Really scary, another allergy? Please can you wise people give me your opinons?

[strawberrycornetto]

I am sure you are all bored of me so sorry...

DS had two allergic reactions to cows milk. He had a skin prick test which showed up the milk but that he was fine with everything else.

Two weeks later, we had more skin prick tests for the leap study. He showed up as allergic to milk and egg.

In between the two tests, we introduced soya in the form of yogurts on the advice of the paed and because the test had been clear. The first time he had one at lumch. He was fine at the time but he slept for a very long time after lunch and woke up projectile vomiting all over his cot. He had tea but when he had milk before bedtime he projectile vomited again. I have never seen anything like it and it was really scary. I wondered about the yogurt but DH and I thought it was more likely to be because he had a cold.

Soya was negative at the second test and he has eaten three more of the same yogurts without incident.

You know what's coming. Today, he had a yogurt at about 6pm. At 7.30, after bf and just as I was taking him to bed, we had another massive projectile vomit. Again, really distressing for both of us. I really have never seen anything like it. Before I thought he looked slightly blotchy and had a few red hive type marks around his mouth, but he's blotchy so ofen I wasn't sure.

My questions:

1. Could this be an allergic reaction?
2. COuld he be allergic to soya despite the negaitve skin prick test?
3. Could he have a vomiting reaction a couple of hours after he ate the food?
4. What about the fact that he had three other yogurts with no obvious reaction?

So sorry to have more questions, but i feel like this thing is mushrooming and i feel really out of control. We gave him puriton when he went to bed and he seems ok now.

Hi. My eldest has allergies but not to foods, so I don't have personal experience in this area BUT I have 3 children and all of them have had the most spectacular projectile vomiting when they've had colds. It's like they have a ball of phlegm sitting on the chest and once they are full of milk their system just can't cope and they just erupt. If the skin tests showed negative to soya then I would be inclined to believe that to be the case.
I know the projectile vomiting is scary and seems quite extreme but it needn't mean the worst. The best thing is to go easy on the thick creamy/heavier foods for 2 weeks and then gently reintroduce and see what happens.
I know when you have an allergic child you tend to blame all sorts of things on the allergy when it might not be the case. (My dd is anaphylactic to horses but last night was very sick and in pain soon after having a dinner containing pine nuts, now it could be just a bug but of course my first reaction is oh my god she's allergic to nuts!!!)
I hope your son is better soon and that you feel less stressed. I just reassure myself that I have the Piriton and Epipen to hand and I just watch and wait.

Oh dear. How worrying for you.

It does sound like a possible allergic reaction but it's strange he only reacted to the first and last yogurts but not the 3 in between (if I've understood correctly). Were they different flavours / brands? Could it have been a different ingredient he reacted to which was only in 2 of them? Or is there anything else he's eaten which could have caused it?

I think personally I wouldn't be happy to give him another one until you've spoken to someone at the allergy clinic to see what they advise, just to be on the safe side. Hopefully, as tinytalker says, it will be just a coincidence and not allergy-related. It's encouraging he didn't react to the other 3 after all....

Sorry this isn't very helpful but you have my sympathies. I hope it turns out to be nothing - do let us know.

Thanks both of you. I remembered he had 4 of them not 5 but its still strange. I am going to ask the clinic and avoid for now. I just have a kind of gut feeling that it was an allergic reaction on the basis of what happened before. Kind of mummy's intuition. I've ignored it a couple of times recently and wished I hadn't so for now I am going with my instinct.

how old is he?

dd had a milk, egg and soya allergy when she was a baby. Seems they often happen together.

I wouldn't necessarily assume it was an allergy. If you've only just cut out all the other stuff he's allergic to, it may be that his stomach is still calming down. Dd often appeared to be allergic to things one day and not the next and the paediatrician did explain to us that her gut was very sensitive and often appeared to react to things when there was no 'true' allergy (she also had reflux).

I would cut it out to be safe till you've spoken to the clinic. Also, children can have intolerances rather than allergies which can mean they don't necessarily react straight away.

Thanks Fox. I wonder possibly if its an intolerance rather than an allergy. He certainly is very sensitive to everything! He's only had dairy once though and that was in August and I've now cut it out of my diet for a month so I don't think it was that.

DS sounds very like your DD, he has allergies to egg, milk and also reflux.

yes very similar. Have just looked at your profile and see he is 8 months, is that right?

