So, I chickened out over the weekend on giving Duncan anything baked with egg. I chickened out about a month ago and I chickened out again. I did however let Dunc try a lactose-free dairy milk that has vitamins derived from lanolin vs. corn/corn cultured. That is another story.
But for now: it's eggs.
So, what happened last year with the eggs anyway? This is a question we get asked from time to time because people remember that Duncan was finally allowed to try egg at about 15 months (where the average baby gets to try egg at 10 months. Except - the average baby before ten months has typically had teething biscuits, cookies or crackers with eggs baked in and they just get to have plain ole' egg - period - at ten-ish months. ) - But, everyone remembers that Duncan can eat egg now, right? Not really. Actually, no.
Duncan's egg trying process at 15 ish months was going to be quite the feat. We didn't try right at 15 months. Mommy brain has set in, but I think it was possibly at 16 months, when we tried egg. We were very nervous, well, because we were! Duncan had a mild, but still significant, reaction to the flu vaccine. His was cultured in egg. So, we were very precautious. But, when you have food allergic child everything gets tried much slower than the average baby gets to try. It just has to be done that way for the safety of the child and their delicate system.
Our directions from the allergist were to do a week of egg baked into goods that were long bake such as cake/bread. Then we were to do 5-7 days of egg baked into short bake items such as muffins or cookies, etc. Then we were to do 5-7 days of egg in pancakes and waffles. Then, if all of those attempts and trials were successful we were to try plain ole' scrambled eggs/omelet.
The reason for this delicate trial process instead of just diving into some form of home-made teething biscuit or cookie is that some egg allergic people can tolerate egg in some forms, but not others. So, the majority of egg protein is cooked out of egg in breads/long bake baked goods. And everything goes downhill from there. However, there are still people that are very much allergic to egg in any form including air-borne egg smell/proteins in the air. We know one such person.
So, last year's deal:
Everything was going well with the cupcakes/muffin bread or what have you that we started with. Everything went so well in fact Duncan's allergist encouraged us to go to cookies when we were ready. If I remember correctly, again - Mommy brain has set in - we waited around 10 days before moving to cookies. Surprise! The cookies went well. We continued on with cookies and it went surprisingly well. We kept holding our breath and nothing happened! Then, we went to pancakes.
The first day that we made pancakes we made them in the shape of skinny little sticks for Duncan that he could pick right up and bite.
The first day of the trial process Duncan was like a wild dog that hadn't eaten in days finally being given the chance to feast. He just kept eating and eating and wanting more and more! He had a tiny spot pop up on his chest which Dave and I debated but showed no other signs of problems. Before all food trials we would not only check Duncan's skin over completely by site and touch, but we would take pictures in case anything questionable happened (think, was that spot THAT big before?) so we could take secondary pictures later. He always tried every new food naked - with the exception of a diaper.
The second day of pancakes Duncan got a little spotty/red around the eyes and had some slight coughing/sneeze activity and though we were fairly certain that it was from the pancakes Duncan's allergist had really encouraged us to try to get 3 solid days in with the exception being if Duncan had a full blown reaction. So, we tried again on day 3.
Day three elicited a definite major undeniable allergic reaction. With the first bite, not even with swallowing, Duncan's eyes started to water and swell and he started to cough and gasp for breath. He had splotches all over and we had to rub him down NICU style to help his breathing. Of course a large dose of Benadryl was administered. Everything calmed down a bit with his Benadryl and we didn't have to break out the epi-pen or go to the doctor (not to sound...bad...but at this point Duncan had had so many allergic reactions we knew what we could handle here at home and what we couldn't - plus having been someone who's gone into anaphylaxis before I have a little bit of a different perspective as well.)
So, that's what happened with the eggs last year. Duncan's allergist encouraged us to give eggs a go again a couple of months later. He said we should be fine to start out with cookies. So, we did. We tried to cookie. Duncan took a bite or two and started to splotch up, coughed a wee bit and got red puffy watery eyes. The eggs struck again!
So, here we are on the verge of almost a calendar year later trying to play this game, tackle this beast, dance this dance again.
Will Duncan be able to have egg in some form? I'm not sure yet. After charting everything out in-line with Duncan's asthma issues Duncan's allergist feels that there was potential that Duncan's egg issues were asthma induced allergy reactions and not true allergic reactions. (There are so many types of reactions it gets complicated.)
Last night I baked some cupcakes that took about 40 minutes to bake. He had half of a giant sized cupcake and did just fine. He had one small splotch on his chest which we're not sure if it came from his finger (he was pressing on his chest before we started) or from the cupcake. But, there was no major reaction.
We didn't try to cupcakes tonight. This morning he told me that he had a tummy ache before we went to the pool. He seemed to be fine a little later and ate well today. But, the real reason why I didn't want to try it again tonight? I didn't want my son eating part of a chocolate cupcake before bed. :) I'm thinking tomorrow morning after his breakfast he might get a piece of a cupcake:way before nap-time but after his morning pediatric drink.
So, this is our egg story. Obviously, it's not stopping here. Wish us luck!
Ash
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