Food Allergies in Infant--are we doing this wrong?

[Simon]

Is there anything else we should be doing differently? Ds3 is 6 mo and is having reactions to food. First, to dairy in breast milk and now to solids.

The plan is to do blood/RAST testing at 9 mo. We know its not going to be perfect, but I'm not sure what else we can do. His skin is very sensitive and we've been told that skin testing is out for infants. Until then he is eating only fruits and veggies, although we did let him chew on some pizza crust.

His history is itchy rash, mucus in stool and eczema if I consume dairy. With solids, he had facial rash, a few (very small) hives and some eye swelling. Both times things resolved quickly, no breathing issues. But once it was just a contact reaction not even eating the food (don't know what even, he got his hands in some picnic food and touched his face :gloomy: ).

So, should we be doing something more? Less? Sometimes I feel comfortable with this plan and sometimes I wonder if we should push for testing sooner. Mostly I am feeling anxious today. Is RAST even accurate for very young infants?

[indigo99]

I don't know that much about it, but we had the blood test done for DS2 a few weeks ago. I feel like it was a wasted trip to the hospital and a pity we put him through the blood draw. He came back negative for everything except a small sensitivity to egg whites (which he'd never had). He has some dermatitis on the backs of his legs that is a suspected food allergy reaction and has had reactions to corn (red around his mouth) before though so the test didn't help explain that at all.

Apparently they can still get a positive test result even after outgrowing an allergy, and a positive result doesn't necessarily predfict how they'll react to something (possibly wouldn't react at all even though the test was positive).

I thought the test could be done at any age. I'm just not sure how much it's going to help you. I would suggest possibly asking for some numbing cream to use prior to the blood draw though.

[PZMommy]

My DS had allergy testing due to frequent hospitalizations due to asthma. He came back negative to everything (we didn't think it was allergy related to start with, but needed to do it before getting a referral to Children's Hospital).

At any rate my pedi said allergy testing isn't really accurate until 2 or 3 years of age, and only really severe allergies will show up earlier than that.

Dawn

[KpbS]

For us, the skin tests were always accurate than the RAST tests. Not sure why. DS1 was first tested at 9 mo. after having many, many problems nursing and problems with the solids we tried.

Honestly, I would go back to square one and only feed him foods that you are certain he doesn't react to. Make a list of those that you are unsure about and introduce those, 1 at a time, 1 new food portion for each day for 4-5 days. If he passes, great, you can move on to another food. If he fails--redness, hives, swelling, vomiting, etc. give benadryl and wait 5 days for him to recover to try a new food.

I would continue to strictly avoid all dairy and dairy ingredients while nursing.

Feel free to PM me if you like. Sending :hug:.