The Inconsiderate Allergist

I carried my one year old baby into a small, bright waiting room. A smiling young receptionist greeted me. I began retelling why I was bringing my baby in to see the allergist, but she interrupted me when she remembered our phone conversation of a few days before. She gave me the usual types of forms to fill out and we waited in the waiting room that was otherwise empty at the time.


Soon we were ushered into an exam room where I sat in a straight back chair and held baby Dal on my lap. There was high exam table with its white paper cover, a rolling stool, and a small metal cart. The doctor came in and introduced himself. After some health history questions and my short recitation of baby Dal's reactions to foods, Dr. Lee confidently suggested that we test for egg white, egg yolk, dairy, peanuts (legumes), tree nuts, tomato, and citrus. Dal would get seven small scratches on his back, a different extract would be placed on each scratch, his skin reaction would be watched and timed for 15 minutes, and then a neutralizer would be applied and the extracts would be washed off. Any food substance he was allergic to were expected to cause a hive on the spot where the extract was applied. The strength of the reaction would be judged by the size of the wheal or hive. This is how I understood it.

I held my baby on my lap in his little diaper as the scratches were made and the extracts applied. I wanted to hold him close or wrap him up because I was concerned that he would be cold and uncomfortable in a cool exam room in only his diaper. But Dal sat still and quiet, looking around the room, and endured the scratching and dabbing on his back without complaint.

Then the nurse set a timer and told me not to touch his back during the testing. She warned that he might become a little uncomfortable if we got a reaction. She left the room and within seconds Dal started to squirm. Red splotches were already starting to appear and grow on his tender back. He began to writhe and whine as the red splotches started to swell. Three had appeared almost instantly, then a fourth, then two more splotches. Within a couple of minutes, the splotches had become large wheals - raised, angry red, hives. Dal began to cry.

The nurse popped in and asked, "Everything OK?"

I said, "No. He already has large hives and he is getting very uncomfortable."

The nurse stepped in and looked at Dal's back. She made an inaudible comment and said,
"Okay, just hold onto him, I'll be right back."

Dr. Lee shortly appeared and had a look. He made a vague sound of surprise and checked the time. He told the nurse to go ahead and stop the test at 10 minutes. A moment later he said, "Go ahead and get that stuff off of him."

As the nurse neutralized the extracts and cleaned them off, Dr. Lee left and then came right back with two other of his office staff. He wanted them to see the size of the wheals that had appeared on this baby after only about 5 minutes. They made their sounds of exclamation. Then the receptionist poked her head in the room. Dr. Lee was quietly, but excitedly telling her what was happening with "this baby".

At this point, I'm looking at my whimpering baby with huge, angry hives spreading over most of his back and thinking, "If that doctor brings ONE MORE person in here for show-and-tell, I'm going to kick him in the shins!"

The diagnosis was that Dal was severely allergic to egg yolks and whites, peanuts, and dairy. He was also mildly allergic to citrus and tomato. He did not appear to be allergic to tree nuts.
On a scale of 1 to 4, with 4 indicating a severe reaction, or large hive, Dal was given 4++ for egg, dairy and peanut, and 4 for citrus and tomato. I left with strict instructions about avoiding these substances entirely. Even skin contact with these foods was not recommended. He gave me a written report on the diagnosis and told me he would mail a letter to Dal's regular pediatrician. Dr. Lee said that most likely I would not need to come back for at least a year or two. Dal would probably not outgrow his dairy or egg allergy for at least that long. In a couple of years, he could be retested to see if he was outgrowing any allergy. He would not outgrow the peanut allergy.

Infection and seeking resolution

Baby Dal was due for his first year immunizations and already had an appointment with his new Pediatrician. He had been covered with eczema for a couple of days that was particularly bad on his legs. It was mostly rough and red, so I had been putting Vaseline (i.e. petroleum jelly) on it.
When I took him in for his immunizations I pointed out the eczema and told the doctor how I was dealing with it. She didn't have any speculations as to what might be causing it and told me to just keep doing what I was doing. Dal got his shots and I left wishing that Dr. K could have told me more than just "Keep doing what you're doing."

The next day, Dal wouldn't walk. He had been toddling around unsteadily for only about two weeks, so I didn't think much about it at first. I figured he was a little cranky and fatigued from the immunizations and just didn't want to put in the effort of walking. A couple of days later he still wouldn't walk much. He would pull up, take a couple of steps and then plop down again. He wasn't fussy and didn't cry. He didn't seem to be having any trouble, just deciding not to walk. Then we went to a backyard party at the home of some friends. Usually Baby Dal was pretty social and would smile sweetly at everyone giving him attention. I fully expected him to perk up and show off his new walking skills when he got among several adults who were eager to fuss over him. While I carried him he was his usual content little self, but when I put him down to walk, he just stood for a few seconds and then plopped down on his bottom. I tried to encourage him to walk to his Dad, but he whined and pulled his legs up when I tried to lift him into a standing position. He seemed a little uncomfortable in some way.

