Newbie...help!

[mycrazyboys]

Hi all,

My son was just diagnosed with an egg allergy at 9 months old. they only tested him for egg and nuts (nuts negative). he has had horrible eczema since birth and has been formula fed this whole time. I do not know where to begin. I have 2 other boys at home and will be going back to work soon. some starter questions:
1) Can we all eat together? They eat foods containing eggs, not to mention eggs themselves. How do I keep the little guy safe?
2) how do i know the severity of the allergy?
3) should he be tested for other allergies (thinking milk should be tested...not sure why doc did not test for others)
4) no flu shot...right?

a giant thanks in advance!

[PurpleCat]

Hello and Welcome!

Egg allergy is an allergy and it does not matter the severity.  Your little one should not touch or eat anything with egg, especially at 9 months when he can not speak for himself or tell you what he is feeling.

My DD has many allergies.  Before she was diagnosed with egg, she did not want to eat them.  She was maybe 15 months old when she started to by herself "go to her room" on Sunday morning when DH and I always ate eggs.  For her, we learned later, the egg protein that got in the air when they are cooked made her feel "wrong".  She had horrible uncontrollable eczema.  Then the news.

We chose to take egg out of our home completely.  We have been this way about all of her allergens until recently.  She is now 14, very independent, and DH was happy to have his mayo back - I swear he was eating it by the scoopful! 

By taking things out of our home, home for DD was always always safe.  I could relax.  She could relax.  There was no chance of anaphylaxis.  Home was a safety net after a day of school or some outing.....there is always stress and by choosing this, for me, this was my time and place not to stress about allergies and DD's time and place to just be a kid and not have to ask or be watched, etc...

Others I know have not done this.  They label boxes for safe food, designate counter tops for certain kinds of foods, have different pans to cook, etc.....  It really depends on you, your family dynamic, and the risks you are comfortable taking.

Well a few things changed when egg was no longer in our home.  DD's skin became beautiful!  Sure, she still has eczema and probably always will but it is controlled!  Her asthma was so much easier to control.  She threw up less.  (I was nursing and I had been eating eggs).  She cried less.

(with peanut butter she would tell DH she did not like his smell - he ate it everyday- and he could not touch her......he had "yucky kisses".....they know.....but when they are little, they can't tell you!  The old pediatrician said it was a fetish, fetish my foot!)


As for the flu shot, my DD gets one.  She has asthma, she needs to have it. Years ago when egg was considered a big risk for it, she would have the shot in the allergists office.  They'd dilute the actual dose and test it under her skin, and then with no skin reaction they'd give her the shot and we'd hang out for an hour.  Now, she has it at the pediatrician and we no longer wait.  The latest reports are that it is safe for those with egg allergy.  With you little one, perhaps they would do the skin test and then the injection and you could wait a bit...since he can't talk or explain...just to be safe?

When she was a toddler I was very scared and stressed.  I've learned so much from the people here, my own research, and our own experiences.  Now my DD is in high school.  She has done very well slowly becoming independent with her allergies.  Her friends are wonderful and caring and she goes to the mall, movies, skating, sleepovers, parties, etc.....  She lives her life carefully and with extra planning.  She went on her class trip to Washington DC and I did not go.  She had a blast!  We had a plan.  We made advanced arrangements.  I don't mind the work.  She's always been in day care, preschool, and public school, her schools are not "free" of her allergens, but she does have age appropriate accommodations that have changed many times over the years as she changed. 

Each child is different and there is no right or wrong. 

You will find what works best for you, your baby, and your family and the quality of your lives.  It will get easier only because you will learn it, live it, and respect it.  And as your baby gets older and spends less time putting things in his mouth, etc....you might change what you do.  Look at us.  I was buying mayo!  But.....could not before cause DH is messy...really messy...so we tried and at first it was ok and DH was happy.  Then, 2 times in a row, I found mayo in the cheese container....cause he had it on his hands before he made his sandwich and he did this to DD's favorite cheese, not his american cheese that DD would not touch knowing it was his and he was messy.  Well I threw the cheese out both times and after the second time, I threw the mayo out.  And he has not complained....it opened his eyes.

