New here with questions!
Hi, I'm new on this board so sorry if anything I say has already been asked. I have a nine month old daughter Rosie. Her daddy is severely allergic to eggs, poultry, tree nuts, and shellfish. Her pedi says to just give her the food and see if she has any allergic reaction and if she does just don't give her that food any longer. But, the thing that bothers me is that her daddy is DEATHLY allergic to the food mentioned and I don't know how allergic my daughter will be if at all. What are the chances that she will be as allergic as her Father? I asked the pedi about getting Rosie tested and she told me to wait till she is at lest two, and the probable for me is that I have a two year from a previous relationship,so she isn't allergic to anything, and she has started giving her little sister her food, and I don't want to find out the wrong way that she is allergic!
TIA
Re: New here with questions!
first of all
to your pedi!!!!!! is he serious? just give it to her? that is insane!
my doctors told me that if one parent has the allergy the risk of a child is much higher. hopefully yours doesn't have it but i would never just give it to her to see if she reacts! oh my..
My last trip to the allergist i asked her how early can she test my second baby if there are no known reactions and she said 6 months. No one in my or my DH's family has allergies.. my DS is the first (milk, soy, eggs, peanuts).
I think you should find an allergist on your own and just go get her tested for a piece of mind. That is absolutely ridiculous that her pedi said "just give it to her and see what happens... " she obviously doesn't take food allergies seriously.
Don't forget the second exposure "rule", so if you decide to give her egg at the pedis appt, make sure you do it again on the second time. Since most reactions happen on the second exposure. My son had an ana reaction to eggs on his second exposure.
Hi there! I've been in your shoes before. I am the one in our family who has all the severe food allergies, but I remember the confusion when it came to figuring out how to introduce my daughter to the foods I was allergic to.
Question #1--Did you breastfeed? If you did, did you consume those items while nursing?
If you did breastfeed and consume those items, then she's probably been exposed to those proteins before. That doesn't mean anything specifically, but it's an important thing to know.
Allergies don't usually appear on the 1st exposure, which is why I mentioned that. So if you're trying egg "for the first time" with her but she's already had egg via breastmilk, then there *could* be a potential reaction (since it isn't the first time, it's the 2nd, 3rd, etc. time--make sense?).
2 things can be said about introducing new foods with a family history:
1) start baked
2) start small
In some cases, baking breaks down the proteins in a food that tend to cause an allergic reaction. Some people who are allergic to eggs can eat baked-in eggs. Some people who are allergic to milk can eat baked-in milk. So you could try eggs with her by making something (like muffins?) that contain all other ingredients that she's had and watch for a potential reaction there. As for poultry, start with a tiny piece. Don't give her a whole chicken leg, but maybe a bite. And then the next time give her 2 bites.
Make sure to have Benadryl and the proper dosage for her age handy JUST IN CASE.
As for shellfish and tree nuts, I'd hold off on them until at least age 2. Are those items in your home and do you feed them to your other daughter? I guess that could cause a problem, especially if your first daughter is feeding Rosie. DD wasn't introduced to tree nuts or seafood until age 2, and we were waiting until 5 for peanuts but then she had an accidental exposure. I just don't know if these foods Rosie's daddy is allergic to are also in your home? Like in our home, we're peanut, tree nut, shellfish, and seafood free. But we still have beans, wheat, eggs, milk, and soy in the house, despite my allergies (which are severe, but I can't put the whole fam on my limited diet).
And about her chances of being allergic--my allergist always tells me that my allergies increases my child's LIKELIHOOD of developing food allergies, but there's no "hereditary" aspect to specific food allergies (so I am allergic to a lot but my kid could be OK with all those things and allergic to something else I eat just fine).
FWIW, DD is almost 7 and has no known food allergies, despite all of mine.
that's really good advice.. and much safer with having something in baked goods.
my son would still have an ana reaction w/ having eggs in baked goods but i'm sure not as bad as scrambled eggs.
I don't have much experience, so I can't really respond, however eczema is often a symptom of a food allergy. You may need to get a new pedi who understands allergies better.
Agreed. With that new information, I'd even wonder if she's reacting to something in the formula she's on (corn, soy, or milk tend to be the common ones).
DH is allergic to a long list of fruits and nuts, and has epipens for them. His are deadly as well. Because of this, we waited until 14 months to introduce most of the things he is allergic too, so if there was a reaction she'd be a bit older and better able to handle it. ANd because his are fruit, and she was starting daycare at 16 months, we wanted to be able to tell them if she was allergic to anything. We first tested her by putting some on her cheek - if she reacted (she didn't) then we would know to avoid it and have testing done. So far, she has not reacted to any of the fruits we have tried with her. We haven't tried the nuts, or some of the more rare fruits that DH is allergic too because they are easy to avoid.
Also, some fruits are in the same family as some tree nuts so you want to be careful with those as well.