If you’re one of the parents with a child that had a severe, immediate allergic reaction, then there is no doubt about your child’s allergy. But if you are a parent, like me, that has a child with a list of foods to avoid that could be potentially fatal, but has never experienced any sort of reaction, then you may be in doubt about the allergy. Brooklyn was diagnosed after having severe eczema and the doctors doing a full panel food allergy test (both skin and blood tests) when she was 2 ½ years old. My doubts came this last Christmas 2010, when I was putting together home videos for family Christmas presents. I came across a video of Brooklyn, about 10 months old, sitting on my dad’s lap, with a huge jar of peanut butter within half an arm length away from her. That is not something I remembered or would have paid attention to back then. But the real shock came two seconds later when my dad, who is famous for eating peanut butter and jelly on his pancakes, gave Brooklyn a huge bite of that peanut butter pancake. And nothing happened. Nothing at all.
Still to this day, Brooklyn has thankfully not had any reactions. Her eczema even disappeared over a year ago. I question whether the organic diet or my obsessive nature of trying to keep her safe has anything to do with how well she is doing. But there is always that question in my mind: Is she really allergic to everything the tests say she is? In August I took Brooklyn in for blood re-testing. I was told she still has high levels for nuts but the egg allergy is registering lower every time she is tested. The doctor said he will give her an oral challenge to egg in January 2012. Fingers crossed that is negative, even though I have recently introduced eggs in baked goods, with no reaction.
http://www.hamptons.com/Outdoors-And-Fitness/For-Your-Health/15744/Re-Testing-Food-Allergies-With-Your-Fingers.html
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