How do you test for food allergies in a 7 month old?

Surely, again, the advice from your experienced pediatrician trumps online sites?

Ask the nurse for a list of foods to avoid and which foods are unlikely to cause allergies. Make sure your baby is getting plenty of fluids also.

Stick to a few safe foods for the four days. Babies can thrive without avocados at seven months.

Top 8 Allergenic Foods that account for
90% of all Food Allergies: (http://www.foodallergy.org/allergens.html)

I think you would have to wait at least a week to begin to know if removing a certain food helps. Let’s say this redness you describe does mean an allergy. Once you remove the antagonizing food, the tissues still need time to settle back to normal again.

Allergy tests are usually done either with skin tests or blood tests.

The baby is so young, you can easily eliminate certain foords for weeks. I assume the baby still breast feeds and/or takes baby formula that ensures complete nutrition.

I definitely would talk to your doctor to discuss the best way to proceed and what tests are available, and then you can make an educated decision on what you are willing to and want to do at this time. You also might want to rule out pin worm or some other reason for anal irritation (I don’t know the exact symptoms of pinworm, but it is common in young children and I know cases itchiness).

I say this not to be mean, but to be honest: from knowing you on here for a while, I’ve definitely gotten the impression that you are very concerned about health, but maybe to a point that it’s kind of an obsession. You have come here quite a few times worrying about little things that you notice and it seems you tend to inflate those things in your mind into signs of bigger problems. I’d be a hypocrite if I criticized you for it – I’m definitely guilty of it too! But I’m sure you’d rather not be so worried all the time, and now that you have a kid is a good time to really make an effort to get through this.

It’s easy enough to worry about your own health, but now you have a beautiful baby daughter and I’m sure you’re even more concerned about anything happening to her. I understand that makes you want to be really cautious. But when you’ve gotten a green flag from a doctor and you’re still worried (and because of things you’ve read online, at that – the internet will tell you that your every ache and pain is cancer, you really can’t take WebMD at face value!), to me that’s a sign that your worrying might be being a problem instead of reasonable this time. I’m going through the same thing right now, actually – got the OK from the doctor to try something new, and am still hesitating like crazy. It happens. But, dear, “better safe than sorry” only holds true to a certain point – because after that point it’s anxiety, and it can make you miserable, and I’m sure you don’t want anxiety rubbing off on your daughter. Which I can tell you it will if you drag her to the doctor for everything.

If it will ease your mind to rule out allergies, that’s totally understandable. But – and I know I’m just a stranger on the internet – I’m concerned for you and want to see you trying to get through this anxiety. Are you seeing a counselor at all? That helps a lot, for me. Anyway, flag away if you’re completely uninterested in this spiel. I’m hoping the best for you.

^^. Thank you for writing that. I was too weary to bother, but I too have the same concerns for the baby.

I agree with everything @Mariah said. That being said, when we started our now 16-month-old on solids, our pediatrician recommended going on a 4 day cycle for introducing new foods to help monitor for allergic reactions. The idea behind it is to introduce one food at a time every 4 days. So, if we started with peas (for example), the baby would eat only peas (in addition to formula/breast milk) for 4 days. Then on day 5 we would introduce another food. Days 5 – 8, the baby would eat this new food, in addition to the peas (since we got through the first 4 days without a problem). Then day 9 would be a new food and days 9 – 12 would be the first and second food along with the new food as long as there wasn’t a problem.

If you are really going to do this, you would have to stop all solids, wait for the ring to go away, and then resume solids, one at a time until you are back up to the point you are at now. This would be going back to just breast milk/formula until then. Your baby may not be happy with this, which could become another issue on it’s own.

Did you talk to your pediatrician about her poop being quite solid? If so, what did they say?

Google the symptoms and find a medical site that could reassure you. Your extreme worry could be detrimental to your baby’s development. Do you have friends with kids to whom you can talk about your experience with your baby? Might help.

Hey,
I am the first of my friends to have a baby.
Can I just say for the record, I do have anxiety but not for my childs health.
I’m actually just being what I believe to be an infomed parent and reaching out to others who may have experienced the same issues.
My daughter has had her first fever, and her first cold, and I didn’t come on here requesting help nor did I hurry off to ER we got through it just fine, she’s a baby I understand that many things are going to happen to her but for whatever reason, my anxiety exists only with me alone, and I’m so aware of it reaching out to her as I’m a stay at home Mum so honestly doing my best to control my extreme over reactive mind to health. She’s a beautiful, bright baby and very happy – I was merely just reaching out for some parental advice, the pediatrician said it wouldn’t hurt to eliminate and she’s not sure what it was but she did say she doubts it’s an allergy – and yes I am guilty for Dr Google, but every where I read said Allergy Ring, even Dr Sears – so I was just double checking and can’t hurt to make sure it’s nothing as it hurts her that’s all. I“m BF as well – exclusively so haven’t stopped that of course….. anyway thanks for your help and I appreciate your concern I really do and not offended by it at all – in fact I find it quite calming to know that as strangers you do take the time to reach out.

x

@tan253 If you are breastfeeding, then you can start by thinking about what you’ve already exposed her to through your diet and breast milk. Is there anything you have given her that you don’t normally eat yourself? If so, I’d start with eliminating those things. Also, try to just think about what new things she has had around the time you noticed the red ring.