Our food allergy journey began when Braelynn was around 2.5 months old. She was drinking Enfamil Gentlease and had been since she was born.
We had never had any issues and then all of a sudden she started projectile vomitting after almost every feed (TMI I know but this is our journey). She also started getting eczema which she hadn’t had before.
I researched a little and found out these could be food allergy symptoms. I then suspected a milk allergy so we went in to get the pediatricians thoughts.
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Pediatricians Initial Thoughts
Braelynn’s normal pediatrician wasn’t available on the day we needed so we saw a different one. This doctor said the vomiting was normal and that she didn’t think there was an allergy issue.
We asked if switching to a hypoallergenic formula would help and of course the doctor said she didn’t think it would. She swore it was a phase and it would go away on it’s own. She told us not to try the hypoallergenic formula because it was expensive and wouldn’t help.
I knew that the projectile vomiting couldn’t be normal and had to be a symptom of something else. My mommy instincts told me that she was wrong and we asked for samples of the hypoallergenic formula.
The New Formula: Nutramigen
We started her on the new formula and almost immediately noticed a huge difference. The next time we went to the pediatrician we saw our regular doctor and she agreed that there was an intolerance or allergy.
Fast Forward
Fast forward to when Braelynn just turned 1. She has always been a small baby but the doctor was wanting her to gain weight and we agreed. We tried feeding her more fatty food and the girl eats like a grown man but she just wouldn’t gain weight. I asked if seeing an allergist to rule out allergies being an issue for weight gain was a possibility. The doctor agreed that this would be a good idea.
Allergy Testing
We did the skin test for the most common allergies and then blood tests for a few others. Turns out she is indeed allergic to milk and shockingly eggs. She had no signs of being allergic to eggs other than just not seeming to like them. We also found out she’s allergic to cats and dogs which was unexpected but not the end of the world.
What Now?
There are conflicting opinions on whether or not to feed a child their allergens. She was and is not anaphylactic to any of her allergens (which we are very thankful for) and milk and egg allergies are normally outgrown by 5 years old.
At first we continued to feed her a little bit of dairy and things with eggs baked into them. She no longer vomited but her eczema just wouldn’t go away.
The more I researched, the more I found about how eczema could be a form of a food allergy rash. We made the decision with our pediatrician to completely cut them out. Her skin had never looked better and she no longer scratched herself.
Fast forward a few more months and the eczema came back and we just couldn’t get it to go away. I did some more research and suspected it might be gluten related.
We cut out all gluten and her skin cleared up completely. We’ve recently had a period where she had gluten again for a few days and once again her skin broke out.
We got strict again with her diet and cut out gluten and her skin is now back to normal. We brought this up to our pediatrician and she said it was probably and intolerance or sensitivity and to just not feed it to her.
Then we brought it up to the allergist who thought we were crazy and said there was no way she had a gluten issue just from a skin rash. Needless to say we went with out pediatricians advice and she will soon be tested for Celiac disease just to make sure it is indeed just an intolerance and not a more serious issue.
Why share all of this?
I wanted to share our story so that other mamas would know to trust their instincts. Doctors aren’t always going to agree with you but if you think there is something going on with your child then fight for them. The first doctor told us it wasn’t a food allergy…they were wrong. The allergist told us it wasn’t a gluten issue…I know she’s wrong. We know our babies best and we have to fight for them. We are their advocate and we are there to protect them. Trust your instincts Mama!
***UPDATE: As of 4/5/2020 our daughter no longer has an egg allergy. Her skin test came back negative for both eggs and dairy. We did an egg challenge and it was confirmed that she is no longer allergic. We will be doing a dairy allergy in the fall. We decided to wait a little while on that one as it seems she still reacts to dairy despite the skin test showing negative. We also are no longer gluten free as she has been able to tolerate it now. She was tested for Celiac a while ago and it came back negative which we are very thankful for.
Does your little have allergies? Did you have a hard time getting answers?
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