To think my son has a pasta allergy???

[iturt]

Rewind 6 months and we were having trips back and forth to GP as my son had been having regular nights/mornings where he was violently vomiting. It started when he was about 1. The only thing I could link it to was it was the nights we had pasta on. I brought this up with the GP and he said it couldn't be correct as that would be a gluten problem, which would mean he wouldn't cope well with bread etc.
Nonetheless, I cut pasta out on the off chance it was that and it didn't happen. Without thinking today, I let him have 5/6 spoonfuls of pasta, and here we go at 5am with him throwing up everywhere.
Is it possible to have just a pasta allergy?

Could it be that the pasta causes some kind of discomfort or blockage in his gut and body needs to get rid of it and it won't go down so it goes up and out instead.

Maybe it's Just one of those mysterious curve balls our bodies/children like to throw at us, we never get a proper answer but trying to find one drives is crazy!!!

I guess if you start feeding rice with tomato based sauces you will find out if it's the tomato... xx

The food coming back up undigested rings a bell for me. For Dd1 it was abdominal migraine, it was only when she was about six when we figured out what it was when she started having headaches after she was sick. We think they started when she was about a year or 18 months old. (It's disgusting but you could tell her digestion had shut down about 8 to 12 hours before hand.)

Tomato’s or gluten still. Gluten can have many symptoms and sickness is just one of them

Could it be onion in sauces?

Soontobe60, my ds have multiple food allergies and all the reactions are different to each allergen. Some are fatal. Some are more mild. Some have delayed reactions.

OP, only way to sort this out is to be tested for allergen. Ask GP to refer to the specialist.

Some ideas: Try pasta with just grated cheese and butter, try orzo pasta which is grain shaped so won't be a size issue, try serving rice with tomato based sauce - being allergic to pasta is highly unlikely if he can tolerate bread as both contain wheat, though wholemeal and sourdough bread is tolerated potentially when white isn't (me!) so standard pasta is an issue.

Garlic, onion all kinds of potential allergies. I'm guessing you know dairy is fine.

lunchtime pasta pot

Is that adult or baby food? I wouldn't feed him anything processed if he's throwing up like that. It could be caused by anything in the ingredients.

@Juells adult food - the fresh M&S ones! Ruling out any pasta meals now!

Pasta itself can’t be an allergy, it would be an ingredient. You can’t be allergic to shepherd’s pie but you can be allergic to something in it.

It could be an intolerance or it could be a textural thing too. You might be able to request an allergy test.

It could still be egg as some people with egg allergy can be fine with baked egg like in cake. Does he get a rash at all?

@MiddleClassProblem no rash, but he has had slight diarrhoea this morning!

OP, just to add a tad of confusion, it's possible that you can be allergic to wheat protein but not gluten. But, Very few things have wheat protein but not gluten (though I've come across it in gluten free products).

Unfortunately, it's also very possible to have allergies that can't be tested for.... and with a delayed reaction it is highly possible. My son used to take several days before I noticed one of his reactions. If you think there is a food allergy, then the gold standard is actually feeding them the food and seeing what happens. Start keeping a food diary of everything they eat and any reactions. From what you are saying to me, it seems more like it might be the tomatoes. I don't have time just now to go at length, but if you google food diary it will be very important in a diagnosis and also look into how the more cooked/processed a food, the less likely a reaction (eg some kids can take egg cooked in a cake but not scrambled egg, similar for all other foods)... good luck

Cross post with middle class in the egg. Great minds and all

That sounds like a delayed allergy to something then. DS is allergic to dairy, soy and eggs and gets vomiting and diarrhoea with soy. Stomach ache and diarrhoea with egg and dairy.

All happen 12-72 hours after eating so it can be tricky to identify but 7 years in I know when if it's a bug or not generally.

Oh, and if you are checking what's making him ill, try and do it a single 'new' ingredient at a time. Eg plain pasta (egg free) first with nothing else, or with just butter. Then egg pasta. Then try it with a homemade passata ,... etc etc.

4 types of allergic reactions.

Type I: Immediate Hypersensitivity (Anaphylactic Reaction) These allergic reactions are systemic or localized, as in allergic dermatitis (e.g., hives, wheal and erythema reactions). ...

Type II: Cytotoxic Reaction (Antibody-dependent) ...

Type III: Immune Complex Reaction. ...

Type IV: Cell-Mediated (Delayed Hypersensitivity)

You shouldn’t be giving your kid adult ready meals!!!!

That there is what is making him sick!

The salt content for one will be much too high for him

Agree with PP, he shouldn’t be having any adult ready meals at all.

You can have reactions hours even days later. Anaphylaxis doesn't even necessarily come on immediately - allergies aren't that simple!

The important thing is not to get faddy and restrictive about his diet. Cut out the pasta and the processed crap and see how he goes.

Redskyandrainbows67
You shouldn’t be giving your kid adult ready meals!!!!

Ha ha the female conditioning I don't believe I had prevented me from saying it as forcefully as you've done. I wanted to say WTAF?

Grasping at straws but it could be a memory/texture thing thing. My DHs vomits up any onions he is aware of eating. So if they are visible or he can feel the strands as he swallows he is very sick later on. No temperature or unwellness (apart from shaking and sweating as he vomits) his body expels them and once they are gone he is fine. We think it is probably a learned response - that he once ate something with onions in and was sick shortly afterwards and his body/mind now connects that texture with vomiting. I am similar with tea, when I was about 7 I drank some tea and sicked it up and now the smell of tea makes me retch.

We have been married 30 years and after much trial and error I have perfected the art of chopping onions absolutely tiny and cooking them very gently so they dissolved completely into the liquid of any stew/soup etc. He is fine to eat them like so it’s definitely not an intolerance or allergy. And after years of eating them cooked that way he can now swallow an occasional visible bit without being sick. That being said he still avoids them as much as he can and asks for them to be omitted when eating out.

I had a friend who was allergic to a dye that is often found in ready made pasta sauces (and also orange drinks like sunny delight). It causes her to vomit violently when she has it. Could it be a common ingredient in all the sauces you've used with pasta?

I love how you say ONLY seven vomiting bugs! Seven vomiting bugs in a year a LOT! My 13 year old as only had 3 of these in her lifetime!

Get him checked for coeliac disease.

Pasta made me bloat. I was fine with bread. Eventually diagnosed coeliac but because so late I have a lifelong malabsorptive issue due to the damage caused