So I’m supposed to avoid eggs and other allergens for awhile, in the hope that it will keep the baby from having as many allergies as her sister does. Fish I can avoid, strawberries no problem, nuts can be done (sob), but how much exactly should I avoid eggs? Obviously scrambled, fried, and hardboiled are out. But how’bout breads and cookies that have eggs as an ingredient? What about rice pudding (4 cups milk and 4 eggs)?* Is any egg too much egg, or are they OK when cooked with other things?
Anyone with egg allergies willing to share information? (Yes, I’m going to ask the doctor too. I just want some experienced people’s input.)
My egg allergy works like this: A little and I don’t notice, then a little more and I don’t notice, then a little more and blammo…I itch and fidgit and…
One Xmas we had eggnog. I mixed mine with Johnny Walker Black. Mmmmmmm. Then I had more, and more. Then I couldn’t sleep or wear clothes or think or anything for 2 days. It makes me itch right now just to think about it.
I don’t have a clue about this kind of thing, but it almost seems to me that by avoiding something, you expose yourself (your baby, in this case) to it more.
Examples:
I had a friend that was paranoid about tapwater. I’m not saying the stuff is great, but she didn’t drink it for years on end, under no circumstances. One day we were in frankenmuth, MI, a nice little tourist place, and she had a glass of tap water. She was sick for a couple of days, and it wasn’t just a psychosomatic thing, if you know what I mean.
Another one. Virtually all of the people I know that have pollen allergies, and other allergies similar to that, are people that work mostly indoors, often in air conditioning. The factory rats I know, who have the doors open for cool air, don’t suffer from those problems.
I know people like to argue with this idea (some of my friends do, mostly the ones that fit into the above categories), but I haven’t seen anyone that has reasonably proved this idea wrong.
Essentially, the people who are rarely exposed to allergans are the most susceptible, while people that are around them often don’t suffer at all. The only reason I’m saying this is that it seems suspect to me that people can eat eggs and so on for millenia, yet in the last 5-10 years, it’s a bad thing?
If my observations are close, by not eating eggs, nuts, etc., you might be giving your family doctor job security. I hate to be cynical, but it’s hard not to be with the way the medical/drug industry seems to be going these days.
st1d, I understand your logic, and even agree with it to some extent–for example, I think that keeping a child super-clean and germ-free is likely to lead to more colds and illnesses, not fewer–but certain food allergies work differently.
The hope is that by keeping common allergens away from the baby until she’s older will let her system mature to the point that she can handle them better. For example, if a kid is likely to have a peanut allergy, keeping them away from peanuts until age 3 often lets the digestive system mature and handle it in a normal way, instead of treating peanut proteins as something to be attacked. Other allergies can be outgrown–many babies are sensitive to milk, for example, but if they avoid it until they’re 2, they can handle it OK (my daughter drank soy milk until age 2, and can now guzzle as much dairy as she likes).
I have no idea why my older daughter is allergic to nuts, but it’s certainly not because I didn’t eat them during pregnancy and nursing. I love nuts. The causes may be partly genetic. I wonder if the reason that autoimmune problems are on the rise could be partly because we’ve filled the world with chemicals and junk. Or perhaps now that our diets are no longer linked to local produce, it’s more difficult.
Thanks for the info, NoCoolUserName. Soudns like no fun–but can eggs be lethal to you?
st1d, I understand your logic, and even agree with it to some extent–for example, I think that keeping a child super-clean and germ-free is likely to lead to more colds and illnesses, not fewer–but certain food allergies work differently.
The hope is that by keeping common allergens away from the baby until she’s older will let her system mature to the point that she can handle them better. For example, if a kid is likely to have a peanut allergy, keeping them away from peanuts until age 3 often lets the digestive system mature and handle it in a normal way, instead of treating peanut proteins as something to be attacked. Other allergies can be outgrown–many babies are sensitive to milk, for example, but if they avoid it until they’re 2, they can handle it OK (my daughter drank soy milk until age 2, and can now guzzle as much dairy as she likes).
