Weaning and family history of allergies

[MeredithGrey1]

Posted this in weaning before I realised this topic was here!
I know no one can give me medical advice but does anyone know what the guidelines are/if there are any for weaning a child with a family history of allergies?
My husband has an anaphylactic allergy to nuts and sesame, and my daughter (5 months) has eczema. The NHS website says that if a baby has eczema or a family history of allergies, consult a GP before weaning as you may need to be particularly careful. Allergy UK says the same.
I've asked two different GPs and two HVs and I've got different answers and none seemed sure. The GP and the HV I saw at DD's 6-8 week checks both said that, given family history, if DD developed something like eczema or CMPA (basically anything that would indicate she might have an increased risk of allergies) then I should be referred to a dietician but the GP I've just seen about her eczema said family history and eczema make no difference and just to feed her whatever.
Does anyone know?

[Firecat84]

The advice I've heard (friend's child with severe allergies was told by specialists she should have done this) is to introduce key possible allergens (nuts, peanut, egg etc) asap in weaning and to keep repeating the exposure to them. I would definitely read up the research and don't listen to uninformed HVs etc!

[INeedNewShoes]

I have severe anaphylactic allergies and am also atopic (asthma, eczema).

DD (2.5) is now under the allergy clinic as she is allergic to milk and egg. They’ve told me that given family history I should have introduced potential allergens early (before 6 months).

I actually discussed this topic with my GP late in pregnancy and didn’t really get anywhere useful. They weren’t willing to refer to specialists until DD had proven to be allergic to something (which I understand). At 7m DD reacted to dairy and after a couple of visits to the GP and three reactions to report we got a referral but she was nearly 12m by the time we got to the allergy clinic. Far too late for early intervention!

If you can afford it I’d pay straight away for an appointment with a paediatric allergy specialist...

[verybookish]

The latest advice is to introduce allergens after 5 months. Usually the way it’s done is giving increasing doses of the allergen on three consecutive mornings. If no reaction, the food then needs to be eaten 2 X a week.

It’s infuriating how often the wrong advice is given. I am pretty sure I made my dc’s allergies worse by following wrong advice re introduction of allergens.

[MeredithGrey1]

It’s infuriating how often the wrong advice is given.

It's very frustrating trying to find the right info. The first GP I spoke to said that if DD developed anything like eczema or CMPA I should be referred to an allergy specialist but if not I should wean her at 6 months solely on foods that aren't common allergens and then after a few months of that, introduce egg, milk, nuts etc. This is the total opposite to everything I've read since and I'm so glad I looked into it further but it means I've been even more unsure of what to do for the best.

[sunflowerfield]

Have no clue about guidelines, but my dc developed severe eczema since one week old. It was really bad, anyone can see there was something wrong. My family has history of anaphlexis to food, also dh's family with eczema.
We were referred to dermatology nurse by HV, but they didn't test him for allergy straight away. They have tried with creams and steroid creams first. Then finally when he had severe allergic reaction when we started weaning, finally get referred for allergy testing, and got diagnosis at 8 months old.
He was exclusively breast fed, and he was reacting to my breast milk. So, I had to go on a very restricted diet while breast feeding, but wished I had known it earlier. Could have prevented unnecessary pain and suffering for my child if I had avoided all those milk/eggs/wheat/nuts.