7-Month Old Baby Vomiting - Possible Food Allergy?

Updated on August 15, 2010
K.G. asks from Vancouver, WA
6 answers

4 days ago my 7-month old son was vomiting for the first time right before bed - all his breast milk and then dry heaves for about an hour. He slept well after that and didn't throw up any more, was tired the next day and a little out of it so we thought he just had a stomach bug. Then this evening the same thing happened - vomited, slept for awhile, then seemed to feel better, although tired and fussy. Both of the days he had eaten little bites of egg yolk in the afternoon, but he had eaten this food already a few times before with no reaction. All other foods eaten today were not the same ones as the other day - only the egg yolk. Has anyone else had babies who developed egg allergies with these symptoms, or developed a reaction after eating a food several times already? I eat eggs regularly in my own diet and they have never caused a problem for my son. Could this possibly be a weird prolonged stomach bug - viral or bacterial? Thank you for your thoughts!

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B.B.

answers from Portland on

yes,it could be the egg. Babies aren't supposed to have egg prior to 1 year of age. I've heard conflicting reports, some say if you feed them egg prior to 1yr they can develop allergies so if that were true he would have been fine the first couple times but developed the allergy. I don't know if that is true but I definately wouldn't feed him any more egg until well past 1 year of age.

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G.B.

answers from Portland on

Hi, my son became allergic to dairy, from breast and formula. I stoped eatting dairy and changed his formula to the lactose free.
Take your child to the doctors right away and have him tested.

Some food allergys could be fatal.

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K.D.

answers from Portland on

It actually takes several exposures to a food (or other allergen) before your system develops an allergy. We learned this 8 years ago with our daughter. She absolutly loved the walnut rissotto I made, until the third time she had it: terrible rash around her mouth. We didn't clue in to the reason for the rash: "she had eaten everything on her plate before, couldn't be an allergy" :( It took a near fatal reaction to a dessert to clue us in. SO DON'T RULE OUT ALLERGIES!

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M.P.

answers from Portland on

I have numerous food allergies; too many to name. My 8 yo granddaughter was diagnosed with several food allergies when she was around 6-7 months old. She was tested and found to be allergic to dairy, egg, peanut, soy and some others I don't remember any more. She outgrew all of the food allergies except the one for peanuts.

Her mother took her to the pediatrician because she was frequently vomiting. This was not just "spit up." The pediatrician did blood tests which are not as accurate as skin pricks. When my granddaughter began having serious asthma attacks and eczema break outs her pediatrician referred her to a pediatric allergist. Because allergies, asthma, and eczema frequently ocurr together in the same person this allergist treats all three. He used the skin prick test.

My granddaughter who is now 8 was also diagnosed with asthma and eczema before her first birthday. We haven't been able to correlate an asthma or eczema attack with food but it's possible that she has other unknown allergies. Since medication keeps those 2 conditions stable and for the asthma mostly not active her mother, with the agreement from the allergist, hasn't tried to find other allergies.

One way to find an allergy is to eliminate it from the diet and once the symptoms have cleared reintroduce it. If symptoms return you're allergic and need to stop eating that food. This is why pediatricians recommend introducing only one food at a time to a baby. THis way you can more easily identify the symptoms with the food. As you have done with the egg yolk. This method with a baby is much easier than waiting until they're older after they've been introduced to numerous foods. There are articles on the internet as well as books that help mothers know which foods to introduce when. Babies are more prone to develop allergies for some foods if they're introduced too soon. When a parent starts early to identify possible allergies they are starting with a "clean slate" which is difficult to get back at an older age.

Once someone has eaten many foods, such as I had at 30 the test requires stopping to eat all foods except for 3 which you've eaten the least over the years. Then you add a food every week or 2 (I don't remember how often)and watch for symptoms. I also kept a food diary.

The good news is that some babies do outgrow certain allergies. I've been told that other's are there for the lifetime. However I know that there are exceptions. My aunt was allergic to many foods. When she was in her late 70's she discovered that her allergies were gone. She loved tomatoes but had not been able to eat them. After her first one she ate at least one everyday and suffered no ill effects.

I didn't have allergies until I was in my 30's. I gradually became allergic to more and more things until now I can mostly only eat cooked foods. My allergist said that cooking fruits and vegetables may destroy the part of the protein that we're allergic to. Fortunately that works for me and many others. But it doesn't for other people.

So-----people usually only become allergic to a food after several times of eating it. Or in my case after several years.

Peanuts seems to be an exception. My granddaughter had never eaten peanuts but yet she was strongly allergic to them. I've heard that from other parents. They have their baby tested for allergies and the test is positive.
I think allergists always test babies for milk products, eggs, peanuts, cereals, some pollens.

I'm allergic to chocolate which I love. I've found that if I don't eat any chocolate or any foods to which I'm allergic for several months I can comfortably eat 1 candy bar or one piece of cake. If I eat more than one serving I feel nauseous and generally unwell. I do not and will not try this with peanuts. I have tried it with apples (I also love apples) I always have an immediate reaction. For me it's a very itchy throat, ears and mouth. For others the first reaction is hives. For people with asthma it may be difficulty breathing.

It's important for me to add that trying to eat a food to which you've been allergic can be dangerous, even life threatening. Shell fish is a common allergy. One of my college professors died after eating a dish that contained shell fish that weren't visible. I've heard of people dying from eating peanuts. Peanuts seem to be the major serious allergy now.

My advice is to not feed her any egg yolk in any form as well as eliminate it in your diet and see if the vomiting stops. If not take her to the doctor. Some mothers have reported feeling safe in changing a dairy based formula to a non-dairy one to see if that helps. But that is tricky. The baby may be allergic to soy which seems to be the common formula to try.

Soy is another common allergy. Since soy has become "the" food to consume, I worry that the babies drinking soy formula will develop an allergy to it later in life. (eating 1 edemna sp?, which is a soy bean, I will immediately break out in hives in additon to the itchy mouth, ears, throat.

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H.W.

answers from Portland on

Hi K.,

My pediatrician said there are a lot of viruses and stomach bugs going around. It's very common in winter, and esp. contagious between children as they often share toys, esp. with kids they may not know. This may or may not be an allergy, but it is worth calling your health care provider and checking in with them. And watch for dehydration:it doesn't sound like your son is a candidate for it, but a big sign to watch for is no wet diapers in a 24 hour period. At that point, they will need IV fluids.

My son had a stomach bug right after Thanksgiving and his vomiting was pretty erratic. So, you never know.

Hope this is just a small bug and not an allergy!

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A.M.

answers from New York on

I tried feeding my 6 month old son an egg yolk as well and it landed us in the ER on the first attempt. He started having swelling of his throat (I could tell by a change in his cooing normal sounds). He was very fussy and then about 30 minutes later he had projectile vomiting. When I rushed him to the ER they completely ignored the fact that this was an allergy and ruled him out instead for head injury. (He'd had a very minor tumble while practicing his sitting up). Adults don't react to allergies with vomiting but babies do but the doctors did not seem to be aware of this. He had CT scan done of his head and sent home! My pediatrician said that the egg white is what causes the allergy but it's almost impossible to completely seperate the two proteins (the white from the yolk). We now have an epi-pen in case of other allergies. Avoid eggs for at least the first year and talk to your doctor if you want to reintroduce them after that.

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