Egg Allergy - Infant - Info Please

Hi Everyone


Our almost 9 month old has an egg allergy - egg yolk no less! We tried egg yolk and she projectile vomitted... Dr said it was an allergy.


Our 23 month old toddler has no allergies, although we have not done any nut products as my hubby's brother has a nut allergy. But he eats eggs, milk, seafood, etc.. all with no problem.


I have read everything I can on the Internet, but can't find answers to the below.


I live in Beijing, and have asked my Dr but Dr is not an allergy expert...


My big questions are:


Because she has an egg allergy, is she likely to be allergic to other things?


I have read that babies with egg allergy often have other allergies - like milk. She takes yogurt great, but we hven't tried cheese yet, and we aren't going to try milk until one year - should we wait on cheese and milk longer?


I am breast feeding - should I stop eating egg? I have eaten egg throughout the pregnancy and breast feeding thus far with no problem, but now I am not sure if it is a good idea!


I read that some babies allergic to egg, are also allergic to chicken... so should we not introduce chicken (we planned to at one year)?


For protein this leaves me tofu and beans (with rice) and of course yogurt... without egg should I be doing other things? We were planning to start chicken at one year, but we hold off on red meat until 3 years for both kids.


When/How often do you 'test' with an egg to see if the allergy is gone - do I try at 18 months, 2 years, 3, years, etc...


Thanks so much, this forum always has the best advice :)


CRJ in Beijing (formerly CRJ in HK!)

Hi Cara -

I miss this forum too - it is much more active than the ones in BJ, but Internet is slooow sometimes so I don't visit too much...


don't go there!

It all started at 6 months with the flu vaccine and her having a vomitting so much it was green bile reaction...

so at (almost) 9 months we tried egg yolk, and got 'normal' projectile vomitting...


But apparently the MMR is now safe for babies with egg allergies, and it is given much later... but I don't want to turn this into a vaccine thread or exyogi will hijack it and I will get no information on eggs!!!!


So back to EGG ALLERGY


Any ideas?


Thanks :)

hi crj, i recently went to have myself tested for allergies, as i have some respiratory problems when i come into contact with wool.


iw as tested for about 50 substances and much to my surprise i'm allergic to egg yolk, cows milk and carrots!!!


the doc that i went to actually specialises in pediatric allergies. her contact details are below, i guess she'd want you to bring baby in for her to check, but anyways u can call and check.


Dr Helen Chan

16F Central Building Pedder St Hk.

phone 25222302.


She did say that food allergies tend to change over time, to avoid things that i'm allergic to (foods) for 6 months and then get tested again.


hope this helps.

Kali - thanks for that contact info, we live in Beijing now, but if we feel we need more serious help we can always come to HK if needed, I'll keep her details just in case.

I also might contact her regarding the breast feeding question.


Flashback - okay, your post terrified me at first, but I am so thankful you posted it - it is good to know how severe it might be. As a vegetarian I never realised chicken came in different 'brands' but I will definately buy free range or organic for the kids after reading your post!!

Obviously, you did a great job raising your son to be a responsible eater, and he now manages on his own. I can't imagine all you went through with that level of allergies.... (I mean really can't imagine it).

I'll check those links, and see what else I can learn.


Thanks

Strange question - but how does the dr know the difference between an intolerance and an allergy? Everything I have read says that most babies outgrow egg allergies by age 6, but what you said makes a lot of sense...

When do you find out if it is an intollerance or an allergy? When they are 6 and still intollerant it is then classed as an allergy?


I do appreciate your responses, but of course I am hoping your son is in the minority... if our daughter winds up the same, at least your story is inspiring!

Thanks Flashback, that link was very informative.


So far we have tried the below and no problems:

Organic brown rice, barley, oatmeal

Raw papaya, mango, banana

Cooked sweet potato, pumpkin, squash, carrot, broccoli, peas

Tofu, yogurt, brewers yeast, flax seed oil

Wakodo rice crackers - rice, startch


We always do the 'three day rule' when introducing new foods.


Avocado, we tried at 6 months and she threw up, but she threw up right after a very warm bath, so we thought it was the bath. We will try again 9 months and see.


