Potential fish allergy, doctor won't do tests

[Roseelixx]

So my nearly 11 month old had what looked like a couple of hives appear when I gave her Salmon when she began weaning, the same thing happened with cows milk, so I have not given her any fish for 5 months out of fear of a worse reaction, same with fresh cows milk, however she has been fine with cooked milk and cooked cheese. The doctor has said to follow the milk ladder for dairy but said not to give fish for another year?! No tests have been suggested. What are your thoughts and experiences?

The GP's advice sounds sensible. People have all sorts of allergies for years/ life without testing, you just avoid the suspected allergen, or try again when appropriate.

What tests were you hoping for or expecting the GP to put the baby through? It's not a pleasant experience, and I'd think especially so for a baby who couldn't verbalise their experience.

My DS had banana, cinnamon and fragrance allergies as a baby. No testing, it was just obvious what he reacted to. The banana took more narrowing down as he had an obvious facial rash to it that I didn't immediately see the connection. We avoided them for a number of years and amazingly he successfully outgrew both.

Hopefully you can retry the salmon or other fish in a year without a reaction. I imagine you were advised to have piriton or other suitable antihistamine ready, just in case.

Good luck!

I'd follow the GP's advice.

What is it you're concerned over?

Ahh the good old NHS! Cost cutting ahead of saving lives, every time! Had pretty much the same advice for my daughter about 15 years ago when she was two and she kept vomiting after eating nuts. 'Just don't give her any' said the GP. We went private, and the dr said she had a severe allergy, was at risk of anaphylactic reaction and should always carry jext pens.

I don't mean to panic you, and it's unlikely your daughter's allergies are so severe, but go back to the GP and demand that you are referred for further tests.

This is going to sounds so pretentious but where did you get your salmon from? Our son has always eaten a lot of fish from 6 months and we are lucky and have an amazing fishmonger 200m from our front door so always got the fish from there. Then we saw a great deal on some salmon in the supermarket so portioned it up for him and gave it to him a couple of times and each time he came out in quite severe all over hives even though had eaten salmon regularly beforehand. FIL is a doctor and he had the reaction when with us and he suggested he could be allergic to the growth hormones in the salmon talking to the fishmonger and her son has the same allergy so now we just stick to salmon from the fishmonger. Had to explain to our son he couldn’t have salmon when at others houses or out but could have it at home so to explain it to the toddler we told him he was allergic to supermarket salmon. Dear lord he always sounded pretentious asking where they got their salmon from to see if he could eat it 😂

Ah the good old private system. Milking parental anxiety for cash for years.

OP the NICE guidelines are helpful on this, and evidence based (unlike many practices in the private system……). If you read them and still feel concerned, go back to your GP and ask them why you’re not being referred on.

Just like it’s possible to outgrow allergies it’s also possible to have a mild allergic reaction the first time and subsequently a more serious one. Most people with severe allergies only have mild symptoms on first exposure. If it were me I’d want allergy testing so you know if you’re dealing with a severe allergy or not, and so she can be prescribed an epi pen if needed. I’d go back to the GP and see if you could be referred to the allergy clinic for specialist review.

I would push for testing because of the hives, hives are an ige reaction so you shouldn't be doing the milk ladder without medical support - usually in hospital if it's severe. They can test for other common food allergies at the same time.

Unfortunately due to his age allergy testing is very inaccurate. I’d push for testing once he’s 18/24m. Testing will not tell you how allergic he is and you can test negative and still be allergic! My husband tests highly for wheat on blood tests but has very mild symptoms. Tested very low on latex (Skin prick) yet is anaphylactic Daughter tests negative for milk yet has been hospitalised following the smallest exposure (she’s 24)

If your child can have cooked milk they can have fresh milk.
Follow the advise on fish.
If child have issues after following advice talk to GP again.

Your GP sound sensible.
Testing that early isn't easy and the child sounds to do pretty fine.

We had private health care actually and were not using the NHS, so I don't agree with disparaging the NHS on this. My private GP and Paeditrician didn't push testing, as it wasn't necessary. Avoiding substances like fish or bananas for 12 months is pretty easy.

(We actually avoided banana for about 3 years.)

ETA Our health insurance was amazing and covered everything requested or required (with £0 co-pay or excess) without quibbling, so it wasn't a case of not testing to save on our costs.

Wow I didn't even think of things like that as a possibility! It was either tesco or morrison salmon so I cannot rule it out!

My main concern is if she does in fact have a fish allergy and comes into contact with it by accident and had a severe reaction when we haven't been given an EpiPen. On the flip side she may not be allergic to fish at all and it could of been something else causing the hives so we're avoiding it for no reason 😵‍💫

We had a very similar situation- DD came out in hives after eating salmon- and GP referred her for allergy testing. It took a while for the referral to come through and the test came back clear. Can you see a different GP?

I'm going to ask for a different GP, is your little one eating salmon with no issues now? Do you know what caused the hives?

They said what I was describing was an allergic reaction but she must have outgrown it in the months between then and the testing. It gave us peace of mind and we were able to reintroduce salmon. It's one of her favourite foods. Many children- mine included- have a preference for food that is perhaps not the healthiest so cutting out a nutrient dense food that she actually likes is not ideal.

This.