6 month baby allergy test: scratch vs blood draw

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:we did both- at 6 months- started with scratch test, then follow up blood test for the 3 that were positive... and then oral food challenges for those. mine was positive on skin and blood but passed oral food challenges. the scratch test was the easiest of the three (perhaps because my husband was there to hold her still while i was alone for the blood draw and she had just started self weaning so my attempt to nurse for comfort failed..). the oral food challenges were in some ways the hardest as they were 3 hours which was well beyond her wake window and you're forced to keep them awake and keep feeding (which she really didn't want to eat at that point, in part because of skin reaction, and part because she was irritable and tired so e didn't finish final dose which made it feel even more inconclusive!).

highly recommend burcin fraser.

Oh geez I had no idea the oral food challenge was 3 hours. That’s terrible! Blargh I really hope we pass the skin test.

[Anonymous]

At 6 months we did scratch and blood. Its really not that bad you want both done.

Scratch came back positive to peanuts and milk - blood came back for peanuts milk and egg.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:we did both- at 6 months- started with scratch test, then follow up blood test for the 3 that were positive... and then oral food challenges for those. mine was positive on skin and blood but passed oral food challenges. the scratch test was the easiest of the three (perhaps because my husband was there to hold her still while i was alone for the blood draw and she had just started self weaning so my attempt to nurse for comfort failed..). the oral food challenges were in some ways the hardest as they were 3 hours which was well beyond her wake window and you're forced to keep them awake and keep feeding (which she really didn't want to eat at that point, in part because of skin reaction, and part because she was irritable and tired so e didn't finish final dose which made it feel even more inconclusive!).

highly recommend burcin fraser.

Oral food challenges are so hard with babies! I know it’s best to do early introduction, but damn, halfway through our 3rd OFC I was ready to just say FTS we can avoid all nuts. It was ultimately worth it, but trying to guess whether she was full, over tired, or had stopped eating bc she was about to puke everywhere was unfun. I was also v tempted to do the introductions at home, but our allergist was fairly conservative and insisted we do it in office for anything she had even a hint of positivity on IgE.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:we did both- at 6 months- started with scratch test, then follow up blood test for the 3 that were positive... and then oral food challenges for those. mine was positive on skin and blood but passed oral food challenges. the scratch test was the easiest of the three (perhaps because my husband was there to hold her still while i was alone for the blood draw and she had just started self weaning so my attempt to nurse for comfort failed..). the oral food challenges were in some ways the hardest as they were 3 hours which was well beyond her wake window and you're forced to keep them awake and keep feeding (which she really didn't want to eat at that point, in part because of skin reaction, and part because she was irritable and tired so e didn't finish final dose which made it feel even more inconclusive!).

highly recommend burcin fraser.

Oral food challenges are so hard with babies! I know it’s best to do early introduction, but damn, halfway through our 3rd OFC I was ready to just say FTS we can avoid all nuts. It was ultimately worth it, but trying to guess whether she was full, over tired, or had stopped eating bc she was about to puke everywhere was unfun. I was also v tempted to do the introductions at home, but our allergist was fairly conservative and insisted we do it in office for anything she had even a hint of positivity on IgE.

OP here. Ugh yeah I don’t even know. The scratch test was inconclusive. But at least it wasn’t terribly uncomfortable. He got 9 scratches and cried for the second half of the test, but he calmed down after I nursed him. The next step is a blood test but if he tests positive for nuts on that, I have half a mind to continue Lil Mixins at home since we have Epipens. The second time he ate peanuts, he vomited 3 hours later… but he’d also had his shots and a purée, which has caused vomiting on its own. (The allergist said that could be from reflux.) I’m kicking myself for giving peanuts that after his shots. His skin was a little worse after eating tree nuts the first (and only) time, but he has eczema so it’s hard to tell if it was really from the nuts.

Maybe we jumped to allergy testing too soon. For those of you who did it, how many times was your baby exposed to the allergen and what prompted you to get tested?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did both on our 12 month old. The blood test showed slightly allergic to one of the peanut proteins but the skin test showed a huge reaction.

Went on OIT and was desensitized by 2 year old. Now she eats pb&j every other day.

Also if note - the blood test showed a reaction to sesame but the scratch test showed none. So we went on to a food challenge and passed.

I would definitely consider doing both blood and scratch test

Where did you do OIT? Did you have a threshold for IgE before starting OIT? I’m eager to do OIt (cashew) for my 12 mo old but our team at JHH wants to wait.

Not PP, but we did OIT with Dr Burcin Fraser for a cashew/pistachio allergy. (I’m also a different poster than the one recommending her above). My child was around 2.5 yo when we she started the OIT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:we did both- at 6 months- started with scratch test, then follow up blood test for the 3 that were positive... and then oral food challenges for those. mine was positive on skin and blood but passed oral food challenges. the scratch test was the easiest of the three (perhaps because my husband was there to hold her still while i was alone for the blood draw and she had just started self weaning so my attempt to nurse for comfort failed..). the oral food challenges were in some ways the hardest as they were 3 hours which was well beyond her wake window and you're forced to keep them awake and keep feeding (which she really didn't want to eat at that point, in part because of skin reaction, and part because she was irritable and tired so e didn't finish final dose which made it feel even more inconclusive!).

highly recommend burcin fraser.

