Some more Answers

Picture of Brody's scratch test at the Allergist's Office

We took Brody to an allergist in our area to get some more of our questions answered.

You might be wondering, "How did you find out that Brody has food allergies?"

When Brody was 8 moths old, I introduced plain organic yogurt and he immediately broke out in hives. Ok...so milk allergy? Yep. I called the triage nurse at my pediatrician's office and was told to give him Benedryl (which I didn't even have in my house and thankfully my mom was in the area and was able to pick it up for me) and make sure that he wasn't having difficulty breathing. After our episode with the yogurt, our Pediatrician wanted to see Brody the next day. At this point, the pediatrician did a blood test to see if Brody was allergic to anything else. The results came back milk, eggs, peanuts and wheat and this is where my journey began and the inspiration for this blog came from. Since I am nursing, these also became my food allergies.

Brody is almost a year old now, and time has flown by. I have soaked up so much information in the past couple of months and I am amazed at how far I have come in such a short amount of time. But, honestly, I am not to patting myself on the back...when it comes to eating, you have to figure something out if you still want to enjoy your food :)

Our next step in our food allergy journey was to find an allergist. Ginger (whose son is allergic to the same foods as Brody) recommended Dr. Brothers here in Nashville.

We took Brody to see Dr. Brothers and he did a scratch test (the picture looks worse than it was...Brody did great, he didn't even cry) so we could compare it to the blood test. We were very impressed with Dr. Brothers. He answered all of our questions, took time with us, and was very up to date on research that is going on with food allergies. The office staff was very friendly and accommodating (I feel this does make a difference in choosing a doctor).

One of our questions for Dr. Brothers with flu season coming up, was "what about the flu shot"? Did you know that the flu shot has egg in it (you do if your child has an egg allergy)? I was worried that we wouldn't be able to give Brody the flu shot since many doctors in our area have companies come in to the office after hours and administer the flu shots to the masses (therefore, a doctor is not administering it and the child is not being observed afterwards). This concerned me, especially since this is the first time that Brody would be getting the flu shot.

After speaking to Doctor Brothers, he felt that it was important for Brody to get the flu shot even though he has an egg allergy, as long as it was given in his office and he was monitored afterwards for about 45 minutes. He said he has never witnessed a child that is allergic to eggs have a reaction to the flu shot (this was good news). Brody did great...no problems. Again, I am thankful to have found an allergist who fits the criteria that we were looking for.

Allergy & Asthma Associates

Donald T. Brothers, Jr. M.D.

300 20th Avenue North, Suite 100

Nashville, TN 37023

615-284-4750