Allergy advice - help!

[Al&Em]

Following on from the fantastic advice forumites gave me re. my son's eczema (we've seen a dermatologist and it's so much better already!) I wondered whether people could now help me fathom out what I should be doing re. allergies.

We've just started weaning 2 weeks ago when LO was 6 months old and because of the eczema started slowly, focusing on one food for a few days for one meal a day, trying to see if there would be a reaction. Generally he's loved food and eating but he has had a couple of reactions - once following banana when he got a red blotchy rash on his face and the other most recently following cauliflower and potato when the rash came back and his eyelid swelled up. The advice we got from the dermatologist was if we saw a reaction to keep things bland until the rash went down (i.e. baby rice/potato etc) unless his lips swelled up or he had trouble breathing in which case go straight to A&E.

However we just went to the doctor's (because I was worried about anything swelling up!) and he said that baby's not ready for food yet so to stop feeding him solids and go back to milk. He also said I should buy shop bought jars of baby food rather than preparing the food myself as the jars would have been processed better. He's also prescribed us an antihistimine to use if he reacts again - which I'm not too keen to start using.

So I'm confused about what to do, whether to stop feeding him solids for the moment or press on and how I should respond when there is a reaction. Do I need to go to the doctor or just deal with it myself (apart from the obvious rush to A&E if necessary)? I should add that during the day he's a very happy baby but he's been much more unsettled at night recently. Dermatologist suggested that this was because he was hungry and I should increase the number of meals he had during the day - the complete opposite to the doc's advice!

Confused.... :'(

[cuppa tea]

Do you think he is ready for food? Is he showing signs he is interested? I think fairly often that babies are not interested in food at the designated 6 months weaning time, but much later. I am sure I read somewhere that babies who are more allergy prone are not interested in food until their bodies are ready to deal with it. (Sorry, I'm not sure where I read that!). You could back off with the food, wait a bit and see what happens? To give you time to see if he's more settled just on milk. Personally I would be more inclined to go with the doctor's advice, rather than the dermatologist. Also, some foods are more allergenic than others, so check on a list.

[Fuschia]

I would ask for a referral

To the allergy clinic at kings, if you can get one

Has he been bf so far or ff?

Cows milk protein allergy is quite cmon and can be linked to eczema

[Fuschia]

Guidelines. -

http://www.nhs.uk/news/2011/02February/Pages/new-NICE-guidance-for-child-allergies.aspx

[Fuschia]

http://www.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/live/13348/53219/53219.pdf

[Yak]

Sorry to hear you're having such a torrid time. Poor G! How about giving the people at allergy UK a ring? http://www.allergyuk.org/ they may also be able to help e.g on getting a referral?

I'm no expert, but the doctor's advice to go for jarred food and suppress reactions if necessary sounds a bit odd to me. I'd have thought it would be important to try foods one at a time (as you've been doing to date) if nothing else to identify trigger foods. Can you even get single ingredient foods in jars? And how's that better than a single ingredient meal you've prepared yourself? Baffling.....

[bobbly]

I agree with Yak, sounds like strange advice to me. I second going to kings and seeing the allergy consultants thhere. They cann do prick tests (though not always conclusive) but more helpful than feeding him foods from a jar. If he starts to swell around the eye, then antihistimine will help reduce swelling and itching. Any overall rash and swelling, then yes, like you said, straight down to A&E. I agree with Fuschia, sometimes it's the proteins in foods that cause an allergic reaction, also check the detergent and perhaps go for a non bio one like surcare or concentrated bio liquid? He may be reacting to that also, or maybe house mites? It could also mean that the lack of distraction at night makes him more aware of feeling itchy and there starts the cycle. good luck, its a long road, I'm right there with you

[whisteria]

My daughter had loads of problems with food. Intolerance rather than allergy, but it resulted in acid reflux that caused pain. We thought Kings were brilliant! The doctor will need to refer you and it takes a while to be seen. Your doctor is probably thinking jar food won't have any cross contamination from whatever else you cook in your kitchen. If your baby is getting swelling as a reaction it is best to play safe and only get single jar foods, or if you cook yourself, make sure you keep the area clear of other food stuffs. My daughter had problems with tomatoes, potatoes, bananas, onions, cauliflower, dairy, soya. Plus more obscure things like brussel sprouts. I am happy to say she is fine now and eats school dinners! I would go for the least allergenic foods first rice, pear, carrots, avocado, then lamb and chicken when you get into meats.

[Al&Em]

Thanks Fuschia and Yak for the really useful links and others for the reassuring advice. We've been back to the doc now and have been referred for allergy tests (at Kings, I'm presuming). Still treading carefully and so far no further reactions but feeling better about the way forward now. Thanks all.

[KatsuQueen]

Hi Al&Em, you've had all great advice already - agree with others that the Dr's advice does sound kind of weird. But don;t get disheartened; MiniKatsu had the same reaction to banana and I was really worried - especially when everyone around me said - allergic to banana? That's one of the "first foods" isn;t it??

A couple of months later I tried him on banana again and he was fine (it's one of his staple foods now)

One bit of useful advice that I got was to introduce new foods early in the day, i.e. at breakfast or lunchtime. So that if he had a reaction a) I would notice it more in daylight when he was awake and b)everything seems easier to deal with during the day.

Good luck with the weaning!

[amydown]

Just to add that if the waiting time to see the Kings specialist is too long (we had to wait for 2m), you can get tests done privately. We went to a clinic at Harley street and was seen immediately. If you have private insurance for the baby, it should covered. If not, it cost c.?500 (yikes) but worth the money in our case. We still had the appointment with Kings when it was our turn and that was really good too in germs of follow up chat to talk through progress since our first test done privately, etc.

[Fidgetsmum]

Please get a second opinion from a GP or indeed, change your GP. My daughter had an allergy and I was told it was excellent that I was carefully preparing all food myself as I could be sure of every single thing going into her body. i.e. the total opposite to what you've been told. So I would seek a second opinion before heading in the jarred food direction.

And it does get better. Even if the allergies themselves don't subside, your ability to cope as it all being 'just part of daily life' does improve. Good luck.