If you think your baby has other allergies, I do suggest you speak with an allergist.  I don't know if you have one or are working with a pediatrician.  Our pediatrician claimed "fetish" and I knew....really knew it was something more.  Allergists are educated and understand and will test and then hopefully provide guidance....from what I have learned, they can be quick to write a script and less effective with guidance.  They don't live it.  Well our allergist's husband has allergies and her children have asthma.  She's been pretty good but I've learned most from other moms.

So yes, you can eat together, just might have to make a few changes to either what you eat or how you eat it.
The severity of an allergy?  I won't get on my soap box cause I tend to on this one.  I'll just say it does not matter, allergic is allergic.
Should he be tested?  I'd ask an allergist and if you believe it, trust your gut and insist.
flu shot - again, talk to the allergist about what is best for your son.

I use to work and it was hard to trust others.  You will find the right combo.  We are like momma bears when it comes to our kids.  You will be great!

[CMdeux]

1) Can we all eat together? They eat foods containing eggs, not to mention eggs themselves. How do I keep the little guy safe?
2) how do i know the severity of the allergy?
3) should he be tested for other allergies (thinking milk should be tested...not sure why doc did not test for others)
4) no flu shot...right?

My DD is also 14yo now, and has been egg allergic since... well, since she was probably younger than your little one, let's just say.  She had her first reaction to egg before her first birthday, anyway-- baked into a cake/bread that I made her.

But she also had the eczema going on, so it was pretty clear (retrospectively) that SOMETHING was going on.

1.  That really depends.  Can your other kids be relied upon to be careful enough with their little brother?  Understanding that an emergency room visit is the likely consequence for mistakes-- what is your RISK tolerance here?    As Purplecat notes, many of us have found it is just simpler to make the adjustment to having an allergen free home during the years leading up to preschool (and maybe even through elementary school); it's a haven that you can retreat to from what is a very hostile "outside" environment... and with food allergens like milk, wheat, egg, or peanut, the world is VERY hostile for little ones, because food is everywhere you take them, and it's pretty much all laced with the allergen.  You might also decide that SOME packaged things are a low risk and worth keeping in your home (baking mixes with integrated egg, finished bakery goods).



2.  The hard way.  Well, it's true.  Okay-- severity is one thing.  Often when people just starting out are asking about severity-- what they actually mean is twofold, though they may not yet know it.  What they want to know is:  a) what kinds of reactions?? and b) to what kinds of exposures??  The first part is "severity" and as Purplecat said-- allergic is allergic-- if you're allergic to a food (truly ALLERGIC to it, not just intolerance or whatever) then you're at risk of anaphylaxis.  Probably, anyway.  The second part of it is what makes life with food allergies so interesting and, for the unlucky, isolating-- because everyone has a different triggering dose (that is, amount needed to elicit any reaction at all).  The problem is that triggering doses for some people are quite large (that is, they'd have to eat a serving of the food) and for others quite small (that is, the 'this smells bad and makes me wheeze' from cooking fumes), and that both are nastily close to a catastrophic triggering dose for the allergen.  Just to make it fun, that dose make go up or down depending on the day and what else is going on with your child's health/allergy status, by the way.  What this all means is that-- you'll have to learn for yourself just what you are living with.  Nobody else can tell you.      We tend to be a group that clusters on the low-threshold side of things because that is the hardest to live with (obviously).

3.  Why milk?  I guess-- sure, once you've pulled possible egg sources out of the diet and if you're still seeing out of control eczema, you could TRY pulling it to see for yourself.  But know that egg is a walk in the park compared to milk avoidance. 

4.  If your child goes into childcare settings, I'd be VERY keen to get him a flu vaccine.  Seriously.  The risk is quite low compared to the relative benefit there at this point, IMO.  Talk to your allergist, though-- my DD's history means that even though she SHOULD be able to get vaccinated pretty much anywhere at this point, we still have to get hers through her allergist because nobody else will do one.


Okay-- a word about avoidance.