We had a very critical time with dd around that age. I went back to work when she was 4 months old and she was in a nursery and got sicker and sicker (we found out later that the nursery had been giving her food she was allergic to). I had to give up work at that stage and pull her out and we were advised to completely stop solid food because she was having a reaction to virtually everything that crossed her lips. We stopped all solid food, returned to just nutramigen for a few weeks, then started weaning again. She was much better second time round. I think sometimes they need a clear break and we probably underestimate how long it takes for an allergic reaction to clear their system.

I also think the reflux doesn't help because it's hard to tell how much of the vomiting is down to allergies and how much is down to the reflux. I hope you'll start to see an improvement in his reflux soon, as he starts to sit up more and eventually walk.

If it's any hope to you, dd is now 8 and outgrew the milk and soya allergy by around 3 and I think egg by 6/7 however I suspect she is still allergic to something (I think it may be seafood) as every now and then, she has a reaction.

Yes, he's 8 months. He's generally such a happy, georgeous smiley little thing, I hate that he's having these problems. Its good to hear that they do grow out of it, but its still tough for now. I've had a hard time with nursery and I did wonder if they gave him something yesterday, but there was no evidence and they are really careful about it so I think its unlikely.

i would steer clear of the soya, it sounds like he could be reacting to it. its common for that to go alongside the milk and egg, my dd has all of these also.
could it be that he was sick the first couple of times as it was something new then he got used to it until it biult up in his system over the next few yogurts untill he had the reaction (if that makes any sense) maybe just a milder reaction an intollerance rather than a full blown allergy but either way best avioding it if he is intolerant.
not sure how old your lo is but allergy testing on babies is really not very accurate so i would only use it as a guide.
hth
x

my allergic child had negative skin prick tests to soy at first but gets a "tickle" from soy milk and tested positive last time. No tests are 100% reliable. However children also get bugs and projectile vomit and if they have a serious problem with soy I'd expect a reaction after each yoghurt. So it's difficult but as soy is a common allergen safest thing to do is avoid the yoghurt.

Milk allergy is often outgrown. Although it seems scary now there is a good chance that by the time he's 3 it'll just be a horrible memory.

Thanks. Its been really good to see so much positive news on here recently, it does make me feel slightly happier about his chances of outgrowing this stuff.

Just another thought . . . a friend of mine is severely intolerant to cheese. She can have milk, she can have cream, but she cannot have cheese or yogurt without alarming consequences. It appears to be the bacteria or whatever it is that turns milk from milk to cheese or yogurt that she has the reaction to.

My DS1 who is very allergic to milk and eggs (and was also allergic to soya) has come out in hives a couple of times which has scared the bejesus out of us but we have not been able to link it to anything. I do think that they can get hives when they are hot and distressed and a food may not be to blame.

Sorry you are having a rough time but I found your post v. interesting.

I am currently weaning ds2 v. carefully (as ds1 had dairy and has peanut allergy). He has not had dairy yet but I did give him some soya yogurt that we had left over from ds1. On 2 occasions he reacted similarly to your ds - fine at first but 3/4 hours later vomited up everything. So, no more soya yogurt/pudding but I'm not sure that it is an allergy, or if it is it must be a mild one cause he eats bread with soya in it perfectly fine. He too is constantly full of cold at the moment.

Also, I spoke to another mum whose dd (8 mo same as ds2) is dairy allergic. Her dd was initially on soya formula (now Pepti) with no problem but has had a similar delayed vomiting reaction to soya yogurt. She equally has no idea whether it is a new allergy or just a yogurt specific problem.

Sorry, that is a bit of a ramble. I guess it could be an allergic reaction (there are theories that delayed allergic reactions involve IgG rather than IgE so would not show up in skin prick/RAST tests) but it may not be.

God, I'm really outdoing myself on the 'helpful posting' front aren't I so will shut up now.

Avoiding soy flour is such a pain thought you might like to know my child is fine with traces of soy in food but a tickle in the mouth is the first sign they get of an anaphylactic raction. Obviously they were given antihistamine immediately and it didn't progress. So you can have a worrying reaction to soy milk (we've never tried the yoghurts) alongside being fine with soy flour.

In fact given all the work being done on desensitisation as long as they don't react to them you may want to ensure they do get soy traces regularly in flour.

WB and tatt, both of your posts are really interesting. Particularly strange that other people have seen the same kind of delayed vomiting reaction.

I think for now I am going to carry on not avoiding soy flour but I am not going to try the yogurts for a while. I am thinking perhaps some form of intolerance but not a full blown allergy or perhaps its just too rich and creamy when he's not otherwise used to having milky food (fingers crossed anyway)