bad, bad egg? where to next?

[nachomama]

DS (almost 11m) veeeeeeeery sick yesterday. He'd had egg yolk for lunch. I just mention this as he's really only been that sick before 2 months ago after an egg yolk supper. He'd had yolk before- but not in great quantity, and after having the first bout of projectile, I cut out egg for 6 weeks. We've offered a few times since but he's refused until yesterday when apparently he "loved it" (MIL in charge whilst i was @ work). Both times, there has been a 2.5-3 hour gap between meal and the violent vomits. The first time, we suspected dairy (as instructed by dietitian - now just on goat's yog), as he'd had cow's yoghurt that morning for first time. Yesterday, nothing new apart from his eating egg yolk. (BTW breathing and skin seemed ok- just went "dozy" before the big sicks)

We've been weaning him from the allergy-aware stance, as I am atopic and severely allergic to stings. But we are also trying to balance that with a veggie (DH vegan) diet -though fish when he'll eat it. And the fact that HVs give grief over his bloody red book chart lines (not bothered by this at all- he's otherwise healthy and a very, very active and happy baby). I have been worrying lately that I am getting too anal about the weaning thing and now I am feeling guilty that I should not relax about the food thing after all.

Any other mum-experts out there, would love to hear your experiences and advice. Thanks

Follow your instincts - if you think egg makes him ill, don't give it to him.

My dd is severely dairy intolerant, so I'm used to the restricted diet thing, but we're not veggie, so I can't offer advice there. My friend gave her ds lots of fish but no meat for the first few years of his life.

Bump- to ask in particular about the vomit as opposed to breathing difficulties or hives as mentioned in the allergies posts I looked through this morning.

Thank you Kerrymum. I knew both times that his body was doing a very effective job at expelling whatever was not meant to be there, but had not been able to find particular references in my research to indicate that it may be an allergy. I was perplexed by the "doziness"- as reported by MIL who had him at the time, but the drop in BP makes (frightening) sense.

I knew that I would not give him egg again for sometime, but not sure how long, how to know when to try again, etc. Also I saw on previous egg allergy posts (all respitoty/ skin based responses) that egg cooked in other things, such as cakes (mmmmm cake) was alright for some people, whereas eggy food (quiche etc) was obviously not. I am now anxed about my next step forward with egg.

DS 2.5 is allergic to all egg products even in cakes etc

Was at consultant yesterday and he said not to even consider giving ds a food trial until at least 4.

My DS is allergic to egg, he vomits and develops urticaria all over his body.

We have just eliminated egg from his diet although he can tolerate cakes biscuits just not scrambled egg, boiled egg etc.

We will reintroduce egg into his diet from about 5 I think. He doesn't appear to have any other food allergies.

We have since learned that egg is the most common child hood food allergy and also the most likely one to grow out of which is encouraging.

Agree with KerryMum, eliminate it completely from diet.

Also the same as Alibobins, I saw the Allergy consultant today and my ds (3.1) is being re-tested in a year's time as apparently they may grow out of it (along with dairy) at around 4 or 5 yrs of age.

If it is an egg free/dairy free cake you are after there is a great recipe on here somewhere for it from Mymama I believe.

Me and my ds love it!

Your DS's reaction could be even more severe next time and I would suggest that you ask your GP to refer you so you get a rough idea of what you are dealing with.
My ds has a severe egg allergy. His first reaction was mild and the next two exposures were accidental skin contact with mayonnaise which brought him out in hives so goodness knows what will happen if he accidentally eats egg again. My doc referred us to the paedeatrician who did blood tests to confirm the allergy. The tests also gave us a rough idea of how severe the allergy is. He also asked if there was anything else that I would like ds tested for. They will then test him annually until his IgE level is low enough to consider skin testing.
HTH

PS I was daunted at the thought of having to keep everything egg free, but it's not as hard as I imagined!

