Milk Allergy question-no blood test?

DD was diagnosed with a milk allergy at 2 months old. She is now almost 11 months.

Our FL GI wanted us to do a blood test to see if she was still suffering from allergies. I thought all GIs do that.

We went to our first appointment with a new GI here in NY and this GI wants us to try to give her a tablespoon of yogurt when she turns one and give her stool samples over three days. She said to observe her to see how she reacts and that vomiting would be normal the first time.

I was confused because I thought they were supposed to have blood work. Part of me is happier not to have to stick her right now, but part of me is concerned about giving her dairy without any sort of allergy test.

Is this typical? Should I ask her ped to test her? Should I ask for a referral to an allergist to do a skin test?

I am just thrown through a loop because our Florida GI led us to believe that we had to do blood.

Re: Milk Allergy question-no blood test?

DS is 15 months old and is just being switched over to milk because he was still having issues at 12 months. I tried yogurt for the first time 3 weeks ago. He didn't have any bad problems except he didn't poop for 2 days and then exploded. No visible blood in his BM like when he was a newborn. They do blood work at 12 months, but they didn't test for the allergy as they say most kids outgrow it. DS also had a severe soy allergy. I started with low fat yogurt. He now has no problem with the yogurt and I started him on whole milk today. so far he has had 5 oz of it and has had no problems...I don't think the blood test for milk allergies are that accurate.. .Sometimes you just have to try it to see what happens....Good luck...

Re: Milk Allergy question-no blood test?

Re: Milk Allergy question-no blood test?

Mich, was she ever tested for allergies before (other than the stool cards)? Trip had a blood test and skin test through an allergist, both came back negative. The GI said he had non-IgE allergies, and that they will not show up on allergy tests.

Re: Milk Allergy question-no blood test?

My ped also said the blood tests were inaccurate at such a young age. DD is on soy milk although she hates it. He told me I can try vanilla flavored. We had to check stools for 3 days 1 wk after starting soy milk. He wants to wait until 18months to try regular milk

Re: Milk Allergy question-no blood test?

Re: Milk Allergy question-no blood test?

We didn't do bloodwork either. Both the GI and ped said that it is not very accurate for allergies that cause digestive issues. I started by giving him an ounce of milk a day for a week and then had his stool tested. Once he was fine with that we upped it by an ounce every week and then tested a month later again. sometimes it can take a while for the allergy to start causing blood so it might not be detected right away. I was worried about having a severe reaction so I gave the first try at the doctors office and waited there for a 1/2 hour just in case of a bad reaction. It turned out that he outgrew both the dairy and soy allergies. Good Luck!!!

Re: Milk Allergy question-no blood test?

Re: Milk Allergy question-no blood test?

Yes. GI said 75% outgrow them by the first year, 95% by 3 years, and the remaining 5% don't outgrow them. The allergies that show up on the skin test i *believe* are more severe. Trip is now allergic to peanuts and almonds but the GI said he won't go into anaphalactic shock from having them.

Re: Milk Allergy question-no blood test?

Re: Milk Allergy question-no blood test?

We haven't tried strawberries with DS yet and we don't eat much seafood...I am staying far away from anything with nuts for a while. He is still having issues with soy, but not as bad...Hopefully he will outgrow that in the next few months...I was hoping he would have been off the Elecare by now. The insurance doesn't cover it anymore...

Re: Milk Allergy question-no blood test?

We never had a blood test or a diaper test. DD's poop had visible specks of blood at 2 weeks old. At 9 mos old, the ped said we could start by giving her a teaspoon of yogurt a day and basically see what happens. If she's fine, we increase to 2 teaspoons the next week and so on. The ped didn't even want a diaper to test - I was like, well how will I know if she has problems? She was basically like, you'll know - call me if something's up and we'll talk. But DD did fine with yogurt, teaspoon by teaspoon, and has been now doing drinking 1/2 milk and 1/2 formula for awhile - we're almost done with our stockpile of formula so she'll be all on milk soon.

Re: Milk Allergy question-no blood test?

Re: Milk Allergy question-no blood test?