Egg, as you know...


Originally, we had planned to introduce cheese at 9 months and milk at 12 months.

But due to the egg allergy, we are going to do a bit more research on the cheese to see if we should wait until 12 months.


And I have decided to postpone milk until 15 months if the Dr says it is okay. I don't want to deprive her of what she needs, but I don't want to instigate further allergies either.


Also, originally I was going to stop breast feeding at 13 months, but due to the allergies I think we will try to continue (if she wants) until 18 months now.


If there is anything else practical you can think of that we should do, please let me know.



Thanks again so much...

my son had many food intolerances as a baby, including eggs. But he was also intolerant to chicken, as chicken has a protein in it that is also found in eggs, turkey does not have this protein, so you could use that insread. We were living in the UK at the time where turkey was very easy to come by all year round. For protein you can try fish instead of the meat. He was also intolerant to dairy products, soya, goats and sheeps milk, lentils and citrus fruits. The good news is he outgrew them all, although still doesn;t drink cows milk (but has it in foods), and can still only tolerate soya in small amounts. But pretty much everything else is OK.

hi goddes kali - i would like to ask what does an allergy test involves? My baby son who is now 11 months old had lactose intolerance for the his first 6 months. He was drinking lactose free and later switched to soy based milk formula. Now he is 100% on normal formula. He takes to egg yolk alright. But i have yet to try cheese and yoghurt as i am worried that given his lactose intolerance history, these group of foods will cause reactions.


Another qn: when is a good time to introduce wheat? does introducing high risk foods early instead of when he is ready for them, risk causing him to be allergic to

those foods? Or is it a situation where u never know when they are ready for them until you introduce them?

To add to flashbacks reply, the dietician my son saw as a baby said he had classic signs of intolerance, its not always vomiting, although he did have that 2 or 3 times a day, but also either constipation or diarrhea, he would have several screaming episodes a day where you just know its the stomach thats hurting, but added to these, chest infections i.e. bronchitis, bronciolitis. We had a hair test done in the UK (although the doctors reckoned it was a waste of money), but after having a constantly sick child for 2 years, after we eliminated the foods we were told to after the hair test he didn't have one days illness in the next 4 years. So its very important to get the diet right.

Re the vaccines - children with an egg allergy or that have someone with an egg allergy in the family used to be advised against the whooping cough vaccine ( pertussis, so the P part of the DPT vaccine), but that changed in the last few years as it has now changed to the DPaT vaccine and is safer.

Now we have confirmed she is ALLERGIC TO AVOCADO as well...


:(

answer to GS; the allergy testing for me involved having to lie on my belly while the did the skin prick test on my back, several small simultaneous pricks. i don't know if its the same for young babies such as yours, you can call them and ask, they are quite helpful.


as for wheat, i introduced it to my baby quite early - around 7 or 8 months and he had no problem with it whatsoever.


he is now a week away from 11 months, and loves nothing better than to sit on the kitchen floor with a nice chewy pc of bread in hand, which he will slowly gum on and chew with great relsish.

"Why do you credit that protection to "being around mostly vaccinated people", rather than to a strong immune system and the things that support a strong immune system like clean water, rest, sun shine, adequate and nutritious food, basic hygiene, etc?"


Of course those have a big effect but even in the healthiest populations infections do spread. Even a very healthy person can get polio or smallpox.


Stating an anecdotal example of someone who didn't get sick despite being unvaccinated doesn't prove that vaccines are useless. Even hundreds of years ago, before vaccines, many (even most) people didn't get sick from a particular epidemic. But it was purely a lottery. Is that desirable?

"So, whenever you, or your children, take a vaccination you are essentially playing a game of "Russian roulette" because you DON"T KNOW how that vaccination shot will affect you. Will it be death? Disability? Cancer? Autism? Disease? You don't know!


Will it be protection from the disease they get the shot for? That tends to be the most common outcome. ;)

There is a whole new thread just about vaccines, where you can state your cases as much as you want...

Thanks.


HAS ANYONE EVER HAD A BABY WITH AN AVOCADO ALLERGY? Yet she eats mango and banana just fine, so it doesn't 'fit' into anything I have read...


