Egg allergy baby

[AleaEim]

Hi,
I’m wondering if anyone has experience with babies and allergies on here until I see the GP next week. My 6 month old DD came up in hives/ rash immediately after trying egg the other day for first time, no other symptoms. I’m now a bit nervous to try other allergens on her and the GP appt isn’t until another week away. I’m exclusively breastfeeding and eat a lot of egg so not sure if I should give that up now until she gets seen to. I spoke to a health visitor yesterday who said I should have tried all of the allergens by now (she just turned 6 months over the weekend though?!). She’s so far tried yoghurt, cows milk in porridge, sesame, fish, and she had a small bit of toast before. Should I pause the rest of the allergen introduction or just go for it? I think I read the longer you leave the introduction, babies can become at risk of developing allergies

I completely understand how you feel.

There's no point holding off with the other allergens. The GP won't be able to tell you what else the baby is or isn't allergic to. They might refer you to an allergy specialist but the waiting list may be a year or more and they won't test for everything. As you say, the earlier you try the allergens the better.

In our case, DS's reaction was not just hives everywhere but also copious vomiting and distress. I was scared to introduce new allergens and procrastinated for ages afterwards (not helpful). I eventually called the local paediatric A&E to ask what would happen if DS was severely allergic to peanut. They talked me through how to get into the building quickly and skip triage by handing him to any member of staff and shouting. I sat him in his pram outside A&E and fed him a bit of peanut. He did react to it and I took him in for observation but it wasn't severe.

He's now four, has had lots of tests and is allergic to various things, but there are still one or two that we're not sure about either way and it's easier to avoid than try to convince him to try them. I suspect we could have avoided some (not all) of his allergies if we'd got them into him sooner.

So my advice is, don't postpone, but try the other allergens separately (maybe 48 hours apart), systematically, in a safe environment, with a plan for what to do if your child reacts badly. Don't panic, but do it as soon as possible.

Oh and I don't think you should give up eating egg.

Oh really? Do you not think it’s probably been going through my breast milk causing issues I maybe didn’t notice like runny pops or unsettled nights.

I'm not a medical doctor, so I'd ask the GP for their advice, but NHS guidance is that, if the baby doesn't show signs of an allergic reaction when you're eating egg, you can continue. (If you're now wondering if runny poos etc might be related, then maybe try monitoring it?)

DD has an egg white allergy. She doesn't get hives or anything but just like PP she is violently sick until she is completely empty.
She has no other allergies.

Egg allergies are weird.

Dd can have whole egg, cooked but can't eat it if it's just egg white - so no meringue or angel cake.

When you DD reacted what had she eaten? Actual egg or something with egg in it?

Try just egg yolk. Some babies react to the egg white more. Mine can have a bit of yolk in something but not egg white. Baked for a long time in a cake is fine too.

Crack on with the other allergens, the longer you wait, the more likelihood of a reaction. Peanut butter- just give a tiny amount on your finger. Don't forget about fish and shellfish too.

Our paedetrician said to expose them to all the allergens even if we don't necessarily eat them regularly in our house as you don't want to find out he has a severe allergy to prawns in 2 years' time on holiday in Spain.

Oh and sesame - give him some tahini.

My DD threw up when eating egg for the first couple of times (so it was definitely egg). The GP was not remotely interested, despite DH having an anaphylactic allergy, which puts DD at higher risk of allergies.
DD2 also used to randomly come up in horrendous hives for a day or two every few weeks. Even with family history of DH, the hospital declined the GP’s referral.
So, I wouldn’t bet on them hugely caring about this unfortunately.

If it’s any comfort though, DD1 grew out of the egg allergy. We did the egg ladder, which we just googled, and my understanding is that egg and milk allergies are very commonly outgrown. I’m not suggesting you do that without speaking to a dr though.

Thanks for the advice here. I’ve since tried other allergens, peanuts, sesame and wheat, she seems ok. She’s had watery poos for two days though and trying to see what that might be from, she hot it same day I tried yoghurt but it wasn’t her first time having it.

As for the egg it was scrambled on its own with just olive oil for the PP who was asking.

Yeah first time dd had scrambled egg she was violently ill

Has she had egg in a recipe? Like pancakes or Yorkshire pudding for example?

She may not have the same reaction.

No she hasn’t had it before but today she had an allergic reaction to banana, redness on chest and face and swollen tongue. I’ve been told now to refrain from giving her anything new until I speak to my GP.