New to this board...Milk Allergy ?s

mrsmac08 · January 2012

I have 9.5 month old twins, DD had a milk allergy challenge yesterday and it did not go well. She was fine until we were home about an hour (this would have been about 3 1/2 hours after we started the challenge) and then started violently vomiting. So, we are going to be dairy free.

A couple questions....any with a milk allergy have a similar reaction with delayed vomiting and no hives? (This was only her 3rd exposure, so I don't know if that makes a difference)

Does the allergist normally provide a list of ingredients to avoid and an idea of what your child should be eating? Ours didn't do any of this and I'm thinking maybe I need to take her to a pediatric specialist, but I don't know if that's something more for her pediatrician. I know she's fine with the soy formula, but she's starting to eat a lot more solids and we'd like to be giving them table food soon.

DS (her twin brother) could potentially have an allergy to soy (He has had his sister's soy formula accidentaly with no reaction though, but the allergist said he can't be sure there is no allergy based on that, which was somewhat confusing to me) Any advice on what to do when siblings have different allergies? I assume the whole family changes their diet. I'm not sure what the pediatrician will say about moving to whole milk for DS.

Thank you for any help you can offer!!

tbmadeamistake · January 2012

Personally, I would change the whole family's diet. Especially when they start getting to the age where they can potentially get food without your help, you wouldn't want one of them accidentally grabbing the wrong food, or assuming that because their twin can eat it, so can they. I've done dairy free for myself before and it's really not that hard (cheese was my biggest loss, I hate the subs). I highly recommend Earth Balance spread as a butter alt. and I like most of the milk subs as well. My allergist did give me a list of foods to avoid/make sure I read the ingredients, but that was an adult allergist so I'm not sure if there's a difference there. GL!

ohioroots · January 2012

My DD has delayed reactions to everything she eats. All of her symptoms are GI related (vomiting, gas, diarrhea, etc.) and its usually not until she's been exposed to something multiple times.

Agree with PP about changing the whole family's diet, especially if you're only dealing with dairy and soy. Yeah it sucks because a lot of dairy substitutes are soy, but since DD is allergic to both I know it is possible to avoid both. I would think that you should also avoid whole milk for your DS (if the pedi agrees). Its hard enough to keep my daughter from giving her sippy cup to the dog. Once your twins are walking and able to drink by themselves it will be really difficult to keep it straight. Unless your DS starts losing a lot of weight or something, I would try to stick to an alternative.

Our allergist never gave us a list of foods or ingredients to avoid. The top 8 allergens are required to somehow be highlighted on lists of ingredients though (most packages will say at the end of the list contains: peanuts, soy, etc.) and both milk and soy are in the top 8, so it shouldn't be too difficult. Our allergist also isn't super-worried though since DD's reactions aren't life-threatening, just uncomfortable.

If you really are unsure about the soy allergy, I would schedule a soy challenge for your DS. HTH

mrsmac08 · January 2012

Thank you for the responses! This is all new to me.

DS has reflux and has been on special formula for that, which DD is allergic to, so that's been hard enough because I'm always worried someone will mix up the bottles. So, I think changing the whole family's diet will make sense.

I think I will try to take both babies to a pediatric allergist because I didn't feel totally comfortable with how the allergist we saw left things. He was sort of just like, she has a milk allergy so don't give her milk, and we'll challenge her again in 6 months or so. I feel like I need a little more direction than that, although maybe the pedi will provide a bit more on their nutritional requirements.

lrn327 · January 2012

Sorry you're dealing with this. It's a whole new world, I know. My DS has immediate hive reactions so not sure about the delayed reactions but I guess it is possible. I don't have tons of experience in allergies but do find it maybe a little unusual that the dr gave your infant a milk challenge. Normally I thought they did blood work and watched for the levels to go down before trying the challenge, but I'll defer to those with older children/more experience. My DS's dr definitely provided us with a list of items to avoid - basically all of the names that "milk" can go by. You mentioned a pediatric allergist. If you have access, you might try here. As far as I can understand, it could potentially be a long relationship (we visit ever 3-6 months) so you want to like/trust the dr you have. All the best!

mrsmac08 · January 2012

Thanks! All of her testing has come back negative. (Apparently, from what I'm told, 5% of milk allergies have a false negative on the patch tests and Rast test - which I guess could also be happening because of her somewhat delayed reaction) So, that is why we did the challenge.

But, he talked about challenging her again in 6 months, so I think I would like to go to see someone else.

In the meantime, they are eating a ton of solids....did you start to introduce soy or rice yogurts and other similar products at this point? If DD didn't have a milk allergy, we would have been giving them yogurt and cheese now, so I'm not sure if we should starting giving them alternatives.

Rachel*Neocate · January 2012

My LO has a dairy, soy, egg allergy and so far we haven't changed the whole family's diet, just mine and his (I'm BFing), but I think it's a good idea to get everyone involved. Here is a list for hidden dairy that I find helpful when reading labels:

https://kellymom.com/store/freehandouts/hidden-dairy01.pdf

https://www.godairyfree.org/Table/Food-to-Eat/Food-Label-Info/

Some other good resources are FAAN's website:

https://www.foodallergy.org/recipes

and these:

Allergy Moms (www.allergymoms.com

Kids With Food Allergies (www.kidswithfoodallergies.org)

Food Allergy Living (www.foodallergyliving.net)

https://bit.ly/d9QVFL (cookbook)

ohioroots · January 2012

MrsMac08:
Thanks! All of her testing has come back negative. (Apparently, from what I'm told, 5% of milk allergies have a false negative on the patch tests and Rast test - which I guess could also be happening because of her somewhat delayed reaction) So, that is why we did the challenge.

But, he talked about challenging her again in 6 months, so I think I would like to go to see someone else.

In the meantime, they are eating a ton of solids....did you start to introduce soy or rice yogurts and other similar products at this point? If DD didn't have a milk allergy, we would have been giving them yogurt and cheese now, so I'm not sure if we should starting giving them alternatives.

SoDelicious makes a coconut milk yogurt that is really yummy and both of your LO's could eat it And yes, we started it around the age your kids are.

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New to this board...Milk Allergy ?s

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