Re: Milk Allergy question-no blood test?

We didn't have a blood test either. We triedn yogurt, no reaction. So moved on to cheese, no reaction. Moved onto Lactaid milk, until he was about 15 months, and he was fine, so we moved onto organic milk. Hasn't had any problems since. We were just told to ease into it and watch for vomiting, diarrhea, etc.

Re: Milk Allergy question-no blood test?

Re: Milk Allergy question-no blood test?

Thanks everyone for putting my mind at ease!

Re: Milk Allergy question-no blood test?

Not to scare you, but my DS is allergic to dairy. When he was a baby our ped never had him tested...we just eliminated it from my diet and it relieved his symptoms (I was EBF so he was just getting it through my BM causing severe eczema). after we started solids my ped said we could try giving yogurt and he had a pretty bad reaction. If you do decide to try it, please please at least make sure you have childrens benadryl on hand. My DS has since been tested (blood tests only) and is still severely allergic at almost 5 years old. He is actually anaphylactic to dairy and we carry and have used an epi-pen for him. I personally would never give a known allergen to my child unless I had first seen test results that indicated that it would be safe. I know my DS is at the far end of the spectrum as far as severity, but food allergies are really scary and can be life threatening. Hopefully you'll have better luck, but I just think it's always better to be safe. I'm not trying to be an alarmist, I just have first hand experience being one of the unlucky ones who didn't outgrow the allergy and I wouldnt want someone else to experience that if it could be avoided. Blood test better than ER visit

Re: Milk Allergy question-no blood test?

Posted by NJmom

Not to scare you, but my DS is allergic to dairy. When he was a baby our ped never had him tested...we just eliminated it from my diet and it relieved his symptoms (I was EBF so he was just getting it through my BM causing severe eczema). after we started solids my ped said we could try giving yogurt and he had a pretty bad reaction. If you do decide to try it, please please at least make sure you have childrens benadryl on hand. My DS has since been tested (blood tests only) and is still severely allergic at almost 5 years old. He is actually anaphylactic to dairy and we carry and have used an epi-pen for him. I personally would never give a known allergen to my child unless I had first seen test results that indicated that it would be safe. I know my DS is at the far end of the spectrum as far as severity, but food allergies are really scary and can be life threatening. Hopefully you'll have better luck, but I just think it's always better to be safe. I'm not trying to be an alarmist, I just have first hand experience being one of the unlucky ones who didn't outgrow the allergy and I wouldnt want someone else to experience that if it could be avoided. Blood test better than ER visit

Re: Milk Allergy question-no blood test?

see i am torn...
gave her yogurt...she threw up in 5 mins.

waited a few weeks and tried again..fine.
gave her milk in a cup...fine.

but, it does look like she is developing some eczema patches.

i am so over nursing...what do they go on after one if they are still allergic??
my ped is so anti soy.

i guess in these 2 weeks i should go milk free again and see if patches disappear...

but my kids never had blood tests.
josh was covered in a rash...blood in diaper
jessie did not gain weight, blood in diaper

for josh i gave him dairy 2 weeks before 1 year appt and they tested his diaper

Re: Milk Allergy question-no blood test?

Re: Milk Allergy question-no blood test?

do you think ped would go along with putting her on rice milk?

i feel like he is going to suggest formula $$$

nursing isn't working out this time around. dealing with cracked nipples for months and so over it.

Re: Milk Allergy question-no blood test?

Re: Milk Allergy question-no blood test?

Did she have a blood test before to diagnose the milk allergy? What were her symptoms?

My son is a 5 out of 6 to dairy in the blood tests, but is not anaphylaptic and does not have an immediate reaction to milk. His stomach will hurt a little for a few days and then he'll start having bowel movements with bloody mucus. He was accidentally given a snack at school that had dairy and we thought he was coming down with the stomach flu until a few days later we saw the blood and realized what happened. So for me blood tests are a must before any food challenge.

Re: Milk Allergy question-no blood test?

Just wanted to chime in, look into goat milk, if you ever want to try milk. A lot of people have been recommending it to me, and I we don't even have allergies.