Dieitician being over cautious?

[menazovut]

I'm in two minds as to whether the dietician we see at the hospital is being over cautious. My son is allergic to milk, he is on Neocate which has been fantastic. We don't give him soya has it makes him horribly constipated. About 5/6 times he's reacted to various fish (hives/ vomiting/ diarrhea). I was going to try seeing which fish, but dietician says NO fish. Also said no eggs just in case (I'm yet to give them to him). I'm a little surprised how much she's recommended cutting out of his diet considering he's not been tested. Though of cause I don't want to cause him pain or upset the fact that finally we have a happy chubby baby.

Is this fairly standard advice. I'm not in a massive rush to test him, as he's only 10 months and I'm aware the results might not be accurate.

If he has allergies, I wouldnt give him anything he is allergic to or could be potentially allergic to until after his first birthday at least. Eggs are a big allergen for lots of children.

However it does seem ridiculous cutting so many things from is diet without testing.

Be forceful and demand a test.

You could also dab a tiny bit of the food on the back of his hand and see if hives develop, that way you'll know not to feed it to him. Have anthisan (sp?) ointment to hand before you start.

I'm interested about you saying 'first birthday'. I presume the waiting times are similar for all appointments so he'd be well over one by the time he was tested.

It's eggs that confused me the most. Milk is obviously an issue (he's been in hospital a few times for this), soya constipates him painfully. Fish though isn't so obviously an issue, it's a bit all over the place whether he reacts or not. Milk causes a quick reaction.

I think, and I could be completely wrong here, that chickens are sometimes fed on fishmeal so that may be an additional reason for avoiding eggs. Sometimes eggs can taste a bit fishy IME.

thanks for your replies. I think (not sure) that he's had cooked egg in either biscuits or cake, as he's had them and I haven't avoided it.

I'm leaning towards trying rubbing a bit of egg on his skin, then if ok trying cooked then other egg one by one. But telling nursery, at least for now, to not give him eggs/ fish. Despite his calcium/ vitamin supplements I still want his diet to be as varied as possible.

My ds reacted when he first had scrambled egg at 6 months, and my GP seemed to think I'd been very "ambitious" in giving him egg before 12 months. So although official guidance seems to be that egg is fine after 6 months, there's obviously a school of thought that it should be avoided for a while longer generally.

I've heard theories lately that they're more likely to react the longer you wait! It's so hard to know what to do right by him.

Hhmmn, think you should forget about fish for a few years (at least) and eggs til over 1 year.

Agree with others that you should ask for referral for testing rather than just cutting possible allergens from his diet. As a child I was allergic to milk, citrus fruit, fish, shellfish and kiwi, so I was expecting to have at least one child with allergies. Ds1 has them, but in his case to milk (now outgrown), peanuts, celery and poss. kiwi. Not what I would have predicted at all.

Allergy testing can also help you see if he is outgrowing any of his allergies without you having to experiment at home. I outgrew the fish allergy by the way, but it did take 20 years.