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D.C. Area Babies
food allergy testing
I've read in a couple places if children are tested for food allergies before age two, you can end up with incorrect, inconclusive results. But I have a hard time believing this (or maybe I just don't want to!) and think I may need to have Warner tested for a milk allergy--I don't like having to guess. Has anyone had success with food allergy testing with children around a year old?
Now that Warner is one, our ENT said that we could start him on whole milk slowly to see how he does since he said there is a chance that a milk allergy was causing his reflux and was a complicating factor with all of his ear infections (possible, but not a sure thing). So yesterday we added added 2oz of milk to his formula for only one of his bottles and he coughed all afternoon. When I was a baby/child I had asthma as a result of a milk allergy so this scared me a bit, but he's been coughing and sniffly off and on for the past several weeks, so again, I'm not sure if it's related. Today we did the same thing, just one bottle with 2oz of milk in it, mixed with formula and he had diarrhea (sorry if TMI) within about an hour and kept coughing.
He's going to daycare tomorrow,
so I'm definitely not going to give him any milk to drink there because I
want to be able to keep a close eye on him if he's going to drink
anymore. And I am going to call my doctor to discuss this, but
I'd just like to hear any advice that any moms of kids with allergies my
have for me. Thanks!!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: food allergy testing
DD was tested for the major allergens at 9 months after an ER visit due to an anaphylactic wheat reaction. She tested highly positive for several of the major allergens - the highest being wheat, which we knew to be very true. Interestingly, she tested negative for a milk allergy although she most certainly has a milk allergy (well, could be an intolerance). She had the most horrific infected eczema until we stopped milk. She'll be tested for all again in June (one year after the first test). She also tested low positive allergy to dogs - we have three dogs but no reaction at home.
The reality is allergies are not an exact science and can produce inconclusive or incorrect results at any age. The only real way to know is to give the foods in controlled quantities either on your own or with challenge testing. And even that is not 100%, as apparently reactions can differ at any time causing severe reactions when before there were none.
Added: For allergies beyond the major allergens, you have to be specifically tested for those. For example, DD's 2nd ER visit was to Barley (apparently she's allergic to anything with gluten). That was after the allergy testing, but barley is not one of the major allergens.
TTC #2: BFP 12/17/11, m/c 1/7/12 and D&C 1/12/12
baby blog/cooking blog
Children's results are probably more likely to change (may not be allergic at one, but are at two or vice versa) until they hit a certain age - is my assumption to why they recommend not testing until two.
I'd do what you're doing though and still follow up with the doc. If he's allergic right now, it'd be nice to know to be sure! Even if he does grow out of it eventually... Good luck!!
my DD had a cow-milk intolerance and I was off dairy until she was 9mo old. I then added dairy to my diet, continued to BF and she did fine. At 9.5mo old we tried baby yogurt - she developed red spots around her face immediately. Waited a few days (maybe a week), and tried cheese - same thing. Another week - Greek yogurt, same. So we stopped all cow-milk products for her but I was able to eat them (I BFed until she was 14mo old). Around 12.5mo old we tried cow dairy again - she did OK with yogurt, then cheese. And sometime around 13-13.5mo I started adding cow milk to her cup of BM, slowly increasing the ratio of cow milk to BM until she was completely on cow milk at 14mo old (this was also the time I weaned and ran out of frozen BM).
so it is possible that this is something Warner will outgrow.
We took DD to an allergist at a very young age (1st time at 3.5mo) b/c of really bad eczema and she told us that allergy tests for kids under age 2 have a high false positive rate but they can certainly be done.
I would recommend taking him to an allergist, not just your pedi, and see what he/she says.
I don't know if she'll reply, but my friend gives her DD hemp milk instead of cow milk, so that may be another thing you could look into, try hemp milk until he's 2 and then try cow milk again. (Wegman's has it).
FWIW, DD's eczema is really bad again this winter and I can't figure out if it's just the dry/cold weather (she has a warm mist humidifier in her room) or something she's eating. I've taken her off grapes but I am not sure that's it.
There are still many foods we have not let her eat that others her age (almost 1.5) eat - most red fruits, all nuts, honey.
good luck, I know how frustrating this is!
TTC #1 Cycle 14 - IUI#1=BFN, IUI#2=BFP | TTC #2 Cycle 8=BFP!!
we had DDs one-year appointment on Friday and they also told us to start whole milk. Well, we did 1/2 formula 1/2 milk combo and she has been sneezing, diarrhea and this weird grunting like she is having stomach pains ever since. I just left a message with the doctor and will let you know what we hear :-)
weird part is- no reaction to cheese, yogurt, greek yogurt, etc...
that's actually not too surprising, since those other foods have other ingredients whereas milk is just milk.
Because DD doesn't necessarily have a milk allergy per testing, her allergist said it was okay if we wanted to try giving her a small amount of cow's milk to test for a reaction. I'm not afraid of an anaphylactic reaction with the milk, but at the moment I don't want to risk the other issues that may arise - eczema, ear infections, GI issues, etc. that are often associated with milk. Might try in a few months.
I tried giving DD hemp milk about 15 months but she rejected it and threw up (minor). Given her history, I waited and just tried it again a week ago at 18 months. She loves it - Success! I'm so happy. We had been giving her Alimentum and rice milk all this time - keeping the Alimentum because rice milk has no fat/protein. Hemp milk is cheaper than Alimentum, but it's still expensive. $3.99/32oz. So like paying $15.96 for a gallon of milk. Ugh.
Lots of good advice has been given so far and I don't have much to add. My DD is dairy intolerant, though we have not had her tested because her reactions were so obvious. Found out when she was 5 weeks old and I immediately stoppped all dairy and was never able to add it back in. We tried yogurt a few months ago (she's almost 20 months) and she became cranky and didn't have a BM for a week (she usually goes 2 x per day). Her GI said it was fine, but I think her body is saying I don't want this, so we stopped it. His suggestion was to try yogurt for one week, if that works, then cheese for one week and if that works milk. We'll try again soon. She was a reflux/ear infection baby too - reflux stopped around 11 months and ear infections stopped with tubes at 12 months. I give her hemp milk and have since she was 13 months old (we BFd until 17 months). In my research, hemp milk has the most protein (still not much), fat and calories when you compare it to the other milks. We stay away from soy because of the recent studies on soy and children. Wegman's sells a 32 oz container of hemp milk for $3.79. I have not tried her on goat products yet.