DD (2.1yrs) allergic to egg - any advice welcome

[SofaSal]

Just posted this in Children's health but didn't realise there was an allergy board too so apologies for the double posting:

DD is allergic to egg, we are taking her for blood tests this week to confirm but the doctor seemed to think it was definitely egg and that we need to avoid it completely from now on.

Can anyone advise of what products I need to avoid that maybe I wouldn't realise egg is in? I'm worried about giving her things where it wouldn't occur to me egg is an ingredient.

How should I explain to her that she can't have certain things anymore? Can anyone recommend a story book that explains it.

When she starts preschool in September are there any special things I need to do to try to make sure that she isn't given the wrong foods? Maybe a phrase I need to teach her if someone gives her food?

Thankfully, the reaction is mild but the doctor frightened me a little saying that food allergies often suddenly get worse and that we really do need to be careful.

Ds1 has an egg intolerance, as a baby I didn't know and he would projectile vomit regularly, I thought all babies did that!

We just don't have fresh baked cakes or anything like quiche as those do seem to make him react. It's got milder as he's got older, and he feels a bit sick a few hours after eating say too much cake, but he will have a small piece.

Jabs are always interesting as they often grow them in eggs, so we tend to have the one that isn't.

It's worth checking every year as sometimes they do grow out of it. I do appreciate that my ds1 is intolerant rather than allergic so you may have to be more careful. I'm sure you can get pasta that hasn't been made with egg.

Thanks Dolly, when I went to see the GP I used the word 'intolerance' and he said it was an allergy but tbh I'm not sure about the difference!

She did react quite badly to her jabs(swelling, fever, rashes) but none of the nurses we saw at the time highlighted the egg link, of course now it makes sense.

Looking back, it started with projectile vomiting when she started on foods, bad reactions to her jabs but has now moved onto swelling and a hives rash

I feel so sad for her, I want her to be able to have birthday cakes and pancakes and all those lovely things and I don't want her to be the only one at preschool that can't have the cake that so-and-so's mum brought in for his birthday...

Of course, I realise that there are far worse allergies out there, so I'm glad and very grateful that it isn't any more sever,e but still feel a bit sad for her.

I'm not sure of the difference, but ds1 has all those symptoms you describe. We did find he was ok with a small slice of shop bought cake, but homemade cake had the hives, rash, vomitting reaction.

He's 9 now and we do let him have small amounts of egg, just to see and he's been fine. He will have pancakes, cake, quiche but not loads. I think it's a case of slowly building it up.

I took the view that only he knew how bad it made him feel and if he wanted to have a piece of cake, knowing the consequences, then it was his choice.

He had the skin prick test last year where we discovered he was really allergic to cats, which we weren't aware of before!

Dolly I guess once she is old enough we can let her tell us how it affects her and whether she can eat it or not. At the moment I'm mostly worried about the swelling and her throat, terrified a bad reaction will stop her breathing. She is just too young to explain that to though!

My DS is allergic to egg and also dairy wheat and nuts and has been since birth. He's never actually eaten egg as it was only highlighted by a skin prick test when he was 9months due to a dairy reaction. If we eat egg and kiss him he'll come out in hives. The allergy docs have always said he should grow out of this by 5, they also think he may be able to have cooked egg first as often body doesn't react so much to it cooked, don't know why.
Allergy free food is amazing now in supermarkets you can get mayo alternatives and I found a great recipe for an egg free cake let me know if you'd like link. I also use Organ 'no egg' which is a powder and can be used in any recipe that normally uses egg- not so sure about for an omlette . Weirdly quorn has egg in and is something I hadn't even thought about.
If you've not yet been referred to an allergy clinic I would try and get that as they use skin prick testing which can be a bit more conclusive than blood tests or alongside.

Lu I'd love that recipe, thanks.

I'm hoping we'll be referred to the allergy clinic once the tests are back. She reacts with baked egg, like cakes, but have kept her away from anything like actual eggs and quiche so don't know how bad she would be with things like that.

