Baby with Food Allergies

My 10mth old baby has dairy, soy and grain allergies. She was breastfed for 7 mths but this seems to have done nothing to help her where allergies are concerned.


Does anyone have similar problems? What are you doing as far as introducing solids, offering interesting snacks is concerned?


Has anyone's child grown out of food allergies? Has anyone had allergies successfully treated?


Any advice would be great...

Dear Miso,

My toddler has dairy and egg allergy, which made weaning and cooking to this day quite difficult as most recipies for babies and toddlers contain a lot of dairy products. My daughter is now 2 1/2 and a recent test showed she has outgrown the egg allergy. I have not yet tested it out but I still hope that like most children she will at some point be able to tolerate at least some dairy. There are two books which I found really helpful when I started weaning.'What should I feed my baby?" by Suzannah Oliver and 'Optimum Nutrition for Babies and Young Children" by Lucy Burney.

Good luck and I hope your little one will one day be allergy free.

My nephew was diagnosed with a dairy allergy very young (despite being breast fed also). He also had an egg allergy. This made feeding very difficult. My sister-in-law was able to use soy products - soy milk, soy yoghurt and soy cheese (although he wasn't very keen on the last 2).

In Australia there are quite alot of products available which are egg/dairy and wheat free - sold at speciality food stores and quite expensive of course!

They were told to keep him on the strict diet until he was at least 18 mths old (by a paediatrician), and then to gradually introduce foods like cheese, yoghurt etc in small amounts, as alot of babies do grow out of this. Luckily for them he is gradually being able to tolerate these foods in controlled amounts. He is now 2 and 1/2 years and can have cheese, yoghurt. He can have milk and eggs in cooked foods like cakes/biscuits but he still drinks soy and doesn't eat a whole egg. They now don't have to be so paranoid if he picks something up at a party and eats it.

They have been warned he is going to be at risk for nut allergy (they haven't given him any nuts yet).

The good news for you is that he does seem to be growing out of the worst of the allergies - because I know it can be hard work finding things to feed them.

Good luck

Thanks everyone for all the info. Pity we don't have raw milk in HK (like so many other products)! I will check out the books you recommended bizzibee and hopefully my daughter will outgrow these restrictions.

Thanks mummybee's hubby. My baby has been on Pepti-Junior for two months and that seems to have helped but any other info. you have would be really useful.

Okay, Mei weighing in here :-) First off, sorry to the be bearer of bad news, but food allergy is potentially serious and also (unfortunately)long term. In terms of how serious, a real allergy causes a systemic reaction. Hives, rash, swelling. Some symptoms are life threatening: if your child ever complains of difficulty breathing or swallowing after eating an allergic food, it is a medical emergency and you need to get to a hospital. Every parent of a truly allergic child should have an anaphylaxis action plan (basically instructions in advance written out by your doctor that you can do or give to emergency workers) and should carry an epinepherine injection (epi pen) "just in case" . . . . There are some other ingredients that should also be kept in your home allergy emergency kit, which should only be administered as instructed by your doctor. The other bad news is that it's long term and a child with one allergy is very much more likely to develop additional ones. My general advice is to avoid the allergy causing food fastidiously, forever (and also be really slow to introduce foods that are known to cause allergies). This includes mommy's (parent's!) responsibility to read the ingredient label on every food. Forget trying to introduce the allergic food later, for with repeated exposure you just increase the sensitivity. (If you want to try reintroducing something, wait several years.) Yes, you can meet nutritional needs, you just have to be creative and alter recipes. Soy, oat, and rice milk usually taste fine in recipes that call for dairy. (You can get oat and rice milk at City Super or Olivers.) Since it's the protein in the milk that causes the allergy, forget cow cheese -- but you could try some delicious goat cheese instead -- or settle for rice cheese or soy cheese. Experiment with different brands for taste. Forget what all the grannies and aunties say ... they don't know what they are talking about! An immunologist and a dietician can be helpful to figure out exactly what the allergies are, help you understand the reasons you avoid exposure, and then to help figure out how to meet nutritional needs with tasty recipes that are easy to fix and that the whole family will enjoy.

To be more responsive to your specific question, at this moment your 10 month old is getting her nutritional needs met mostly from her formula (right?). Think in terms of nutrition when you introduce solids. The main allergy causing foods are protein foods. Fruits and veggies prepared without additives are generally okay. Talk with your pediatrician, but mainly simply modify what you offer to eliminate allergy causing foods. In your case you will want to "just say no" to dairy, egg, soy, and nuts. When introducing foods, do it very systematically one at a time, offer the new food every day for a week and watch to make sure there is no reaction. If there is a reaction, note it and don't offer that food for awhile longer. You can fix little finger foods that she will enjoy picking up herself and that are not large enough to choke her: e.g. tiny chopped up fruits (fresh and dried), tiny bits of meat (introduced one at a time), veggies cooked soft and chopped into finger food size pieces. Babies enjoy experimenting with different textures and flavors, just as grownups do. Also, you can let her go at it with her own spoon, bowl, and cereals or pureed foods if you like (she will love the independence, and then you get to clean up all the mess!) Sweet potatoes are very nutritious. I've also personally known of one case where the baby was severely allergic, hospitalized, and the mum relactated as a last resort. This was a case where the baby was allergic to every formula they tried, probably more extreme than yours if your baby is gaining weight and holding down the formula.

It's good to have breastmilk for infant as it can improve the immune system of the baby. Weaning should start from liquid food and then increase the consistency and texture. Regarding to grain allergy, does it cover rice? Generally rice water is quite easily to be tolerated. If not well tolerated, mashed vegetable like potato, carrot, pumpkin can also be the other choices . Only one type of food is introduced each time. It's better to ask a dietitian for further information.


Dietician - 2849 0721

Matilda International Hospital

Hong Kong

http://www.matilda.org