What to expect at first allergy referral apt

[thehumanegg]

Hello
We've been given a consultant appointment at the hospital for 8 month dd having been referred for food allergies. What should I expect? I'm guessing they won't do any testing at the first apt- is that right? Im also guessing it may be different for differemt areas. The letter just says its at the paediactrics dept but doesn't give any more details. Very relived to get referred quickly though as am finding weaning a bit stressy. Sorry if this gets asked a lot.

Do a food diary for a couple of weeks before you go if you can, and put down everything ! I had to go back for my son's blood test a few weeks later, not sure if that's still the case, but probably. There will be lots of questions, family background, other related stuff like asthma, eczema, hay fever and so on, so try and have all the info you can. Good luck with getting it sorted.

I guess it depends on your hospital.We went to St Thomas's when dd was 9 months and they did the skin prick tests on her, blood tests weren't required as the skin reaction was sufficient enough! She had already had a reaction to milk which was why we were referred.
Would second what has been said above about keeping a food diary and being prepared with all relevant info. Good luck.

write down a list of questions to ask the doc before you go, so that you can make the most of your first appointment with them.
you dont have to take the list in with you! but it helps to consider what you need to ask beforehand.

Agree that it's a good idea to write down questions before you go as we left with lots of questions the first time we went to the clinic. We were also just seen at the paediatric clinic as opposed to by an immunologist.

At the first appointment we saw the consultant first, explained what dd had been experiencing, how she reacted etc. She was then sent for 8 skin prick tests, then once results were ready we went back to the consultant. We were also lucky enough to see the dietician on the same day - she happened to walk past and the consultant asked her to see us so we were very fortunate!

Thanks for you replies everyone, I'm glad I asked as I feel prepared now. I'll def start a food diary and write down the millions of questions I've got.
She had immediate reactions to milk eggs and banana but after having a virus and having only the hypoallergenic milk for 3 or 4 days her excema almost completely cleared up for the first time so looks like there's more foods causing an issue than we thought.

Hope our appt is like yours Haverina where its all done in one day - it's at Hemel Hempstead hospital, I wonder what that's like.

Thanks again x

I think we were lucky - don't think the dietician wanted to say no to the consultant! Good luck let us know how it goes

Good info thanks babybarrister