The next morning, I took him in to the Pediatric Clinic and told the receptionist that since his shots a few days earlier he had refused to walk. After a bit of a wait, she got us in to an exam room. A different Pediatrician, Dr. C, walked in. He took one look at Dal's scaly red legs and said, "Well, that's infected."
I felt a slight flush of shame as I looked at his little legs and realized that I hadn't noticed that they were even worse and had gotten infected. He had broken out with the worst case of eczema in his life on his birthday the week before and it hadn't cleared up since.
Then I felt a bit angry that I had been in just a few days before and had been told to just keep doing what I was doing. Anyway, Dr. C prescribed antibiotics and suggested I use Eucerin cream instead of petroleum jelly. I asked if this eczema could be related to food allergies, but he didn't have a really good answer for me. He said possibly, but he would outgrow it most likely.

After getting the prescription filled and buying the cream, I went home and decided to look up an Allergist. I felt that I had to get some better answers and that if the Pediatricians weren't very up on allergies then I needed a specialist. I found several Allergists in the phonebook and called them. I briefly described Dal's food reactions and his severe eczema and asked if he could be tested or something. Each one told me that he was way too young to be tested for allergies and that they didn't usually see children under age five. I was discouraged, but still a bit angry at all the complacence and lack of solutions for a baby who couldn't eat much and had infected legs. I think I also felt an extra bit of outrage because of Dal's obvious bravery. He must have been in pain, as evidenced by his lack of walking, but he wasn't constantly fussing and crying. He was dealing with the pain and discomfort as best he could.

Finally, as I was searching the yellow pages for other possibilities, like some sort of Pediatric specialist, and I spotted a Pediatric Allergist listed in a town about 45 minutes away. I called and explained the situation again. The receptionist listened carefully and asked me to hold a minute. When she came back on the line, she said that Dr. Lee wanted to see Dal. A feeling of relief and gratitude filled my chest as I set the appointment.

Backstory - What's going on?!!

My firstborn son had his first allergic reaction to a food when he was about 5 months old. I had left my job officially after three months of Family Leave and was so far loving being a mother, even if I was rather uptight and over-protective. He and I were home and I was snacking on some yogurt (keeping up my calcium intake without too much fat) and decided to give my little buddy a tiny taste. I dipped the very tip of my spoon into the yogurt and touched it to his little mouth. Almost instantly little pink splotches starting appearing around his mouth and spreading outward. Then he started drooling. He wasn't a heavy drooler at this stage, so I knew these were two symptoms of something going terribly wrong.

I sat there rooted to the spot staring at these shocking developments, unable to process what was happening. Finally, my baby took a big breath and started to cry. I picked him up and rushed him to the kitchen where I washed off his mouth and face. I quickly put some water in a bottle and gave it to him. He took a couple of sips and then pulled back, wailing again but this time he made a gurgling sound. Somehow, not really knowing what was happening, I instinctively grabbed some Benadryl and gave him a good dose of it. He swallowed and within a minute or two he stopped crying. The splotches that were now all over his face stopped spreading and growing and he stopped drooling. Whew! What a relief! And practically a miracle, I later decided. It could have been much worse if I had not had liquid Benadryl on hand or if I had given him more than a tiny taste of yogurt before I saw a reaction.

This yogurt incident turned out to be the first of many scary incidents to come over the next several months until I finally discovered a Pediatric Allergist who would agree to test my baby for allergies. But again, it could have been much worse if somehow my maternal instincts hadn't led me to be very cautious. Of course, parental guilt also tells me it could have gone better if I had known more or gotten better informed right away.

I did not use milk formula. I am not even sure why, but I supplemented nursing with soy formula. I did not introduce solids until he was almost 6 months old. I first introduced rice cereal. After that I introduced pure baby food veggies and then fruits. So it wasn't until a couple of months after the yogurt incident that another "taste test" brought on his next reaction.

His Dad and I were enjoying an afternoon off and doing some errands with our little baby when we decided to stop by Dairy Queen for a snack. Dad decided to let his bubby taste his ice cream. Before I could think to stop it, he gave him a little taste. Same reaction, different day - no Benadryl. We gave him water again and wiped him off and then left quickly for home. Before we got there he had stopped reacting. I gave him a little Benadryl anyway.

By now, I was beginning to think this must be an allergy. I knew a little about food problems and babies. I knew that introducing solids too soon could cause problems and that some foods should be avoided for awhile. I didn't really know what "problems" these foods could cause and I didn't know the exact timetable for introducing certain foods. In those days, I didn't have internet access at home, and wouldn't have known how to do a decent search if I did, and I wasn't ready to try and do research in the library with an infant on my hip. So I knew just enough to decide to introduce new foods slowly, one at time, and with caution. And I bought more Benadryl.