Discovering my little one had allergies was a long journey for me. I was frustrated, felt uncertain, and at times overwhelmed. Our daughter would have break outs nearly every other week. Not knowing the cause left me in the dark. Between nursing and introducing solids to her, there were many prospects that could be causing her to breakout. I wondered if it was something I ate, something she ate, or something we were using on her skin. Instead of staying in a state of wonder I decided to figure out what was going on. These are a few steps that helped me on this journey which could always be helpful for you and your LO.
Talk to your pediatrician as soon as possible. If your LO is having any skin issues (even health issues) bring it to their attention. If you have any questions, doubts, or concerns write them down so you don’t forget. At your next appointment bring up all of your concerns. Share what your child’s been experiencing and how long it’s been going on.
Introduce new foods slowly. When you first start introducing foods to your LO, naturally you’ll start with one item. This could be mashed banana, mashed sweet potato or an avocado. Something that requires them little to no work to chew the food. If you are using prepackaged baby food you’ll see Stage 1 written on there. This means it’s only one type of food in the bottle. Stage 2 is introducing food combinations. Anyway, as your child is trying new foods it’s always fun to see how s/he responds. Does he like it? Does she want more? In addition to the excitement and wonder you may have it’s also important to pay attention to how your LO’s skin is reacting to it. This is particularly valuable when introducing common foods that children with allergies are typically allergic to such as nuts, eggs, milk, wheat and shellfish.
Document, document, document! This is the most tedious step in finding out what your child is allergic to however it’s completely worth it. If you notice your child is having a reaction the details in this investigation will be the key. Keep a log of everything they are eating; breakfast, lunch, dinner, drinks and snacks. If you are a nursing mom, you’ll also want to track everything you’re eating. Whenever you notice your LO having a reaction, note it. This could be a skin rash, redness, eye swelling, vomiting, etc. Include details on when you noticed it, how long it lasted and do your best to describe the breakout. Take pictures or videos. These are a great tool to document what the breakout looks like. It’ll also be helpful to share these photos with your pediatrician. Ultimately, this step will allow you to use the process of elimination to determine what your child could be allergic to.
Have your little one tested. If breakouts continue and the process of elimination isn’t quite narrowing down the cause, talk to your pediatrician about the types of tests available. It’s possible your child may have several allergies. Testing them will provide more clarity. Two common tests are the blood test and skin test. Both tests were mostly covered by the insurance, leaving us to only pay for the copay.
If you decide to get your LO tested, your pediatrician will likely schedule you to take the blood test first. This test was quick and relatively “easy”. It probably took about 15 minutes to get us in and out. Generally, babies don’t enjoy getting shot so prepare yourself for crying. If your LO is anything like mine the tears will stop shortly after the phlebotomists stops touching them. After we received the results from her blood test our pediatrician wanted us to see an allergist. There they administered a skin test. I wish I knew what the skin test involved before walking into it. Being that I’ve never had issues with allergies I didn’t know what to expect. The skin test was not as simple as the blood test. The appointment was 2 hours long, mostly full of waiting. The test was emotionally overwhelming for both me and my LO. The skin test was administered on her back so they could examine how she would react to certain foods. They used a prong like tool (excuse my lack of knowledge on the actually name of the instrument) which has samples of specific foods, press it up against her back and will leave it there for about 3-5 seconds. Then they take a prick to force the skin open so the sample can really sink in. They did this four times throughout her back. Meanwhile, I had the job of holding my LO in a bear hug so she wouldn’t move or touch her back. After they administered the skin test they had us wait 20 minutes before they examined her skin. This worst was over. Once all of this was completed the allergist explained what to do if my LO had an allergic reaction. We received a prescription for an Epi-Pen as well as an Auviq. They taught me how to use them then finally sent us home.
It’s inevitable, little ones will cry, get very upset and be in great discomfort during the tests. It was very tough seeing my 18 month old daughter crying and fighting for me to help her get out of this situation. However, I had to remind myself this period of discomfort would lead to a greater understanding moving forward. Finding out what my daughter was allergic to gave me great relief and direction so I could better serve my LO. The uncertainty of what was causing my daughter to breakout was coming to an end.
