Ellie Cannot Have Her Oats & Eat It Too

I have a rhetorical question.  What is the point of torturing my baby for a IgE food panel blood draw if you do not check for oats?????  That was the whole point in having the pedi order the food panel--oats vs. wheat allergy.

Today Ellie Bear had a meeting with Dr. L, the allergist.  We did a lot of history taking and then we proceeded to skin testing.  Ellie cried during the skin pricks, but she then calmed down easily.  She was all wild baby moving around on the exam table trying to get to the exam table paper and the picture on the wall.

Ellie is negative for a wheat allergy.  Yay!  That was also seen on the IgE food panel.  Now Ellie has never really had wheat but we tested anyway because the infant oatmeal that she had 3 months ago said "may contain wheat".  We then tested for oats.  That she did react to.  I am not surprised given the severe reaction she had after eating oatmeal--recall the ER visit for hives, lip swelling, & vocal cord swelling.  That and the rash she got from the Aveeno Baby Lotion--also has oats.

So, now we have to avoid all products with oats.  Oat allergies are not common in general and those who do have oat allergies tend to be allergic to wheat, barley, nuts, dairy, egg, etc.  Therefore an isolated allergy is odd and intriguing to Dr. L.  Will she outgrow this allergy? Maybe. 

Dr. L has requested that we hold off on peanuts and tree nuts until he "says so" and to wait until 12 months to introduce eggs.  He isn't worried about dairy since she does well with the formula, the yogurt, and the negative IgE test.  We are not to order food from restaurants or bakeries because of the potential for cross contamination.  In one year we will skin test oats and the nuts and go from there.

Until then, the EpiPens stay in the diaper bag an in our kitchen.

As for the IgE test, the allergist's office called the lab to see if they still had Ellie's blood to run the oats, but the lab tossed the vial yesterday.  

Now we can try infant wheat cereal.