Allergist appt. coming up for DS, any tips?

[LarsMal]

I was actually surprised when our allergist said she was testing for everything (except the foods he was tolerating). I thought she would just be testing for the "big ones". It was the allergist (not the ped.) who told me that there are a lot of false positives. She said that there are many adults walking around thinking they are allergic to 20 different things, but aren't. Made me want to get re-tested for the tree nut allergy I've claimed I've had all my life!

She did say that my DS could still develop certain allergies (animal, environmental) but for now he's good. She also said that since he has the dairy and egg allergy, any wheezing is a sign of asthma- even if it seems to be related to a cold. There is an 85% chance he'll grow out of his food allergies, but for now he's an Epi Pen kid! I hope you have better luck with your results!

[LarsMal]

Oh, one final thing (she gave me a lot of info that day!)...she said that #2 (due in Jan.) has a 20% chance of having the same allergies as #1. She said when I'm ready to stop BF and switch to formula, I can have her tested for just the milk allergy. That way I'll know what direction to go when choosing a formula. I thought that was kind of cool. Keep that in mind if you have another!

[DrSally]

Thanks for the recommendation. I drove to New Haven for my OB, whom I loved (Tony Asis), but it's too far for a ped. It's at least 45 min, and with the waits and all. At the allergist we waited an hour for our 2 hour appt, and then yesterday at his checkup, we were there a total of 2.5 hours due to all the waiting! The new one we have is part of the same practice, and we happened to see her for a sick visit. I feel I get so much more out of our visits and she is responsive. She is mainstream on things like--don't use BFing for comfort, they should sleep through the night by 6 months, they should have 3 meals a day by 6 months, but she doesn't push it. Those were the only things I didn't like about yesterday's appt. Otherwise, she was great, and said she would do a blood test for the other allergies and then refer me to a more kid-experienced allergist if needed.

[DrSally]

Thanks for the info, now I'm convinced this allergist had very little experience with children. Are kids with dairy and egg allergies more likely to get asthma? Very good to know about the chances of #2 having the same allergy as well. I hope to be able to BF #2 as well, but you never know. Allimenutm is so expensive, isn't it?

[LarsMal]

Allimentum is very expensive. I was able to BF Landon for 7 months, slowly weaning him (starting around 5 months) so I was able to stretch the formula out a bit. He was on it, exclusively, from 7-9 months, and then at 9 months we switched to Good Start. He was able to handle that, with some minor eczema on his cheeks. Once we took him off all dairy at 1, the eczema went away and he's been great.

I don't know if children with egg and dairy allergies are more likely to get asthma. I think the doctor was just letting me know that, in general, a child with allergies has a higher chance of having asthma. She didn't make it sound like it was a guarantee, just to keep an eye out for it.

The doctor I saw is a pediatric allergist, so maybe your pediatrician can recommend one if the person you saw is just a general allergist.

Julie

[Kendra]

I know this thread died a while ago but I'm looking for all the info I can get, as DD was diagnosed (by skin test) with egg, dairy and tree nut (and possibly wheat and fish) allergies yesterday. Today we went for the blood test to get more info, which was much less a deal than the skin test.

For anyone looking at the initial question, the allergist appt. consisted of a consultation and questions about her food history and symptoms, and then a skin test, where they used a plastic device to "imprint" some allergens on DD's back. They tested her for a lot more than most on this thread, so I'm surprised: cashew/tree nuts (big positive), egg (both white, yolk and whole, big positive), milk (less but positive), strawberries, peanuts, shellfish, fish, wheat, soy, and a couple other things I think but I can't remember. She already has eczema so that made the reading harder as everyplace they tested had a little mark anyway, even the negative, from her skin being sensitive. The worst part was keeping her on her tummy for 5 minutes so the allergens don't contaminate each other, and then keeping her still while they measured the size of the hives. A nightmare, for both of us. Then we got the results, and the allergist thought it best to get an EpiPen Jr. and also go for the blood test.

Anyway, just thought I'd share our experience so far. Our pediatrician didn't really take her possible allergies seriously at her 1 year appt, but after she threw up last week again I decided to go with my gut and find out what was going on. I'm very glad I did, although now we have a long, dairy and egg free road ahead. Our allergist also said she had an 85 percent chance of outgrowing the egg/dairy allergy, but that the tree nut allergy might be lifetime.

Thanks,
Kendra

[DrSally]

Hi Kendra, Sorry to hear your DC has allergies :( Glad you went ahead and got the specialist referral. We actually saw another allergist recommended by my new ped and he was great! So knowledgable. DS is allergic to dairy and egg whites (and maybe barley) and had a mark for peanuts, which he thought he would outgrow it by 3yo. It's only if the peanut/nut reaction is huge that they think the child will actually have the allergy, as many babies have some reaction to it if tested that young, but (he said) it is gone in many by 3yo. It does sound like the tree nut site was huge on your DC though :( We also got the epipen (first ped didn't even offer it and the allergist was aghast). The bloodwork should confirm the results and severity. We were told to avoid eggs and milk (and barley) until 2 yo and then get tested again for severity of the reaction and see if we should try introduce them. It's hard b/c so many things have milk or egg (or nuts) in them, or are made on shared equip. Just the other day I was psyched to see whole grain fig newtons ( a relatively healthy cookie), but it had whey for some reason.

Kids with food allergies website is good (you have to pay to join), and I got the book The Parent's Guide to Food Allergies by Barber on my allergists recommendation. Feel free to pm me with any other questions. I'm not an expert, but still learning too.

[LarsMal]

foodallergy.org was recommended to us by our allergist. I haven't really spent much time on it (you may have to pay to join) but she said it's a good place for info.

My friend also got this cookbook that she really likes. It's for egg and dairy free recipes, so I don't know if it also addresses other food allergies.

http://www.dairyfreeeggfreekidpleasingcookbook.com/

Cherrybrook kitchen also has some great products.

www.cherrybrookkitchen.com

[LarsMal]

Kendra,
Our allergist also told us that DS has an 85% chance of outgrowing the dairy and egg allergy.

I have a tree nut allergy and- as far as I know- I still have it, although I would like to be tested to see if I am still allergic to all of the tree nuts. Our allergist told me that a lot of the time you outgrow the allergies, but if you continue to avoid the food you never know that you outgrew it!

Good luck!

[Kendra]

Hey, we just bought that Barber book, on my cousin's rec. It should be in the mail (off ebay). She also recommended foodallergy.org, which is the organization FAAN, and it is a pay site. Has anyone found a good parent's forum that's free? I looked on Yahoo but didn't find any yet.

I know what you mean about weird ingredients. I can't remember what it was, but I was looking at something for DD yesterday and the 12th ingredient was "wheat gluten". I think it was soy yogurt! Why would they need to put that in there? And the soy cheese with no casein is impossible.

I did find a good soy yogurt that she likes that comes in plain - it's Whole Soy & Co. brand, out of San Francisco. I live in the Hudson Valley area and got it at Stop n Shop so maybe they have it near you too (look in the organic section, not with the regular yogurt).