Thanks

how did she react to the avocado?

i gave avocado to my son (now almost 22 months) when we first started solids...i mixed it with milk and he enjoyed eating it. but then he couldn't poo for the life of him, it was all dark, hard and couldn't quite come out. in the end, my husband had to use a little cotton bud to encourage the poo to come out! since then, we have not dared to reintroduce the food again as we were sure if we fed him too much of it or was it a case of food intolerance/allergy.

sorry, not much help here, just thought to share....

My almost 2 year old - next week!!! - also was on avocado as his very first food and he LOVED it... it was a huge hit and high in calories and all the good fats... for ages he had avocado, egg yolk and yogurt as a staple meal.


My daughter, now 9 months, tried avocado at 6 months and threw up a few hours later... but she threw up after what was a very warm bath, so I thought it might have been the bath. Then the next time she threw up, but again there were other circumstances which might have caused it...

So we waited until 9 months, tried again, and at first she refused to open her mouth to eat it (very rare for her), then she finally took two spoons and threw them up immediately (not projectile, more like spit them up)... And refused to eat more...


At least she is smart!!


But of course, without egg and avocado - two of the most perfect foods on the planet - the whole diet is slightly challenged. But so far they are the only two things...


I would try it again with your son - there are some great toddler recipes for pasta with an avocado sauce... remember when all babies start solids there poo gets more solid, so maybe it was just that.


Can you believe they are almost two!!!!


PS - thanks :)

"HAS ANYONE EVER HAD A BABY WITH AN AVOCADO ALLERGY?"


Maybe not allergy but avocados are very rich. "Large" portions can be a bit much for babies.

Hi Crj. Indeed welcome back to this forum ( I have been missing-in-action myself lately due to relocation to S'pore as well as terrible morning sickness with my second pregnancy).


As I am still plaqued by bad bouts of vomiting, this post will be flawed by misspelling and bad grammatical errors - my apologies - but want to put my two cents worth of advice for you, whom I consider as my "old pal". i must also confess though i read your pposts in this thread as carefully as i can, i did skim though a lot of other ladies' posts so excuse me if i repeat things that have been said by others.


ok, avocado allergy? not common allergy from my reading before i introduced it to my daughter long time ago, but there are few cases causing analphytic shock. Since you ahve given your child several times and the result was projectile vomit, you can at least say her tummy doesn't favour it much so i would stay away from it FOR A WHILE until she is older to try again - 6 mths is geenrally the allergic aped's advice.


given she can eat many of other stuffs, i wouldn't worry that she is missing out by not eating avacados.


ok, egg yolk allergy - very very common, crj. maybe it is not even allergy since normally, eggs are not given until a child who comes with a family history of allergies hits one year old. i mean i am NOT saying it si not allergy. would suggest you hold off until she is older. the (sorta) conclusive test would be the skin prick test, which you can bring your duaghter to do when she is one (more accurate when they turn one). I KNEW as early as 4 mths that my daughter had egg allergy (cos her face bloated like a tomato upon MY touching eggs then touching her cheeks) although the skin prick test at 4 months showed she is not allergic to eggs but her 1-year test repeat showed she is severely allergic to it. so serious is her allergy to eggs that she has a 70% of having a analyptic shock and possibly die.


i totally suggest you go see a paed allergist, not an allergist, to get skin prick test done. forget abt the blood test apparently it is not as conclusive as it claims. i find skin prick test quite accurate for my girl. as you know, she had multiple allergies and the test seems to pinpt quite accurately (even down to uncomoon things like cauliflower, corn). we went to see Dr Adrian Wu in Princes Bldg. He is the only one accrediated by the american allergy association or sth like that and i find his administration of the test gentle and very thorough (he tested 48 foods of OUR choice/selection on her entire back and she didn't even flinched - I suspected the elmo toy in the doc's clinic made for gd distraction). However, i must say Dr Wu is not up to my standards, but we figured he is probably the most qualified so one shuts one eye and forget abt perfection....having said this, i also returned to australia to see another paed allergist named Dr Ian Humphreys yearly who is the greatest allergist put on this earth. haha. from him i get heaps of my questions answered.


