Conflicting research- preventin allergies

Hi Andie

It's so hard isn't it! Everything out there seems conflicting and even the experts don't agree.

I have done a fair bit of research and this is what I am doing - for what it's worth . My DS is allergic to peanuts, treenuts, dairy, wheat, soy, eggs, corn and sunflower seeds.

No nuts, fish or seafood while pregnant. There is research to suggest that these do cross the placenta - apparently none of the other common allergns do. I am doing this despite DS not being allergic to fish.

At 28 weeks through to 6 months of breastfeeding, I intend on giving up dairy, eggs, soy, and wheat. These allergens can transfer through breastmilk.
The expert opinion (that I am following!) is to cease consuming these things 6 weeks before breastfeeding, but I am stopping a little earlier to get used to the diet. I am yet to decide whether to avoid traces as well.

I will also start taking a proboitic - 'Eczema Shield' ,also at 28 weeks ,and start giving it to bub as soon as he/she is born through 6 months. There was a study done recently by one of the NZ universities that found the use of a specific strain of proboitic (found in Eczema shield) significantly reduced the chance of allergies in subsequent children.

This is the advice of Dr Rohan Ameratunga, who is widely regarded as the top immunologist in the country. Apparently he has had 100 women follow this with only one incidence of allergy in subsequent children.

As far as stats to say how likely it is that your next child will be allergic, I think it depends more on the parents history of atopy. Eg in my family we have a strong history of hayfever, asthma, eczema, allergies to bees etc and in my husbands he was allergic to wheat and dairy as a child, gets hayfever, asthma and has a sister with eczema - so apparently we do have an 80-90% chance of another child with allergies. I think if the atopy is mainly on one side the chances are significantly reduced.

I am also going to try to track down a tin of neocate to take to the hospital - not sure how yet (as our subsidy number and prescription have long expired), but I would like it there just in case!

Hope this all makes sense - and sorry about the spelling. It is WAY past my bedtime.

Good luck with your decision. I know it's a hard one when there is so much different information out there!

Wow, do I wish I knew where Ella's Doc got her estimate of the likelihood of an allergy recurring in our family from. Just considering the families I know from Allergy support group, this can't be right. You'd think a Paed would have access to the best info, wouldn't you.

Sorry I haven't read the other replies but our paed has me taking a probiotic for the last trimester and then to give the probiotic to the newbie once a day before breastfeeding. Apart from that I haven't been instructed to restrict anything from my diet even though Spencer is allergic to Dairy, Eggs and peanuts. I am just gonna look for signs of them causing a problem and eliminate from my diet if necessary. Not sure what will happen if breastfeeding fails again, I have kept some tins of neocate in case but obviously once they run out not sure what we would do without first trialling him on standard formula. Although I know how horrible that made Spencer feel so would be reluctant to put another child through that just to prove there is a problem.

Spencer's allergies are fairly mild though, although he has never actually eaten an egg or peanut so those haven't been tested but his skin prick test gave a mild reaction and the doc said most likely he would get sore tummy and bad skin flare up but nothing more serious.

I never had to trial the gremlins on dairy Cuppatea. I arranged a tin of Neocate before they were born via our paed who had said that they *must* be dairy free coz of the family history and when the breastfeeding didn't work out I started them on that and he arranged a funding number for them. The fact that Mercedes had already been diagnosed with reflux by that stage helped as it was further evidence of a dairy intolerance/allergy.

They are pretty good evidence that a total avoidance diet can be successful. They were 100% dairy, egg, peanut and soy free until 10 months and wheat free until 8 mths. They were tested then and all the tests were negative so we introduced dairy slowly, followed by egg etc. and were successful. They both do still have atopy - Mercedes gets eczema and Sienna has peanut anaphalaxis, but they managed to avoid developing milk, egg and soy allergies like Maya had. I'm convinced her issues can be traced back to the cows milk formula she had at 3 weeks when I had mastitis. She never had it again till 5 mths then suddenly reacted. If she hadn't had that exposure at 3 weeks her immune system might have been better developed and she might have never become allergic.

I've thrown caution to the wind with lil miss tho, and so far my gamble is paying off. I didn't avoid anything during pregnancy and I haven't restricted my diet whilst breastfeeding. I did cut out chocolate and caffeine for a brief period but it had no impact on her. She does have reflux but it's well controlled and she's showing no other signs of atopy. I'll be cautious when I introduce solids to her, of course, but I probably won't have her routinely skin prick tested at 10 mths like I did with the gremlins.

Andie I'm with you....:(I am not sure what to think either..E is on a the no food diet..just meat fruit and vege and rice till one..and every second person tells me that that isn't the way to do it..and now I'm pregnant again ?what to do..I avoided nuts last time anyway (not hard as I can eat peanut butter) an just avoided most things with nuts...actually i did have a few snickers?

so I don't know what to do..restrict..not restrict...should E be restricted..not restricted? Obviously I'm taking paed's advice but I just wonder...so sorry I can't help but I am in the same boat(though E's allergies aren't as bad as Ella's...

I did the same with lil miss, kept a few on hand but I gave them away the other day coz having gotten this far without her needing it we should be fine to keep the breastfeeding going till we challenge her with dairy later on.

Intolerances are a whole different kettle of fish Teresa coz they don't involve immune system reactions. In babies the gut is permeable and things are absorbed into the bloodstream which can cause the immune system to respond as an allergy. But intolerances tend to build up over a period of time as a result of the offending food, for example one slice of bread might be fine, two slices might be pushing it and three cause you to become symptomatic. I don't know what this means as far as prenatal avoidance goes tho.

Emma - yea I know there are differences but avoiding the susceptibility to the allergy/intolerance I'm guessing probably falls within certain guidelines? It's certainly something I have been thinking about, particularly as I have had no gluten (intentionally that is) throughout this whole pregnancy - and then for bf as well.