Allergy Testing?

[JustCan]

Hi All! I wasn't sure what section to post this in so hopefully this one makes the most sense. I have celiac disease and have a four month old baby who I am breastfeeding. He has pretty severe eczema but is doing extremely well otherwise (90th% for height and weight, no stomach problems, very happy baby, etc). I know he's completely gluten free so no concerns there but his pediatrician thinks he may have a mild milk allergy and has suggested I eliminate dairy for a few weeks (which I'm doing). So, my question for all of you is...how young can you test a baby for food allergies? I'm thinking some of you probably went down that path before getting a celiac diagnosis for your children. Thanks so much!

[swalker]

In our experience, allergy testing was less than useless. A naturalpath told my daughter to put my grandson back on gluten because the IG came back normal even though we knew it caused a grand mal seizure.

We eliminated suspect foods, one at a time and reintroduced four days later watching for reactions. We are now gluten, dairy, corn, soy, millet, nightshade, coconut, palm and most berry free and we're pretty sure that has it.

He does much better with all grains and whole grain flours, as a matter of fact the whole family does, when they are soaked overnight in water with a little apple cider vinegar before we use them.

[Mother of Jibril]

Hi All! I wasn't sure what section to post this in so hopefully this one makes the most sense. I have celiac disease and have a four month old baby who I am breastfeeding. He has pretty severe eczema but is doing extremely well otherwise (90th% for height and weight, no stomach problems, very happy baby, etc). I know he's completely gluten free so no concerns there but his pediatrician thinks he may have a mild milk allergy and has suggested I eliminate dairy for a few weeks (which I'm doing). So, my question for all of you is...how young can you test a baby for food allergies? I'm thinking some of you probably went down that path before getting a celiac diagnosis for your children. Thanks so much!

My son was exactly like that. In addition to eczema, he was also vomiting and having green diarrhea with streaks of blood. The good news is that he was completely back to normal within a few weeks after I took dairy products out of my diet

I'm not sure that allergy testing will do any good. Protocolitis is an IgG-mediated reaction, which makes it an "intolerance" and not a true "allergy" (an IgE-mediated reaction). You could try IgG testing like ELISA, but it has a lot of problems... you're probably better off just doing the elimination diet. If it helps then you have your answer! Incidentally, allergy testing can be done at any age. It's not like celiac disease where you have to wait for the damage to occur before it shows up on tests.

[Amyleigh0007]

My son was tested for food allergies when he was 8 so my situation is a bit different. I found it very helpful and I would recommend allergy testing for anyone who thinks food might be causing reactions. After it was determined he is allergic to wheat, corn, soy, egg whites, and others he was put on a rotation diet. His GI thought it would be too difficult to eliminate all those foods at once, especially since we were beginning the gluten free diet too. He was recently re-tested and his numbers are still high, although much better than they were a year ago. His Gi has recommended an allergist and we will see her this summer.

[OBXMom]

My daughter had eczema during breastfeeding, then when we started solid foods at 6 1/2 months, she was allergic to everything we tried. At 8 months we went to an allergist with a lot of experience in food problems, and he guided me through the foods we added to her diet, which were not at all the normal food progressions. It sounds like a great idea to eliminate dairy, and if you are still having issues when you get around to solids, I'd look for a specialist to help you. Our daughter started out allergic to everything with the ever present epi-pen but outgrew it all by age 2.

[Pattymom]

My youngest was like that. Taking out dairy improved her eczema 80%--note that you need to be totally dairy free for at least 2 weeks to really judge it fairly. When I stopped corn and nuts also it went away completely ( we were already gluten free by then as well).

She is now almost 5, and eats corn with no reaction, no such luck on the diary or gluten.

I would take the baby off now, and consider the allergy testing later when you are ready for solids ( feel free to put that off too as needed)

Patty