Has everyone done allergy testing for their LO?

IndieMum

I haven't taken him yet.

He'll be a year next Saturday.

I am still BFing and have narrowed down my suspicions as far as his allergies (some more obvious than others - like dairy/soy/shellfish/eggs) with things he's had a rash reaction to through my milk.

I guess what I'm wondering is this: is there a certain age where you're most likely to get an accurate diagnosis?

I will be switching pediatricians because my current one is not concerned about his 'eczema' and doesn't seem to think it's a big deal that he busts out nasty rashes, and told me last winter/spring to put aquaphor all over his face. Yeah well that didn't work. Thanks to the internet, I figured out the allergy thing on my own but yeah...

 

Moral of the story, if you've done allergy testing how old was your baby, was insurance cool about covering the testing, were the results pretty spot-on, and what kind of testing was it?

 

THANKS!

p.s. I'm really happy this board exists. 

luvmagoldn

Welcome!

DS#3 was tested (blood test called RAST) at seven months by a pediatric allergist. He was tested at 7 months, one year and again at 2 years.  He will be tested every year going forward.

We were told to expect DS's numbers to go up at two years old.  Evidently that's when their immune systems mature.  

Insurance covered the testing - no problems there.  The results explained a lot.  He did have a false positive right off the bat (soy) and has tested positive for a couple of things he's never had (egg, tree nuts).  We are going to do food challenges for those in the next few months.

But the tests did diagnose milk and peanut allergies which we have subsequently had confirmed through accidental exposure.

I would find an allergist that has experience with LO's and have the testing done. At least then you will have an idea of what you are dealing with.

 Good luck! 

loveemandle2

My daughter wasn't tested until 2 and my son was just tested at alomst 17 months.  My DD was much like what you were describing.. she had constant eczema from about 10 months on, she only broke out into hives twice.  So, finally after thes second hive incident and a year od dealing with the eczema we got referred to an allergist.  We did the RAST blood test and she tested postive for dairy, eggs, and peanuts. 

 The allergist say the younger they test the more inaccurate they can be, but in your case since you think your son is reacting to something and has the physical signs I would ask for a referral.  GL!

 

 ETA: insurance covered all of the testing.

MrsBeckO

DD had a skin prick test right around a year old. She had been suffering for almost 3 weeks with hives and swelling in her face, even with Benadryl, and we were finally able to get her appt at the allergist. The test showed an allergy to peanuts, dogs, and cats. So far, as evidenced with accidental exposures, all have proven true. 

We will have the RAST testing done in a couple months, when she's 2.

Insurance covered our testing. 

Fuzzy8252

DD was tested (RAST) at 7 months after having horrible eczema. After we tried a few different lotions and such, our pedi referred us to an allergist. We tested positvie for loads of stuff, which as soon as I took them out of my diet and hers (we were just starting solids), the eczema cleared up. At about 9 months, we had an ana reaction, so we had to test again. This time, although she had tested for it before and came back negative, she was allergic to dairy. Since we've eliminated everything, her eczema has been fine.

She's almost 17 months now, and we're not planning on testing again until next March, which will be a year from when they ran her last panel (I had her tested for strawberries on the off chance.... which of course, she had a low reaction to). Between now and then, her allergist doesn't really think much will change with her allergies. She's been really stable since diagnosing the dairy allergy. We were going to do some skin testing for seasonal allergies this spring, but luckily they had enough serum saved from the last blood draw to avoid any furthing draws or testing.

Fuzzy8252

Oh yeah... and insurance covered a good chunk of the testing. Too bad they won't cover the Neocate. Grumbles out of post...

VIBride06

 DS  had skin test @ 22 months for food allergies.   Planning to visit a new pediatric allergist who is opening an office closer to where we live next month and request  RAST test.

Lil Kate

Did allergy testing at 12 months due to severe eczema, chronic ear infections, cough, wheezing, bloating, and abdominal cramping.  Ds was allergic to soy, eggs, and peanut.  We had swithced him to soy formula at 6 months because we though he was allergic to dairy...big mistake.  I would definitely get testing since what we though was actually the opposite.  Since removing these items his eczema has improved drastically.  We jsut started him on lactaid since the doctor thinks he may be lactose intolerant but it is not going well at all.....wondering if it was a false negative.  Insurance covered the testing....GL

IndieMum

Thank you all for responding... I really appreciate it!

macchiatto

Our pedi went ahead and sent Will to the allergist when he was only 10m. I've heard many allergists won't see patients or at least won't do testing till a child is 2 or 3 for various reasons. Back story was that we have family Hx on both sides of the whole atopic triad, and both boys (but especially Will) had MAJOR eczema starting around 2 weeks old, so we knew they were likely to have food allergies.

Then as we started solids, Will was having SO many major eczema flareups and sometimes it was hard to tell if it was really the food or not, but he had possible reactions to 6 different foods. So he had the skin test and an allergy consult at 10m and then at 15m both boys had skin tests done as part of a study we were participating in. That's how we found out Alex was allergic to eggs, and Will to peanuts (he had a RAST test as well). Will then had a followup appt a year later with skin test, and then a food challenge to confirmed he'd outgrown the peanut allergy.