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As I said in my disclaimer, I am in no way a medical professional. I am just a mom. You should seek your own medical advice regarding all nutrition and allergies related foods.
I do want to talk to parents that have a baby suffering from allergies though.
You may be very new to this journey and have questions.
I will say I do not have all the answers and in my experience, even the doctors and allergists don’t. Allergies can be very fickle. They are not an exact science.
Our Daughter’s Allergies
Just to give a bit of a recap we determined our daughter had allergies to eggs and dairy when she was first getting introduced to foods.
We had been watching her struggle with certain foods. We were finding trends in the ingredients and trying to eliminate what was safe or unsafe.
The final giveaways were when she had her biggest reactions to yogurt and scrambled eggs. I believe we finally made the determination as to what was causing her reactions and got her blood work to be tested around 10 or so months old.
If you are interested in learning more about this you can read How to Comfort Your Baby During a Blood Draw: Expert Tips and Tricks.
We confirmed that dairy and eggs were the cause and removed them from her diet completely.
I would like to make note that our daughter was exclusively breastfed and never got introduced to cow’s milk. So formula and milk did not play a role in determining her allergies.
Allergy Testing
Once we saw a clear reaction to a clear culprit we got a recommendation from our pediatrician to see an allergist. We took pictures of our daughter’s reactions to show to the doctor and discuss exactly what we saw and the entire progression.
They looked over her skin and determined that a blood draw would be best for getting accurate results.
I am sure you have seen how adults can get skin pricks on their backs. The thought with our daughter was that with her sensitive skin she would likely react to everything.
We went to the lab and got her blood drawn. They did it from inside the elbow. It is not a fun experience by any means. You can read more advice on how to survive the blood draw here.
A blood draw does mean that you will get numerical results rather than just looking at redness on the skin.
This first blood draw and set of lab results won’t result in much. This will tell you the severity of the allergies and will become your baseline.
Later when another blood draw is made you will have something to compare those results to. This way you can see if your child is making any progress.
During these waiting periods between blood draws and testing, we were not actively doing anything. We were simply avoiding the allergens. It is up to you and your allergist how frequently you get blood drawn for testing. It is hard on your kiddo and at times seems worthless. Don’t feel pressured to do it too frequently.
Just a reminder parents, slip-ups will happen. Please give yourselves grace while you are learning. If you see where you are struggling with managing their allergies check out and read,
Brutally Honest Mistakes We Have Made with Our Child’s Food Allergies.
Eggs
Now I am going to focus just on eggs specifically. Our daughter got her first blood draw around 10 or so months old. It was around 15 for eggs.
At her second blood draw which was around 18 months old, she was around a 5. This was great progress. This shows that yes, some children can outgrow their allergies. Based on her age and size it was still too early to let her try eating eggs so once again we waited.
Then after she turned 2 years old we got her tested again. This time she was around .9 on the scale.
Our allergist decided we could do a food challenge.
Food Challenge
When our daughter was about 27 months old, just after turning two we got her scheduled for an in-office food challenge.
Different offices may look different in this process, but I will share with you our experience.
I was given a recipe containing eggs to make at home. I made sure to follow it exactly and bake the muffins completely. For our challenge, the eggs needed to be baked. This was important!
I brought the muffins into the office as well as plenty of books and activities to keep us busy.
The doctor took the muffins to a separate location. Every 15 minutes they would bring in a bit for my daughter to eat on a spoon. It was important she eat it off the spoon so she would react via contact with her skin.
We stayed in the room and played with toys during this time. Every 15 minutes the timer outside our room would beep and they would come in with a slightly larger bit of muffin. My daughter quickly learned the system and was excited to get her “birthday cake” as she called it.
This went on for about 9 or 10 rounds. This equates to hours spent in the office! Once we were done we also had to stay an additional 45 minutes to make sure she didn’t experience a delayed reaction.
During this food challenge, the staff was monitoring her periodically. They checked her vitals and I was supposed to let them know if I saw any reaction occur.
We had her epi-pen on hand as well as her oral medication. Safety is the priority during the food challenge.
In the end, she ate one whole muffin. She was successful in completing her baked egg challenge.
Now at home, we are continuing to keep baked eggs in her diet.
Hope of Outgrowing Food Allergies
I am here to tell you that yes; there is hope that your baby will outgrow their food allergies. There is of course no guarantee.
Every child is different as well as every allergy.
I just want you to know that in less than 2.5 years were saw progress with our child on one of her allergies. We are able to take steps forward at this point.
It is a scary journey as well as slow and frustrating at times.
Be patient and hopefully you will be lucky enough to see your child outgrow their food allergies.
Remember this is a personal story and not one that should be used as medical advice. Follow your doctor’s instructions when it comes to allergies and nutrition. Keep your child’s safety in mind at all times.
Check Out My Articles
Fear, Future, and Failure that Come with Your Child’s Allergies
How to Safely Introduce New Foods to Your Child with Allergies