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So glad I made the call!

I had a conversation this week with a friend who's children have just undergone allergy testing which got me questioning my current breastfeeding diet. Today I also had a really helpful chat with someone involved in Childhood Allergy and Immunology Research at Princess Margaret Hospital. Both mentioned the latest research that showed that some exposure to the allergens (this is in the case where anaphylaxis doesn't occur but they are even doing this in a hospital setting more and more now) at an early age is more likely to assist with growing out of the allergy rather than complete avoidance.The other thing was that my friend's baby wasn't able to be skin-prick tested for peanuts because she had never been exposed to peanuts via breastmilk or orally and so the test could have shown a false negative. This got me thinking that it's highly likely Miss 5mths hasn't been exposed to peanuts since I definitely haven't eaten them since she was born and quite possibly not even while I was pregnant. That will mean she won't be able to be tested for it or some other nuts (I have eaten almonds and hazlenuts) unless I expose her to them. The lady from PMH gave me some really helpful advice so here's my plan:

1. I'm going to start having a very little bit of dairy and egg maybe once a week and as long as her eczema doesn't get out of control I will keep doing it.

2. I'm also going to do some stealthy night-time nut eating to ensure she has been exposed to the nuts before we do allergy testing. This will mean I will have to be really careful to get all contaminated utensils etc into the dishwasher and washed before breakfast - not too hard but must remember to be vigilent! I shower at night so should be clear of nuts before I see Mr 5 in the morning. And get the nuts up high and always remind babysitters that they aren't for Mr 5!

3. Miss 3 has also missed out on eating nuts because of Mr 5. I'm pretty sure her skin-prick test negatives to nuts were valid since she would have been exposed while I was pregnant and breastfeeding (we only found out about Mr 5's allergies after she was born) but she should keep eating them semi-regularly and so should Miss 5mths once we have determined she's ok with them. Next year Mr 5 is full time at school so that should give us some easy opportunities to eat them without him around as long as we clean up and brush teeth etc before we see him. This is a bit scary but worth doing I think.

Introducing food to your baby

With Miss 0 now at 4 months of age this is something I am about to get into! Yikes!

Click here to read a recent article by Coles Baby and Toddler Club with information from ASCIA regarding when to introduce allergenic foods. I should make clear that the reason I'm avoiding foods in my diet while breastfeeding is not to try to prevent an allergy in Miss 0 but rather because she reacts obviously to the foods via my breastmilk and when I remove them, her skin doesn't break out. I definitely wouldn't avoid a food if it didn't cause a reaction!

I should also say that if there is a history of food allergies in your other kids then you will need to exercise more caution and ensure that you introduce allergenic foods one at a time and probably not as the very first foods. Vegetables and fruits are a good starting point. Be aware that some rice cereals (eg Farex) contain traces of wheat, milk and soy (crazy! I know! Especially because they didn't use to!).

Allergy Testing - what to take with you

image from here

An allergy test takes a long time. At a private allergy specialist you arrive, wait, meet with the Doctor and take a history, go out, wait for the nurse, have skin prick tests, wait for 10mins for the reactions to occur, go back into the nurse, she measures the reactions, then you wait for the Doctor again and then they see you and tell you what everything means. It's a long time for kids especially if they are the one with the itchy arm. You will need to take a good amount of food, special treats, comfort items and anything that will keep them sitting still or happy waiting. Here's what we took to our latest allergy test with Miss 2:

- morning tea snacks - corn thins, fruit
- special treats - itsy bitsy bears, mini chuppa chup lollypop
- comfort item - her muslin wrap that she likes to snuggle
- my iPhone with Dora episode and Justine Clarke on it

I knew that the Doctor's waiting room had a decent amount of toys and books so I didn't need to take any but if it's your first time, I would take a couple of books at least.

We had morning tea while we waited to see the Doctor the first time. The chuppa chup lollypop was the best thing for having while we waited the 10mins for the reactions to occur - it kept her hand busy and you could cope with keeping an eye on the other one and making sure she didn't scratch. Her wrap really helped her deal with the pain of the skin prick test. I used the itsy bitsy bears to keep her quiet while the Doctor explained the results to me.

I also took her out for a special lunch afterwards and that was something she could look forward to.
Do you have any allergy test tips?