Thank you all. The links were very helpful, Kerrymum.

dr's today- they are not convinced it's an allergy and will not "test" for it (no signs of anaphylaxis... gap between eating and vomit quite significant... he is still very young for conclusive testing... lots of major gastro- cases about at moment... he was also sick last night with no vestige of egg consumed{but it was not the violent purge of before}, I have eaten egg throughout bf'ing and there has been no sign of reaction....etc). They agree that it's something to flag as potentially very serious. their recommended next step is to again eliminate egg, then give a bit in controlled environment- eg with access to the surgery that day- to see if it is in fact the egg. his MMR is to be delayed for a couple of months, with next steps decided pending the outcome of the trial.

I know we can cope whatever the outcome (am an expert at label-reading after 12 years together with DH), but would be pleased if my suspicions are unfounded. i'not banking on it, but wish us luck

I have food allergies in my family and my understanding was that you shoudln't give egg to a child under 12m if there are any possibilities of food allergies. This is because they don't have the fully developed ability to digest it. As it happens, my dh inadvertently gave dd some egg when she was a baby and she ended up getting hives all over. She was also on antibiotics at the time, so we're not entirely sure whether it was the antibiotics or the egg that she reacted to. However, the paediatrician said that it was very possible that whichever one it was, she would probably outgrow it. Dd is now 4 and has had both eggs and antibiotics numerous times since then and has had no reaction at all.
So all of this is to say that I wouldn't worry too much at this stage, but do avoid egg for awhile yet.

I would play safe and not give your child any form of egg at all.

I also would sugest that you seek a referal to an immunologist before you even try to give egg to your child as a food trial.

Dashing to a GP surgery if your child is having a severe reaction is a total NO NO
For one they wont have the breathing equipment or epi -pens on hand.

If there is a strong possibility that this is classic IGE reaction, rather than intolerance , home food trials are risky.

Its worth researching food allergy, a good book is the 'complete guide to food intolrance and food allergy.' by jonathan brostoff , and published by gamlin.

By far the vast majority of children under 5 grow out of their egg allergy, however, some take years to grow out of it, or not at all.
Its perfectly normal to react to all egg at a young age , and then slowly tolerate highly cooked egg in small amounts. Then grow out of raw egg a few years later.
For some, egg allergy is a life time allergy.

Egg allergy with children often goes in hand with peanut allergy. It seems that the protein structure is similar, hence that some children can eat high heat treated egg, but not raw.

From studies and information I have gathered from the allergy charites, repeated exposure to a allergen does not mean swifter reactions ( this rule is different with regard to kiwi fruit allergy BTW) , the vast majority of allergic reactions that go onwards to anaphylactic are dependent on other major factors, health , other allergies , stress, and asthma management at the time of reaction or accidental ingestion.
It is perfectly possible to have a delayed reaction , some hours later, this is called a bi-phasic reaction, and can be swift to turn in to full blown anaphylaxis , this again is another reason to push for proper medical advice.

There has also been research over the years that indicates that the quicker a young baby or child has antihistamine given ( piriton over 1 yr) as soon as reaction starts the better, and quicker the recovery.

However daily doses of old generation antihistamine ( piriton ) is sometimes considered unhelpful, as it may 'mask' early symtoms, which may re-surfice later on.
For that reason , second generation antihistamies are more suitable, if environmental allergies are troublesome.
However this is more likely to be required as the child is growing out of baby hood, when ezcema starts to improve and they follow the so called 'allergic march'
However , this may be outdated info as my son is now 11 yrs old and times change.

Be aware that food allergies dont come in ones, be open minded and hopeful about the future, for instance 20% of children do grow out of peanut allergy and the rate of outgrowing egg allergy is far higher.

I hope this is useful to you .
My son has outgrown his egg allergy and tree nut allergies, his current allergies are
peanut
all beans
yeast extract ( unheated /rare one this )
tree pollen
kiwi fruit
dog
cat
dustmite
hay fever