I can't find link but this is it- I've converted from american cups but seem sto roughly work and is pliable enough to make the biggest creations (thomas the tank anyone ). I use funny flour too but will be better with wheat flour. 190g flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 200g sugar, 40g cocoa, 1 tsp baking powder, mix all dry ingredients in one bowl, in sep bowl mix 5 tbsp veg oil, 1 tbsp white wine vinegar, 1 tsp vanilla, 235 ml milk (or soya milk). Mix wet into dry and stir in choc chips (optional. I cook it in a roasting tin or square tin and make brownie type cakes but have done in 2 round or loaf tin. Cook 30-35 mins @ 180. May need longer if using deeper tin.
Hope that makes sense

Meant to say don't worry too much about your daughter not understanding. I really paniced when found out full list of allergies and was weaning thinking he'd have a very restricted diet and that I would have to follow him everywhere with an epipen. But as he's got older (now 3.5) he will only take food we give him or provide for him and has never been overly bothered as long as I have alternatives available. We just say oh that would make you feel poorly and he seems to get that even though he's not had any severe reactions since he was 6 months old. Good luck with tests etc

My dd has always been allergic to egg and reacts similarly to your dd. To be honest it has never been a problem avoiding it and I hardly ever think of it anymore. It's one of the allergens that should be labelled on food. There are loads of recipes online for egg free cake and at other birthdays my dd generally gets given sweets or biscuits instead of cake - which she loves! I think she feels like she's getting something special.

As for things to avoid which might have egg, the only tricky things I have found are anything with batter (some are dipped in egg first, some not) and ice cream. If eating out I always ask them to check these, everything else is usually easily spotted (e.g. mayonnaise, quiche, egg pasta). You'll find few places actually use egg pasta and most use the cheaper pasta made with durum wheat. If it has egg in it, it usually says egg pasta on the menu. One thing that has caught us out a few times though is biscuits with royal icing. You get a lot of these at easter and christmas and because there might only be a tiny bit for decoration (e.g. to make a face on an easter bunny) you can easily overlook it.

If my daughter protested about what she couldn't have I would just explain to her that it would make her sick. Because she remembered being sick she was happy with that explanation. Now it doesn't bother her in the slightest and she has known from a very early age (about 4) what she can and can't have. She keeps the adults right! The pre-school should be on top of it though so I really wouldn't worry about teaching her anything to say.

Good luck!

the difference between food allergy and intolerence.

intolerence in children often is caused by milk, in infants the milk protein irritates the valve at the top of the stomach, causing it to realise the milk and digestive juices, causing reflux and acid pain. this also means the ratio of food to digestive juices is not correct and food is not digested properly. causing undigested food to travel the rest of the way through the system, irritating the' inner tubing' so to speak, and increasing the amount of differing foods that irriate.
sometimes a infant will digest normally, but scream passing normal looking stools but will be in great pain, this is caused by protein irrirating lining of anu

avoidance of food, in diet,/ allergy formula for 6 weeks before improvement is seen.

ige alllergy, is caused by food protein entering blood stream, the body mistakingly releases histamine to fight infection, but as no virus or bacteria there, the large amount of histamine causs two main actions on the body.
causing small blood vessels to dilate, diverting blood from major organs, this will show as lowing blood pressure. the other problem is that histamine causes smooth muscles to contract and narrow, the ones in throat and chest, often causing asthma. of course , ige allergy can be life threatening, and strict avoidance of allergen is required.

epi pens which carry an injection of adrenaline halt reaction progession, and give time to recieve medical attention at hosptial.

hope this explains things a little, please take some time looking at the allergy uk and anaphylaxis campaign web site for more information.

p.s egg allergy is often outgrown and baked egg /cooked in high temp to change protein structure is often first step. ideally this should be under medical conditions, such as in a allergy clinic hosptial ward, under advice from immunologist.

there is no proof that vaccines cause egg allergies, however if egg allergy is there, it may be a problem . not all vaccines are cultured in egg. am aware the mmr is cultured in egg, and flu vaccine. those with egg allergy can have egg free vaccines or take vaccine in hosptial conditions in case of reactions.
but this is very rare.

Eragon thanks for the information, it is definitely an allergy that DD has then. I've been shopping today and it took me twice as long as normal to check the ingredients on everything. Egg is in more than I thought it would be!

There is a fab egg free choc brownie recipe on here in the recipe section......so good that I have had people tell me they love them and want the recipe!!!!
My ds had an egg allergy from 9 months and has just outgrown it (he is 5). Finally he can eat cakes, egg pasta, biscuits with eggs, creme eggs etc I haven't moved on to lighter cooked eggs yet!
My ds is also allergic to nuts/sesame. Nobody told me when he developed egg allergy that 50 % of sufferers go on to have nut allergy - so treat nuts with caution! I wish someone had told me that after my son first reacted to egg!

