Baked/hidden egg challenge - HELP!

[harverina]

DD is allergic to milk, egg and nuts. She had her annual check up today and skin prick tests were redone (she is 3 yet as, 2 months)

Consultant feels that her milk and egg allergies may be a little better but wheels were still pretty big

She recommended that we start a baked egg challenge at home - we have been told to bake our own cupcakes using one egg in the mix per batch and start dd with a small peice one day and gradually build it up if there is no reaction. Then move to 2 eggs per batch and keep this up until our next appointment in 12 months.

Is this a common way to do a food challenge? Dd has never had eggs before - she was tested for an egg allergy aswell as many more during our first trip to the allergy clinic over 2.5 years ago.

Dh is keen to get going with this at the weekend. I am terrified. Consultant said that an anaphylactic would be unlikely, but I am still nervous.

Can anyone share their experiences with me please?

Bumping anyone got any advice?

sorry we had food challenges in hospital.

I think you are going to have to be very careful with cooking cake evenly so that egg is well baked.

I take it that the skin prick test for cooked egg was negative? or very low?

We also did baked egg challenge in hospital. I personally would not have attempted it at home under any circumstances, especially given DS's reaction during his previous wheat challenge. I would go back to the consultant and say that you don't feel happy doing this at home and feel very strongly that it would be safer to do it in hospital under medical supervision. However "unlikely" it may be, you really don't want to risk producing an anaphylactic reaction at home.

There was a thread on here recently where quite a few peoples dc's were challenged to baked egg, and passed, in spite of quite large spt results. We have been told that ds can undergo a challenge, his raw egg spt was 5mm (they don't spt for baked egg where we go) compared to 13mm last time round. We were given the choice to do the challenge at home, or to wait for an appt - I have taken the latter option!

There is a home challenge protocol somewhere, produced by the BSACI, I have had a quick google but can't find it just now - the website has changed since I last looked at it - which recommends that in the light of anaphylactic egg reactions being so rare, a home challenge is suitable for those children who have had previous mild reactions to ingested egg, but in your case as you have no reaction to go on this does not apply. We are in the same boat, we have only ever seen ds have a skin reaction, which is why i have opted to go to the hospital. I'm with freefrommum, I'd rather not risk a serious reaction at home, no matter how small that risk.

I'll post a link to those guidelines if I can find them.

Thanks for your replies.

Dd has never reacted to egg as she has never had egg.

I think I will give the anaphylaxis campaign a call and see if they can shed some light on recommended guidelines for this. I want to do it odds is going to be safe but not willing to put her at unnecessary risk

Also did egg challenge in hospital despite positive spt and passed.

Thanks guys - I was on the anaphylaxis campaign website which said never to do a food challenge at home but I will call them tomorrow and see what they advise.

I have read some research that says that eating bales eggs can speed up the resolution of an egg allergy which I had no idea about actually. I just thought it would open up more possibilities for dd, which of course would be fantastic in itself.

Babybarrister does your consultant know that you haven't done the challenge and of so, have they offered to do it in hospital?

If the anaphylaxis campaign advise against doing the challenge at home (which i suspect they will) I will contact our consultant.

Tbh I am bloody terrified for dd. I don't want her to be unwell in any way, even if it is just a sore tummy or runny bum. I know that we will need to try the challenge in some capacity though.

Thanks for replying, your support over the last few years has been excellent and I wouldn't know half as much as I do without you guys

we were told by ds's specialist that regular eating of baked egg would help to speed up resolution of the raw egg allergy.

Moobs - so is your ds going to have the first challenge in hospital and of he does not react you will continue it at home?

We were told to give dd a tiny peice of cupcake on day one and increase it daily if she continues to cope ok with them.

How could they do this in hospital?

it will be a full day, starting with a crumb and progressing to larger and larger amounts at intervals until he has either eaten the full dose or reacted, in which case the challenge would obviously be stopped. The advantage of a home challenge is that you can take it at as slow a pace as you want I suppose, but I would rather get it over and done with in a hospital setting!

My 5yo DS is allergic to egg but not anaphylactic (swelling of lips, tingling mouth, upset stomach and bowls for some days after ingestion).

He is not seen by the hospital, he's never been referred as I was told on 3 occasions that as we know what he's allergic to we just need to avoid it and challenge him every now and again .

Anyway, I digress.... Approximately 6 months ago, after he'd been handling pastry with an egg wash (so egg directly in contact with heat source), I tried him on a bite of cake I'd made using only one egg and he was fine . However, since then, he's reacted to another cake, something egg washed and a few things where egg wasn't listed as an ingredient but was made in a factory that uses egg. And it's taking him longer and longer to recover from each one (over a week of upset bowels following the last ice-cream consumption, which was a couple of mouthfuls only, when we were told it was egg free )

So for him, exposure doesn't appear to be helping him grow out of it

Maybe you are trying amounts that are too big? We have been told to try tiny amounts and I am not sure it this is only linked to the safety aspect or because it builds up the tolerance? I don't know enough about it but do know that desensitisation programmes start with tiny amounts.

We have decided to leave the challenge and contact the consultant again. I am happy to try a challenge but it needs to be in hospital for dd's safety. We don't know how she will react as she had never eaten egg before so I feel it's too risky to attempt at home.

Thanks everyone for the info.