If your milk allergic LO tolerates BAKED milk, please come in
WYEngTeacher
member
DD just passed her baked milk challenge last week - yay! (If you are unfamiliar with the new study on the high number of children who can apparently tolerate baked milk, which in turn accelerates their outgrowth of the allergy altogether, please ask me for details!) She is DEFINITELY still allergic to raw milk, but it has been amazing to watch her eat "real" pancakes, chocolate chip cookies, goldfish crackers, etc. over the past week with no reaction!
I've realized, however, how confusing it is to decide what foods "count" as baked. I think it's more complicated to decide what she can eat now than it was before! The dr. said the general rule is that if something is "shelf stable" (doesn't need to be refrigerated), it's "okay". Anyone else have a child like mine who has more experience with this and can lend some insight? For example, do Doritos count as "safe"? They confuse me because the seasoning contains milk and cheese, and they appear to be seasoned AFTER the chip is baked, but they're still shelf stable. Also, what about a doughnut, or a funnel cake? They're deep fried, not baked, but it's still a really high temperature. (and on that note, I did make pancakes on a griddle at 400+ degrees, rather than actually baked in the oven, and she did fine with them).
Finally, if you have a milk allergic child who passed the baked challenge, how did he/she do with chocolate? Our allergist was unsure whether to "count" chocolate as safe... she said it theoretically should be fine, but it can be "weird", so I should just try a small piece at first and watch DD carefully. I'm so nervous to try it... DD did get hives from a tootsie roll pop this fall (not sure how that compares to chocolate).
I hope someone else out there is in my boat and can lend some insight!
Re: If your milk allergic LO tolerates BAKED milk, please come in
I don't know any "real" answers for you, but I could give you my opinion, if that matters.
I would say baked, means the milk product is actually baked or cooked at a high temp - like your pancakes. They were not baked, but cooked enough to act like baked.
I would say no to the doritos or any cheese powder coated item. It's basically just dried milk coating the chip. Same with thinks like the cheese and cracker type shelf stable item. It would be the same as giving your kid a hunk of cheese, IMO.
I would possibly try pizza or pasta with baked mozzarella cheese, if you are interested. I BF my dairy sensitive kiddo and I can eat pizza once in a while without her showing any effects. (not that it's the same as her eating it... )
RE: Chocolate, I would say if it is in a cookie or something baked, go for it. If not, try to find chocolate without dairy in it. Some of the darker chocolate bars don't have it, or some of the semisweet chocolate chips are sans dairy. So are the truffles that are out at whole foods now. YUM! I wouldn't try regular milk chocolate though - it does contain milk that is not "baked" as far as I know.
Good luck!
I am so glad you posted this!! DS2 was recently given a milk/soy allergy diagnosis (at 11.5 months) based on his reactions to soy and other milk based formulas. He had severe diaper rash, diareha, and dry patchy skin. We swithched to almond milk and dropped all formula and bottles but this also meant more table foods. Fortunately he has done great with the almond milk/table food transition and his symptoms cleared up within 24 hours but now I question everything that has milk or soy in the lable. The pedi mentioned that baked milk or soy items were ok but I'm struggling to figure out how baked is baked enough??
It's been a little over a month and I can tell when he has eaten something that upsets him but it's usually difficult to pinpoint exactly what it was - especially since he is a daycare baby. I guess we are just in a trial and error phase.
Do you have any tips or "rules" to follow to figure this out? We have not seen an allergist, only our regular pediatrician.
TIA!
DD can handled milk baked in so like your DC pancakes, goldfish, cookies and cake are fine. Cheez it's and Doritos are a no go. I've also noticed that if she gets to much of these things in a span of a few days her eczema does flare up a bit.
I try and limit her intake to 1-2xs a week.
I would first and foremost recommend that you see a pediatric allergist. I don't want to scare you, but allergies can be very dangerous, and you should probably be under the guidance of an expert in allergies. For example, at your son's age (DD was diagnosed at 9 months), our allergist did NOT want us giving almond milk - even though DD had tested not-allergic to nuts - just because of the risk of other common food allergies (having one makes you more prone to others). Do you have an Epipen from your regular pedi? If not, you should have one and carry it with you at all times. You never know when your child could have a severe reaction, especially if you are using trial and error (typically total avoidance is the treatment for food allergies with children as young as your son). Without an allergist's advice, you probably SHOULD be questioning (and avoiding) EVERYTHING with milk or soy in the label. At least, that was the "rule" we lived by until she passed her challenge last week! Has your pedi done both skin and blood tests to determine the severity of your son's allergy? If not, that's another reason to go to an allergist... not sure how your pedi could determine that he can tolerate baked milk/soy without a challenge..?
With all that said, it's great that he seems able to tolerate baked milk! I don't know how it works with soy, but as for milk, our allergist said that it needed to be extensively heated, or cooked at a very high temperature. As I said in my OP, the general rule she used was that if a food doesn't need to be refrigerated, it is probably "okay". Other than that, I can't really answer your actual question because of the similar confusion I have myself! I have a call in to DD's allergist regarding what foods "count" (baked cheese? doughnuts? a scrambled egg with milk? etc.), but am still waiting to hear back. I will update!
Good luck with your son's allergies. It sounds like they aren't too severe (my DD always reacted with immediate hives from even the most brief skin contact with a milk-containing food). I'd try to get him in to see an allergist, though, just to get some more precise info and know you're doing everything that you should. GL!
Update: Allergist said that doughnuts, funnel cake, and doritos are okay, but baked cheese (i.e. ziti) and scrambled eggs are a no-go.
However.... I gave DD a dorito tonight and she got hives.
I felt awful! She didn't even like it anyway.
So... just as we suspected, doritos are a no-go afterall. I'm curious why the dr. said no to scrambled eggs, though. It's still cooked at a high temp, just like a pancake, right? And she had previously said that french toast is probably okay, so what is really the difference between french toast and a scrambled egg? After tonight, I'm nervous to get too "confident" and try tons of stuff, though...
Very interesting post! DS's milk allergy is somewhat mild so allergist allows him to have dairy items he's tolerated before we learned of the allergy. He can tolerate all baked items of course and can definitely do pancakes and french toast with no problem. I had no idea though what the difference between the french toast and scrambled eggs would be. Interestingly enough, DS can also have casseroles with baked cheese on top as well as pizza, but he cannot however have a grilled cheese where it has only been melted in a pan.
Congrats on the successful challenge!!
Hi Wyengteach,
My DS passed his baked milk challenge about the same time as your daughter (12/12/11).
I'm curious - did you ever give your daughter chocolate?
We've enjoyed watching our son experience new foods - boy does he love waffles! But, we've been too nervous to try chocolate.