My DS (1yo) had a severe allergic reaction to egg on friday as well. It gave the childminder quite a shock.
After a few spoonfuls he developed a rash all over his face, which turned into hives. He then went hot and cold and was obviously not well. He then started having difficulties with his breathing.
At this point the childminder gave him some piriton and he vomited and started getting better.
We now have an EpiPen that goes everywhere with him.

I have been surprised by the amount of food available without egg in it.

We are also staying away from any nuts and I think we might red fruits like strawberries and rasberries out of his reach too.

Sofa when did you discover your DD's allergy?

My DD1 (9yo) is allergic to egg. She always asks "Am I allowed it?" when offered food, and never makes a fuss if the answer is no. We've always made sure that she doesn't miss out - she'll get an equivalent treat later - and friends have been fabulous finding things that she can have.

Some people 'get' allergies, some don't ("she can have pizza / ice cream, can't she?", when she used to be allergic to milk). Most preschool and school staff are good - if you don't completely trust them go somewhere else / kick up a major fuss (school). Applies to restaurants too.

Non obvious things which can or do contain egg: (I know some have already been mentioned)
Sausages (resulted in a trip to hospital)
Quorn
Instant gravy
Ice cream
Nougat (Milky Way, Mars, etc)
Creme egg (bizarrely, creme egg minis are fine)
Glaze on pastry / bread
Marzipan
Royal icing
Wafers
Biscuits and cookies
Anything in batter
I don't promise that this is an exhaustive list.
You should be referred to a dietician, who can help with this.

Basically, you're going to spend a lot of time over the next few weeks/months/years reading labels. Check everything the first time you use it.

The good news is that its easy to spot on lists of ingredients, as it will say 'egg' (I think even 'meringue' would then have 'contains egg') - with milk there are loads of different word to look out for.

We make cakes and pancakes using Orgran's 'no egg'. Use any cake recipe, just make sure you use spread (margarine as was) rather than butter, which makes the cakes sink. I've had lots of people ask me for the recipe for delicious cakes. We use it for pancakes too - definitely not as nice as eggy, buttery ones, but edible.

We had an excellent paediatrician who explained that although vaccines are given in hospital in case of an allergic reaction it is very very rare - a study found that a child with no previously known allergies was as likely to react as one with an egg allergy. He recommended DD1 have no nuts until she was 7, and DD2 and DD3 (no known allergies) shouldn't have until 5. (He also said that this was the sort of advice, along with whether to eat nuts in any subsequent pregnancy, that changes as new research is published.)

Sorry, I've gone on rather - hope some of this is useful.

SofaSal

DS is allergic to egg and fish. I found googling for vegan recipes really useful as they don't contain egg to start with. You can then adapt to your own tastes (we're carnivores in this household!). Another good tip that I got was that if there is a cake/pancake/meatball recipe that only uses 1 egg, replace that egg with 1 tbsp of vegetable oil instead. No need to change anything else in the recipe. Works a treat! DS had a yummy chocolate birthday cake - egg free - which is really easy to make and good for him to help to make as well as there's nothing too bad if he eats the raw batter!

HTH :)

Oh and Bird's custard powder is egg free and yummy :-)

My charge has an egg /nut allergy
To be honest you actually get used to it i found differant brands of the same food contain eggs or not. Such as stock cubes . We use egg replacer powder which is brillant it takes a bit of getting used to to get the quanties correct when backing i have found that the recepies on the packet need more than they say. still now have got it and she does not miss out at all indeed we all eat it. For example we have some sillicon mini chocolate moulds which are used to make yorkshire puddings . With summer comming up check ice cream lollies etc

As for nursery she had a treat box for when others brought in birthday cake a couple of people actually brought in whole class things.

She has a bag with her epi pens etc that go everywhere teachers have all had training last week the children were playing making cakes and her freinds were all using xxx special egg powder.
I know that its important for all children to learn but with children with allergies cooking is even more important.
She knows that there are things that she cannot have as they will make her ill but accepts it . There are always yummy things on offer that she can have instead