We took the boys for their allergy check-up yesterday. Jane, the dietician was very pleased with how they are going. She re-tested Benjamin. His egg allergy is improving.
For those who’ve never seen it, when you get a skin prick allergy test, the stamp your arm with a grid, then place a little drop of all the potential allergens on the skin. One drop in each box. They then prick the skin on each drop so we can see if there is a reaction. They also have 2 control drops. A histamine that everyone reacts to, and one that nobody reacts to. The histamine reaction each time the boys have been tested has measured at about 4x4mm. The previous times the egg box was also 4x4mm. This time it was 2x2mm. A smaller reaction shows the allergy is getting better :) No other allergies came up. (except a small reaction to cats, because we have cats!)
The dietician said we are still to avoid egg in all forms, all nuts and shellfish but we are now allowed to give them certain processed foods that warn on the label “may contain traces of egg or nuts” which we were previously avoiding.
She also encouraged us to give them a diet higher in protein and good fats to try and fatten little Benny up a little more. Ben was born smaller than Ethan, and has always been the little one. His weight has always sat in the 10th percentile, and he is still in that 10th percentile. She doesn’t want to see him drop any lower, and would like to see a little more meat on him for times that he may get sick and lose weight (which happened in July this year – both boys dropped about 1kg in about a week). She says we can drop the morning bottle, but keep the night bottle. She encouraged us to put a scoop of formula in their cows milk for added nutrients and protein.
In general we can now give the boys a wider diet, including all types of fish (except shellfish) and trying some higher salicylate fruits and vegetables. Both boys still react if their diet is too high in salicylates. Ben gets eczema, Ethan gets diarrhoea. If you’re interested, you can click HERE to see what foods are high in salicylates. Ben and Ethan seem to tolerate the ‘moderate’ category quite well. If we give them more than about 2-3 serves of ‘high’ a day in combination with only one ‘very high’ food, we get some reaction. The combined effect of the salicylates builds up in their system for about 3-4 days. We have to keep their diet stable over a period of 3-4 days, Sometimes it’s tough remembering what they got to eat yesterday, let alone 3 days ago. It’s also hard when Tracie and I are home with them at different times. Overall they are coping quite well with their allergies and intolerances.
They were also weighed and measured:
ETHAN:
Weight – 11.52kg (25lb6oz)
Height – 83cm (32.6inches)
BENJAMIN
Weight – 10.28kg (22lb11oz)
Height – 82.5kg (32.4inches)
When you look at the boys standing side by side, it looks like Ethan is more than half a CM taller than Ben. I do wonder if she measured them wrong!! The boys will also have a community nurse 18month check-up soon. They will be re-weighed and measured then.