Menu Plan Monday - holiday edition - and Allergy tests

My poor little munchkin - she scored dustmites too this time...

We had Miss 2's allergy testing 2 weeks ago - it had been a year since her last one and I didn't hold much hope for any changes. The big surprise then was that she didn't react to the wheat skin prick test! I could hardly believe it! Egg had also gone down and that indicates she might be ready for a baked egg challenge in hospital in 6 months time (baked egg meaning baked foods that have egg in them like a cake/muffin etc). So we followed the Doctor's advice and gave her part of a water cracker (nice and plain wheat, no complications) and 20mins later, a bit more and so on. It seemed ok. So for the rest of the week we tried bits and pieces of wheat in meals but soon found that she was getting spots around her mouth and on her body and her eczema was returning. So I rang the Doctor and they told me to let it clear and start again. So we are almost ready to do that - Miss 2 is very sick at the moment (unrelated to allergies) so we think we will wait until she is in full health to start challenging her immune system again. Fun fun.

We were on holidays over the last 10 days at a house near the beach. It was fabulous. Here's the menu - a reasonably easy holiday menu. Note that some of the meals weren't wheat free but could easily be made so. The best thing I did was travel both ways with frozen bolognaise in a container which meant all I had to do was to cook pasta when we got there/home and heat up the bolognaise.


Wednesday - Spaghetti Bolognaise
Thursday - Pizza (using store bought bases)
Friday - Chicken and Vegie stirfry (using store bought honey, garlic & soy sauce) on rice
Saturday - Soft Tacos with mince and vegies
Sunday - Fish and Chips (from the takeaway shop - grilled fish for Miss 2)
Monday - Pasta with Bacon, Mushroom & Spinach - I substituted spinach for peas in this recipe
Tuesday - Spaghetti Bolognaise (cooked enough to freeze for Saturday night)
Wednesday - Chicken Stir Fry (to use up the rest of the sauce)
Thursday -Sausages, mash potato and vegies.
Friday - Roast Chicken and Vegies

I think I might put my spag bol recipe up soon. I just realised I don't think I've put one up.

So your child has allergies...

Here's a few suggestions of what to do first
- Follow your allergist's advice. Eg - remove allergens from their diet, buy medications as required, such as antihistamines and epipens and make sure you always have them with you, tell everyone who cares for your child the action plan for when an allergic reaction takes place.
- Meet with a dietician who is experienced in children and allergies. It's worth paying for if you can afford it. They will go through your child's current diet, make suggestions for changes and give you ideas for substitutes.
- Meet with your GP if you think your child is lacking nutrition somewhere and work out if there is anything you can do - like going on vitamins with iron, like we did.
- Work out what substitutes there are for your child to help you cook more eg No Egg, GF flours, Milk, Margarine etc and buy them.
- Find recipes that help you cook good food for your child - your local library should have a good selection, look online (you are here already!) and speak with friends who might have ideas.
- Something I've yet to do, but is a good idea, is join up to your local allergy support network such as Anaphylaxis Australia. They will keep you up to date with the latest information about allergies.

Feel free to contact me if you want to chat personally about anything. It's a tough road.

Did you know?

My son's skin prick test for nuts. Even the specialist had a disbelieving chuckle. Poor kid.

A child does not inherit a specific allergy from either parent, but it does inherit the likelihood to become allergic and the allergy itself can manifest in any form (eg food, environmental, medical).

If neither parent has allergic disease, offspring have about 20% chance of developing an allergic disease.
If one parent has an allergy, the likelihood jumps to about 30-40%.
If both parents have some sort of allergy, their child has a 60-80% likelihood of developing allergic disease.

The severity of an allergic reaction cannot be inherited.

It is unlikely that genetics are to blame for the increase in rate of allergic disease.

I have medical allergies and my husband has asthma and a lot of environmental allergies such as dustmites. So not really surprising that we have 2 allergic children.

How do your chances rate? And, if you have children, do these percentages fit your family?

Reference - Managing Your Child's Food Allergies by Alison Orman. Harper Collins 2009, p12

Did you know?

It is generally accepted that maternal diet (before or during pregnancy) does NOT influence the development or prevention of food allergy.

Reference - Managing Your Child's Food Allergies, Alison Orman. Harper Colins 2009, p14