Skin test positive for milk allergy. Would you push for blood test?

GoBleu

Shoutout: I am very happy to have this board join the Bump as I always had to fish for info in my child's age group, breastfeeding and special needs boards to try to find other parents tackling these challenges.

Background: At 3 months, my little man started having more frequent stools and occasionally some with mucus.  I was interested in still breastfeeding so my pedi suggested we remove milk and soy from my diet.  That didn't work completely so a gastroenterologist suggested I remove egg, nuts, fish, in addition to the milk and soy and that I could start adding them back into my diet, one at a time -- except for milk -- when LO turned 6 months.  Everything went well.  After 7 months without pizza though, I did have a slice when I went home to Chicago and LO showed no effects.  Feeling confident, we gave regular formula a try and LO did break out with 6 spots around his mouth that disappeared within 30 minutes the 4 times we gave it to him.  We told the pedi and she suggested we see an allergist as we approach the age I am interested in weaning and relying more on table foods. 

Testing concerns: We went to the allergist yesterday and while we thought we would be getting a blood test I think the allergist was optimistic since we had not experienced any eczema, wheezing, sneezing, odd diapers so he suggested we do the skin test.  We did and oy!  The hive from the milk was three times the size of the positive histamine hive.  

I asked the doctor if the blood test would have given us a number that we could gauge the severity on and it seemed like it would but he didn't seem all that interested in knowing it and gave us a prescription for an epi pen. Would you want to do a blood test to know the number or is knowing to avoid milk enough? 

welcel

I would do a blood test because then you can then monitor if the allergy is getting worse or better at each appointment depending on the levels.

aniceucchik

We were told that the blood test is less accurate than the skin test, but I do like the idea of knowing the specific levels of each allergy. For example, Jacobs dairy is the highest, while the egg is the lowest and the pnut is in the middle, closer to the dairy end. It wouldnt hurt to know...

CareBear0607

aniceucchik:

We were told that the blood test is less accurate than the skin test, but I do like the idea of knowing the specific levels of each allergy. For example, Jacobs dairy is the highest, while the egg is the lowest and the pnut is in the middle, closer to the dairy end. It wouldnt hurt to know...

This.

g_belle

Our allergist does the skin test first and the blood test to confirm.  Both tests can give false positives and negatives.  Positive results on both though mean you can be fairly certain of a true allergy. 

With that said- at 10 months we just did the skin test.  We did the blood work at just past one year adjusted and everything matched with the skin test.  That's when we got our epi pen. 

magdusia

absolutely!  i would also change my allergist.  I couldn't stand our first one b/c he dismissed a ton and wasn't super kid friendly. My second allergist is fantastic and pretty much is my teacher on allergies.

I think you should have blood work b/c you can test him for the top 8 allergies automatically. you can also find the levels and then when you test in a year or so again, you can compare the levels and see if he's getting better or worse 

 

JoshnEllen

I honestly don't see a need foe a blood test for my DD. We found her dairy allergy at about age one. When trying to intro milk, she had major vomitting within 15 minutes of exposure. With cheese, rash around mouth within minutes. With both , hives on tru k within minutes of exposure. We went to allergist who automatically skin tested for the top allergens. He uses a scale of 0-4 for allergies based on the size of the welt on skin test. Between DD reactions and a 4 on her skin test, I know she is very allergic and don't need a blood test to confirm. We also had at a year a 2 for wheat, 1 for peanuts, and 2 for cats and dogs. At age 18 months, the dog allergy worsened and we had to give our dog away and have house professionally cleaned. The wheat allergy had gone at that point. At age two, as suspected, we started seeing evidence of environmental allergies that were confirmed with skin test. We get skin tested once a year to check level of known allergies and any new suspected allergies. Luckily, DD does very well for her skin tests. We do see a pediatric allergist.

bobbers 119

Good Luck with everything! We will be having the blood test done in a couple weeks (1 wk shy of DD's 1st bday). Doctor recommended it first then after that the skin test if needed. I suspect maybe slight milk allergy/sensitivity or allergy to dogs. She has had a runny nose since the end of October..........it does not clear up with antibiotics. When i introduced her to milk she got an AWFUL butt rash when she pooped, very gassy. Once i took milk away her bottom cleared up within a couple days (runny nose stayed). She is on toddler formula now and her bottom has gotten a little red but nothing compared to when on whole milk.

nancyandnate

It has been over a year since our first blood test, so I might not be remembering correctly....but I thought that we were told not to read too much into the specific number.  I thought if it was around the "threshold" of having an allergy, it could be either way, but that once it was in the positive range the number did not translate to severity of the allergy?  Don't quote me on it.