I have no idea why my older daughter is allergic to nuts, but it’s certainly not because I didn’t eat them during pregnancy and nursing. I love nuts. The causes may be partly genetic. I wonder if the reason that autoimmune problems are on the rise could be partly because we’ve filled the world with chemicals and junk. Or perhaps now that our diets are no longer linked to local produce, it’s more difficult.
Thanks for the info, NoCoolUserName. Soudns like no fun–but can eggs be lethal to you?
No info, just words of encouragement. If you keep thinking how nice it will be for your kid if he or she avoids the allergies, that could be motivating. Think about how nice it could be for both of you to enjoy some rice pudding together later in life!
Egg products are in nearly everything you can buy in a package.
You should talk to whoever told you to avoid eggs and find out if you need to cut out bread made with the tiniest bit of albumen, or if mayonnaise and macaroons are A-OK.
Update! I am to avoid eggs and dishes that are mainly egg (omelets, etc.), but can have bread, etc. and a small dish of rice pudding every so often. Luckily, I dislike mayonnaise, merengue, and quiche, so a major diet reformation is not in order. But I’m really going to miss those nuts for awhile.
I dunno how lethal egg allergies get, but I do know that many vaccines (including the flu vaccine) are cultured using egg. I get the flu vaccine every year, but my egg-allergic brother can’t.
Tap water, no matter how clean, does contain some bacteria and such. If you don’t drink the local water for a long period of time your immunity to the microflora goes down and then, when you’re re-exposed, you have “traveler’s tummy” for a bit. Which is also the same reason for “Montezuma’s revenge” in tourists in Mexico - and Mexicans visint the US and drinking our tap water with our germs also get “traveler’s tummy”
Well, maybe the allergics are working indoors and choose those jobs because working outdoors makes them sick? I think you’re putting the effect before the cause here.
One of the current theories is that, having eliminated intestinal parasites, a part of our immune system is left without anything to work on and is now prone to mis-fire and attack harmless substances. This would account for why we are experiencing a sudden rise of allergies world-wide. Wherever Western standards of santitaion and levels of sewage controls are instituted allergy levels rise soon after. On the flip side, the damage caused by these parasites - stunted growth, anemia, even death in extreme cases - is no longer occurring.
The rise in allergies is NOT a phenomena of the last 5-10 years. It’s been occuring for a little over century in North America and parts of Europe.
Another possible factor is processed foods. Certain things are now ubiquitous. Milk, for example, is added to a lot of products that don’t really require it - like many breads, for instance. Milk is not required to make bread. Corn starch, proteins, and solics(what you folks overseas would call “maize starch” and so forth ) is everywhere, even in things that would seem bizarre - like lemonade mixes that contain “corn solids”. WHY? My most recent frustration is granola bars - almost every single one contains “peanut flour”. Not peanuts but peanut flour. The only thing I can think of is that this is a cheap way to boost the protein level - except the average American gets twice the protein they really require in a day so it’s totally unnecessary AND puts the food off-limits to folks such as myself.
Folks didn’t used to eat this way. Even if something - rice, say, in Asia - was eaten at every meal it wasn’t in every single food item.
I think people forget just how drastically our environment has changed in the past century - environment including the food we eat.
If my observations are close, by not eating eggs, nuts, etc., you might be giving your family doctor job security. I hate to be cynical, but it’s hard not to be with the way the medical/drug industry seems to be going these days. **
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Yes, an egg allergy can be lethal… but many are not. It varies from person to person, and can change over time. Also, there is considerable difference between eating eggs and having an egg-based vaccine injected into your arm. Someone may be able to eat eggs without harm, yet have a bad reaction to a shot.
Also, egg allergies can be species-dependent. Meaning you could be allergic to chicken eggs but not duck or quail eggs.