Avoid the allergen to avoid reactions.  No more, no less.  There are now research studies that support the idea that avoidance of all allergen exposure (including that which produces no reactions at all) may be the best way to PRODUCE that ultra-low threshold that PurpleCat and I have both talked about (and lived with).

If you can possibly avoid that, you should do that.  This is why I'm not so sure that removing the allergen from your house is necessary at this point-- and it MIGHT have consequences that are a bad thing.  You haven't seen a SEVERE reaction, right?  Only eczema.  And that from probable environmental exposure in a pretty significant way, if you are feeding other young children pure egg around him.  Has your younger child been EATING anything with egg ingredients?  If so, obviously eliminate THAT first and see where that gets you.

If you don't see additional evidence of allergy-- and by evidence I mean reactions-- during the next two or three years, push to retest and possibly to challenge with baked egg.  We have a lot of members who have done that and can walk you through the process with a willing allergist.  It reduces risk considerably, and makes school so much safer. 

Now:  do you have epinephrine for your child?  If not-- ASK for a script.

[mycrazyboys]

Thank you so much for all of the info. In a nutshell, here is the history:
- formula fed since 2 weeks old and eczema (bad since about 2ish months old)
- reflux around 4 months (tested and diagnosed). this has since resolved
- no other digestive issues
- he is only eating fruit, cereal, veggies and baby food meat.
- I tried egg 3 times and he gagged and threw up. I was not sure if it was just the texture so we went to the allergist. he only tested eggs and nuts.
- he wants us back in 6 months with a raw egg and muffin (baked with egg) to do a challenge with him.
- we have allerject

my hubby thinks life should continue as it has just with no egg for him. The baby has been around all of us when eggs were being cooked and eaten. Give that what we have seen to date is eczema, if we continue as we have with no egg or egg products for the baby, is that reasonable or very risky. I really don't know much about this. My neighbour's DD has several allergies and she said her daughter turned black & blue and swelled. my LO did not react like that when he was fed eggs directly. i assumed based on that and the allergists reaction to the positive allergy test (he did not think we will need the allerject and thinks he will outgrow), i assumed was not one of those life threatening allergies...naive?

thanks so much!!!!

[CMdeux]

I really don't know much about this. My neighbour's DD has several allergies and she said her daughter turned black & blue and swelled. my LO did not react like that when he was fed eggs directly.

Well, if it's an allergy at all-- it's potentially life-threatening.

You may just be fortunate enough to be in a situation where the necessary triggering dose for something so catastrophic is high enough that it's not likely to happen without KNOWING that something contains that much egg.  Hard to say for sure, since the allergy may have just developed.

With that said--

Give that what we have seen to date is eczema, if we continue as we have with no egg or egg products for the baby, is that reasonable or very risky.

This seems relatively reasonable under the circumstances.  At least unless you see it being problematic.  If your DS is developing hives when at the table with others eating eggy food, then you'll know this is not going to work out, right? 

Do you know WHEN you should use epinephrine? 

If you don't-- check out this table-- and become familiar with the symptoms that are on it, and then discuss it with your allergist's office and put together an emergency action plan.  There are a number of examples sprinkled in many of the info threads on this board. 

[mycrazyboys]

thanks so much for the help. lots of reading ahead of me

[GingerPye]

Lots of us have been where you are.   
Welcome!

[Macabre]

I don't deal with egg allergy, but for us, we removed peanut from our house. And it will always be that way unless he officially outgrows and I also do not have PN.

I am allergic to shellfish and sesame, and they don't come into our house. We're careful, but sometimes not as careful as we'd need to be if we let these things into our house. 

I honestly don't know how egg protein degrades or the persistence of it. I do know the persistence of peanut protein, and it's there until it's cleaned off with a cleanser.  So it's not worth the work or risk.

Also, if we were allergic to dairy or egg--we might not ban them from our house--I just don't know, not being there myself.



I will also say this--reactions can change.  What a reaction looks like now may not be what it looks like two months from now.  It can be a "minor" reaction one week and anaphylaxis the next. I've seen this with both my son and me. 

Also--one heartening note is that children very often outgrow milk and egg allergies before six.  If your child is allergic, I hope this is the case!

Welcome.  I hope you find this a helpful place.