Does anyone have a child with Wheat or Dairy Allergies?

Here is a little background. Sorry if it is long.

My 14 month old DS has been sick/congested since he started daycare in Sept.
In Nov. he had pneumonia and since then has had 8 plus ear infections. I feel like I live at the ped. Office.
We have been to a few different doctors and last night we took him to a nutritionist.
The nutritionist suggested (based on his blood type and a toe prick of blood) that we immediately stop all dairy, wheat and gluten!!!
I am so upset. I have no idea what to do...or what to feed him for that matter.
If anyone has any input or suggestions I would really appreciate it.

Thanks

Message edited 4/4/2006 12:31:45 PM.

Re: Do anyone have a child with Wheat or Dairy Allergies?

Sorry you're going through this. My son has a dairy allergy (although he has gastric issues with dairy consumption; not ear infections or respiratory) and has been on soy since about 8 weeks old. Our pediatrician ordered blood work (I think its called a RAST test) to confirm this and rule out any other allergies. I'd see an ENT and a pediatirc allergist if I were you. I know LIJ has both.

Re: Does anyone have a child with Wheat or Dairy Allergies?

Colesmom - Thank you so much for your prompt response.

We have been to an ENT and I just mentioned to my husband that we should maybe see a pediatric allergist.

Does the RAST test rule out Dairy and Wheat allergies?

Re: Does anyone have a child with Wheat or Dairy Allergies?

My nephew has dairy allergy but not wheat. I would suggest heading immediately to Trader Joes-get some soy prods.-soy milk etc. Also you should make an appt with an alle3rgist-I don't really think a nutritionist is qualified to diagnose food allergies? I could be wrong but I don't know

Re: Does anyone have a child with Wheat or Dairy Allergies?

RAST def. detedcts dairy and eggs, I'm not 100% about the wheat. It's really not hard to manage a dairy allergy. Soy products are in every supermarket (its twice as much $$) but really easy to find. And Trader Joes and Wild by Nature has a TON of things. I should actually correct this and say he has a "milk sensitivity" not a full blown allergy, so I occasionally give him some whole milk cheese. I have a friend who is wheat and gluten allergic and while its harder to manage, TJ's and WBN have an extensive amount of wheat and gluten free food as well.

Re: Does anyone have a child with Wheat or Dairy Allergies?

I will have to ask the Ped. about the test. I asked him about a month ago if he thought my DS had a dairy allergy and he did not think so because he was not throwing up or did not have diarrhea.
I don't think it is full blown allergy. He currently has no issues with bowel movements or throwing up. It is just the constant congestion.
Again, the nutritionist was biasing this whole thing on his blood type.

So confusing.

Re: Does anyone have a child with Wheat or Dairy Allergies?

My daughter has severe milk and egg allergies. We noticed hives/vomiting/swelling whenever she was around dairy, even as an infant. We were referred from our ped to a ped. allergist who did skin prick testing and confirmed what we thought.

I haven't been to a nutrionist since I've heard mixed reviews on their suggestions/comments regarding food allergies, but researching on my own and working with the allergist has been most helpful.

Someone referred me to this board which is a huge resource:

POFAK

Just recently, I had Emily taken to the lab for blood work, but I honestly regret that. They took EIGHT vials of blood from her and the results were terribly incorrect. We've found the skin prick testing to be most accurate. I have a great allergist in Merrick if you want her info. I'm really happy with her.

Oh, and I also wanted to add - could the congestion issue be maybe Celiac disease? I could be wrong, but there are also other allergies that could be digestive, but my daughter's allergies are with hives, etc.

Good luck to you!

Re: Does anyone have a child with Wheat or Dairy Allergies?

oh and wanted to add re: supermarkets, just be 100% sure the foods you are buying are completely dairy free. Often "soy" products still have lactose or whey in them which means it's not really 100% dairy free.

I give Emily Enhanced Silk Soymilk, but Silk also makes soy yogurt which isn't safe for her - so for yogurt I buy WholeSoy yogurt. It can get a bit tricky if you don't read the labels carefully.

Toffuti cheese from Trader Joe's is safe too.

Re: Does anyone have a child with Wheat or Dairy Allergies?

only se soy dream if you buy soy milk, silk is not considered "clean", it is pricessed on machines that also process dairy products, all of the rice drems, soy dream, edensoy are "pure". My daughter had a sever milk protein allergy, she outgrew it by 20 months, but she was off of dairy from 2 weeks until 20 months.

Re: Does anyone have a child with Wheat or Dairy Allergies?

Wow...my head is spinning even more...but thank you all so much.

The nutritionist also recommended that we stay away from soy and use rice products. I can't remember his exact reason.

Re: Does anyone have a child with Wheat or Dairy Allergies?

Message edited 4/4/2006 2:37:11 PM.

Re: Does anyone have a child with Wheat or Dairy Allergies?

Alswo i know my SIL had a book that explained what all the ingredients were. Many things are dairy based and have long strange names you can probably even find one online
Here