Negative skin test!

We brought Ethan to his allergologist for a skin test. And it was now negative for milk and wheat! Yey! Now we can let him eat foods with dairy products (milk, cheese, cake, ice cream, etc.) and wheat (bread, biscuits, some cereals, hamburger etc.)

Backgrounder: When he was about 6 months old, he had a bad skin reaction to his formula. That was when my mother was complaining that he was not gaining weight fast (you know how the older generation thinks -- the fatter, the better, at least to Asians.). The pediatrician, who was actually a breastfeeding advocate and has been very supportive so far, conceded and gave us a higher calorie formula (Neosure) to supplement. Being a very pressured first time mom, I buckled down and tried to give Ethan the formula. He didn't like the taste. While I was away, the yaya was able to let him take a bit of the formula. But he broke out in hives. That's when we knew that he had an allergy.

His pediatrician referred us to an a allergologist. She did a skin test of the known allergens to his back. He was around 7 months old then. The results were positive for cow's milk and wheat.

These allergies can usually be outgrown. Traditional practices dictate that the child be introduced small amounts of the "allergen" -- "para masanay", loosely meaning so that his system will get used to the allergen and hopefully will not react as badly next time.

However, our allergologist says that current studies for allergies in babies show that it's best to totally eradicate the offending food from his diet until he's two years old, so that his immune system will become more mature and "forget" about his sensitivity to that particular allergen. This way, it will be faster and easier for the child to outgrow his allergy. That means that we have to carefully screen each food item to make sure it did not contain any milk or wheat. We became avid label readers for Ethan's foods.

After two years of avoiding the offending foods, he finally had negative skin tests!

It's easier to control the child's diet when he is still very young and the adults are preparing all his food for him. When he grows up and goes to school, it won't be as easy to control what he eats. Kawawa naman siya by then.

Another plus I experienced -- I finally have a foolproof excuse for people who chide me about exclusively breastfeeding! They won't buy the "healthier" claim because my son "looks thin" and is not as chubby as "commercial model babies". But I just say that he's allergic, and the questions taper....although I still get unsolicited suggestions like "why not try goat's milk/soy/etc?" Oh well :)