Oral food challenges are so hard with babies! I know it’s best to do early introduction, but damn, halfway through our 3rd OFC I was ready to just say FTS we can avoid all nuts. It was ultimately worth it, but trying to guess whether she was full, over tired, or had stopped eating bc she was about to puke everywhere was unfun. I was also v tempted to do the introductions at home, but our allergist was fairly conservative and insisted we do it in office for anything she had even a hint of positivity on IgE.

OP here. Ugh yeah I don’t even know. The scratch test was inconclusive. But at least it wasn’t terribly uncomfortable. He got 9 scratches and cried for the second half of the test, but he calmed down after I nursed him. The next step is a blood test but if he tests positive for nuts on that, I have half a mind to continue Lil Mixins at home since we have Epipens. The second time he ate peanuts, he vomited 3 hours later… but he’d also had his shots and a purée, which has caused vomiting on its own. (The allergist said that could be from reflux.) I’m kicking myself for giving peanuts that after his shots. His skin was a little worse after eating tree nuts the first (and only) time, but he has eczema so it’s hard to tell if it was really from the nuts.

Maybe we jumped to allergy testing too soon. For those of you who did it, how many times was your baby exposed to the allergen and what prompted you to get tested?

[/quote

Have you been feeding nuts without a reaction at home? I’m not sure what lil mixins is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did both on our 12 month old. The blood test showed slightly allergic to one of the peanut proteins but the skin test showed a huge reaction.

Went on OIT and was desensitized by 2 year old. Now she eats pb&j every other day.

Also if note - the blood test showed a reaction to sesame but the scratch test showed none. So we went on to a food challenge and passed.

I would definitely consider doing both blood and scratch test

Where did you do OIT? Did you have a threshold for IgE before starting OIT? I’m eager to do OIt (cashew) for my 12 mo old but our team at JHH wants to wait.

Not PP, but we did OIT with Dr Burcin Fraser for a cashew/pistachio allergy. (I’m also a different poster than the one recommending her above). My child was around 2.5 yo when we she started the OIT.

Thanks! Mine is 12 mos, i may call to see when they’re starting. did you need an ige level? Did it work?

To op’s q, we did allergy testing bc bro w food allergies, plus eczema, plus immediate hives, vomiting, rhinorrhea, cough & sleepiness w 1g of cashew. It was clear she had a severe cashew allergy, but we needed guidance for other nuts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did both on our 12 month old. The blood test showed slightly allergic to one of the peanut proteins but the skin test showed a huge reaction.

Went on OIT and was desensitized by 2 year old. Now she eats pb&j every other day.

Also if note - the blood test showed a reaction to sesame but the scratch test showed none. So we went on to a food challenge and passed.

I would definitely consider doing both blood and scratch test

Where did you do OIT? Did you have a threshold for IgE before starting OIT? I’m eager to do OIt (cashew) for my 12 mo old but our team at JHH wants to wait.

Not PP, but we did OIT with Dr Burcin Fraser for a cashew/pistachio allergy. (I’m also a different poster than the one recommending her above). My child was around 2.5 yo when we she started the OIT.

Thanks! Mine is 12 mos, i may call to see when they’re starting. did you need an ige level? Did it work?

To op’s q, we did allergy testing bc bro w food allergies, plus eczema, plus immediate hives, vomiting, rhinorrhea, cough & sleepiness w 1g of cashew. It was clear she had a severe cashew allergy, but we needed guidance for other nuts.

Thanks for sharing your experience. Our baby’s reaction was far less severe. The allergist said that my baby’s vomiting 3 hours later occurred at the tail end of when it could be attributed to an allergy and if it had been just a few minutes later, he wouldn’t even recommend testing.

I think we’ll probably try feeding a small amount of nuts at home again with the Epipen nearby, and if he reacts to that, we’ll do bloodwork.

[Anonymous]

It's better to do both.

[Anonymous]

OP you’re going through a lot of food testing and anxiety for no reason. Just do the blood test. It will give you immediate peace of mind and it really is absolutely nothing at this age. You’re worried about it for nothing.

[Anonymous]

Not sure where you’re located, OP, but definitely recommend going to a pediatric phlebotomist rather than LabCorp for a blood draw. The woman at the Children’s lab in Friendship Heights is excellent. She sprays the babies with numbing so they don’t feel the blood draw. It’s worse for you than the baby!

[Anonymous]

Also if your baby continues to vomit after exposure to the nuts you might want to look into fpies

With fpies each exposure will likely increase the severity of their reaction so you're going to see more vomiting dropping blood pressure pale unresponsive.

Please do not ignore vomiting if it continues.

I would definitely do the blood test before continuing exposure. And just remember that reactions always trump tests.