Egg Allergy
Egg Ladder
02/02/2021
Breast Milk and Allergens
11/02/2021Egg Allergy
So it is Christmas, and how many of you are baking with eggs?
This is probably one of the seasons where we should be cautious with this type of allergy!
In what comes to allergies in children, and due to the nature of baby’s weaning, egg sits almost at par with cow’s milk as the most prevalent form of allergy. This is closely followed by peanut allergy.
Up to now, it was believed roughly 50% of children would outgrow their egg allergy by 3 years of age, with that percentage increasing to roughly 66% at 5 years of age. But it seems those percentages are decreasing with time.
The reason for that is unknown still.
So the earlier a diagnosis and intervention are made, the higher will be the chances for children to outgrow their allergy.
The initial step is to perform skin prick tests, eventually followed by an open food challenge to baked egg.
- If the child passes this step, they will have roughly 95% chance of outgrowing their egg allergy.
- As you might imagine, failing that challenge will give them less than 5% of outgrowing the allergy.
𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫:
- If you suspect your child has an egg allergy, don’t give up or become demoralized.
- There is a pretty good chance he/she will outgrow it.
- Exclude egg and peanut from their diet, exception if already eating peanut.
- Ask for a Paediatric Allergy referral and see if their department will also involve a Paediatric Allergy Dietitian.
Very important to understand that when we speak about removing chicken eggs from the diet, we also talk about removing eggs from other birds due to cross-reactivity.
- The birds’ eggs you should also exclude are turkey, duck, goose, seagull and quail.