my daugher's egg allergy was undetected at 4 mths; allergy to egg white severe by skin prick test at 1 year old, and allergy to egg white less severe at 2 years old but allergy to egg yolk becoming stronger, though allergy to egg white/yolk were significantly less severe compared to at 1 year old. Dr humphrey ahve me a 90% confidence that she will outgrow it completely by age 3 to 3.5. his plans to me: do not let her eat or even touch raw or cooked eggs till she is 3. then, repeat skin prick test and if reaction is less severe or gone, try eggs this way: bake a cake, overcook it a little, and give her crumbs. if she can tolerate it (ie wait 3-5 days), bake another cake this time not overbake and give her more crumbs. build this up and only give boiled eggs if and when she can take eggs cooked in other forms. apparently egg proteins change conformation subjected to high heat like baking.


as i said, skin prick test is the way to go cos you don't need to fumble in the dark. i am not sure if kids with egg allergy would necessarily have other allergies. for our daughter, certianly she cannot eat many foods, but given proper diet restriction the past two years, i do sincerely find this allows her immature digestive tract to build up and that i am not bombarding her with too many foods, esp ones she reacts to. since I last posted, she has continued to improve and she is now no longer allergic to grapes (i give her raisins to start with), many non acidic tropical fruits and small amts of pork. it is still going slow, but at least it is going in the right direction.


i also find that eating in small amts helps. my duaghter is not allergic to sole fish from skin prick test and when i give her a small cube of sole she is fine. once i gave her a good slice of it and she broke into rashes. also, i only give her sole fish once a week. my reasoning is better to let her eat a little than not at all. you can certainly this, crj, with avacados and other foods she reacts to.


however, this does NOT apply to eggs, mind. no eggs, not even a little bit. Egg allergy is very very severe. it can cause fatal reaction even death. it is no joke so please be mindful of this. i also ordered and carried an epipen with me. my duaghter is also allergic to nuts (by skin prick test not by eating) so it is double worry for me. you might want to consider ordering one from dr wu. it is hard to buy one in hk.


alright, time to reat now. good luck and don't worry too much - egg allergy, in a great majority of cases, goes away starting at age 3. if allergy persists to age 6, then it is lifelong.


BTW no problems for me with MMR vac. I told paed specifically i want the safe vaccination, the one for allergic kids. i even made him showed me his adrenanlin tank before we proceeded (he laughed at my concerns but who cares really), and stayed in clinic for a good 30 mins before leaving. the vac went so well she didn't even suffer from fever or any problems.

btw, crj, how is your daughter with egg white??

Mummybee1!!!!!

Congratulations on your pregnancy... try vitamin B it can help...

Poor you, you must be struggling with everything with the toddler and the morning sickness. I wasn't sick, but I was really tired and by the 3rd trimester had trouble carrying my toddler for long (and could barely bend down to pick him up!).


Thank you so much for the long reply. I actually reread a lot of your old threads for information as advice, since you are the allergy 'expert' of this site. It is good to see from above that your daughter has a wider range of foods she can eat.


We are lucky that thus far our allergies are no where near as severe as yours or flashback.


There are no pediatric allergy specialists in Beijing, so we decided that if after 1 year she has more and more allergies, we will go down to HK to see a dr there if necessary.


So far it is just avocado (vomit and refusal to eat), and egg yolk (projectile vomit)

She is only 9 months old, so we haven't tried egg white yet.


We saw our regular pediatrician today, and she said we can try egg again at 2 years, and avocado at about 18 months. So we will wait until then.


The Dr also told me that for the MMR, we can do it at 18 months (rather than 15) and that we will stay in the office for a couple of hours to monitor her reaction.


Luckily in China we can get LOADS of fabulous organic vegetable/rice based noodles that do not have eggs, so noodles will be plentiful.


Since she eats yogurt and tofu, she thinks it is unlikely she will have a milk or soy allergy. We will wait until 1 year to try milk, and slowly introduce it. But I will continue to breast feed 15-18 months with her (the original plan was 13 months, the same as my son) just in case she does have more allergies.


Turkey is really hard to buy here, the dr suggested getting some turkey baby food and doing that (doh! I make all my own food and totally forgot about jars!!), so we will do that in the USA when we are there over CNY.


