves his milk and scrambled eggs!) Thanks!

mamarazzi

My 8 month old was tested a few months ago.  I'd already eliminated dairy and soy (I'm nursing) but had only seen marginal improvement.  He was having GI reactions as well -- excessive gas, bloating, vomiting, green and mucousy diapers, fussiness.  When we tried oatmeal cereal, he had a bad reaction that included puffy, red eyes, a rash around his mouth and on his chest and GI symptoms for several days.  That raised a red flag for me and made me want to pursue more testing.  Right before we went in, I had a salad with walnuts in it and he got really sick again.

We saw a pediatric allergist and he did a scratch test (skin sticks) for foods that we suspected (oats) or that were of high concentration in my diet (nuts, eggs, wheat).  He was positive to everything but wheat.  I immediately eliminated the additional allergens and we saw a huge improvement within a couple days.  He's having normal diapers and rarely spitting up.  I can't remember the last time he had a loud, room-clearing fart.

I'd say (unfortunately) the test was pretty accurate.  I think there are still some things he may be allergic to, but we'll have to wait and see.  I was a bit surprised about the positive for peanuts, but he had an contact reaction when DS1 dropped a peanut from Crunch and Munch on the floor and DS2 crawled on top of it and it got stuck to his shirt (swollen/watery/red eyes, rash, rapid breathing).

Good luck with the appointment.  Hope the eggs are negative.  I've found them the hardest to eliminate because there's no good substitution and they're in so much. 

shelleyannr

Hi there -

 Just wanted to say that my DS also is allergic to dairy, egg and peanuts.  He will be three in late October and we have known since he was about 10 months.  He has been tested with the skin test and also the blood test but our new allergist only relies on the skin test as being accurate.  Our DS will be tested yearly with the hope that he will outgrow his dairy and egg allergies.  Apparently, it is much more common to outgrow these allergies vs. the peanut allergy which we have been told is usually life long.  Once you get down reading labels and learning how to cook with substitutes it's not really all that bad.  My DS loves baked goods and I don't think that he feels like he is missing out as I always have plenty of yummy treats on hand that he can have.  Good luck!