I am much calmer now, but still have slowed down my introductions of new foods by about half... asparagus tomorrow :)


Thanks again, congratulations on the relocation to Singapore (you can get together with Wheelymate!!), and your pregnancy!!!

Yeah, after i reread your post again, i think your daughter doesn't have allergy per se, probably intolerance or sensitivity to a wee group of foods. there is a mum at the other HK expat forum (better not mention the name here) whose son's projectile vomit was so bad vomit shot across to the opposite wall - now that is serious.


Just want to say also I have great difficulty geting turkey in S'pore. Is it Citysuper where you are at? Got mine there. Also if you wish you can order frozen turkey on line to be flwon from US or Australia direct to your home. bear in mind turkey is quite chewy and not very palatable but is great cos there is little fat.


Our daughter can take chicken (all sorts, we did start cautiously with hormone-free, organic ones but no more) eventhough she is severely allergic to eggs. Go figure.


Today is a good mood day for our family cos we tried soy sauce and olive oil yesterday and my daughter has no rashes thur far. And she loves it (she is starting to appreciate food with real taste). I am beginning to think she is no longer allergic to anything but eggs. Cross our fingers!


Is Wheelymate still active here?

Yes, send a PM to WM I am sure she would LOVE to hear from you!


I am soooo happy for your family, you went through so much with the allergies and issues - I remember the threads about starting solids and you were so restricted.


I have a QUESTION - what did you do for protien the first year?

For my son we did egg yolk and tofu, then started turkey and chicken at 11/12 months.

If your daughter wasn't allergic to chicken, I probably don't need to worry - our dr said it is so rare to have the egg/chicken allergy that she has never seen it only read about it.

without egg yolk I am wondering if we should start turkey/chicken (from jars) earlier - ie now at 9 months. Since fish is a high allergenic food we would start that only after 1 year.

What did you do?


Thanks so much!

crj, is fish a high allergenic food? I am surprise to learn that as I thought fish is most neutral to babies.

crj, our alergist pd told us these are excellent protein substitutes (also in least allergenic list): millet, lentils (we give red ones), basically all types of grains. Run a check on internet for other grains cos i cannot remember the whole list - that is what vegan babies eat for proteins.


you wouldn't believe the amt of chicken and lamb she eats. I have a simple recipe: place 2 chicken thighs skinless into steamer for 25 mins till fully cooked; feed the 'high protein soup' (chicken essence) and some pureed chicken meat. We call it the energy drink haha.


I also give TINNED tuna (choose ones with just tuna, salt and water/sunflower oil). cos it is processed, it has lost its property of being 'fish' but yet contains extremely high calcium and other good stuffs. No one is allergic to tinned tuna; it is used as placebo in many allergic tests. our pd told us to give this to her without delay once she turned 9 mths.


Yes, fish is considered highly allergenic and our pd said not to give fish of any kind till 1 yr old. My daughter is allergic to just abt all fish except sole (which was recommended to try by the mum with son with proj vomit) and sea bass.


my daughter was allergic to pork and beef, but has outgrown pork as at yesterday. Yes, we tried small cube of pork yesterday and no reaction thus far.


Steer clear of all processed/minced meat, crj. eg, some sausages have hidden eggs in them, so do minced pork (unless you mince yourself).

MummyBee THANK YOU, from your doctor to our table!

I haven't even given our 2 year old tinned tuna, so that is an interesting idea!


We were planning to start millet and lentils this week :) they were on my list today. I make the 'super porridge' with multi grains, and now is the time we add those two, so it is perfect timing.


Our toddler loves chicken, but here in China I think I will start our baby on the jars of organic chicken (earths best / healthy times) as I don't trust what is in the chickens we buy... I did find a group that imports beef, lamb and some fish from australia, and will order from them soon.


You (and your daughter) must be thrilled to be trying new foods every week and finding she can eat them!!


We do no processed meats at all in our family - too many chemicals.


Thank you again, you are my guide through the allergy maze!


Hope the pregnancy is going well and you are starting to feel a bit stronger.


Thank you again, I just said to my husband I feel much more confident after 'chatting' with you!